Ted Lightburn – A Tribute

27/04/2021

CEDR was very sad to learn of the death of Edward Lightburn this month, known as Ted to all his colleagues.

Ted was a founding member of CEDR and was a board member of CEDR 1989 to 1997. He was one of its first development consultants and became involved as a Mediator and Trainer as his knowledge of the field developed.

Ted worked as a Solicitor for over 30 years in private practice and industry in the UK, and went on to run his own international consultancy. He was in private practice with Allen & Overy, London and worked in-house with organisations such as General Electric Company and British Steel. He became involved with CEDR’s founding when he was Head of Legal at Trafalgar House plc specialising in commercial and construction matters, overseeing some 40 in-house lawyers in the UK and abroad. He spent a considerable time in India, the Middle East and East Asia.

Ted’s experience in major commercial negotiations for international business organisations, led him to support the cause of commercial mediation and he went on to conduct many successful mediations in the UK and internationally. Ted also taught mediation on the CEDR Faculty and wrote and talked often on the topic worldwide.

Eileen Carroll, Principal Mediator at CEDR, said:

“We were very sad to hear from Caroline – his wife of 50 years – of Ted’s passing.  Caroline said that his work with CEDR had brought him great joy and satisfaction.  I told her that he had brought to his work energy, wisdom, and a sense of fun.”

Dr Karl Mackie, Founder President, said of Ted:

“Ted joined in the first year of CEDR to help support our early work with law firms and in-house counsel.  He brought significant awareness of the challenges companies faced in navigating the court system.  He was great fun to work with as a natural raconteur and had numerous stories to share, and on the side, he ran an antiques business.  People often spoke of him as a ‘one-off’ because of his ease and frankness of manner wherever he went – including in mediations. He had an underlying desire to improve the legal system and an amazing ability to ‘read’ people.  I benefited numerous times from working with him on assignments.  He will be greatly missed by many.”

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