Blog Posts: November 2009

If you would like an illustration of the benefits of mediation, consider this article which refers to bullying in the Guardian. Essentially, Moira Cameron was the first female yeoman warder in the 1,000-year history of the Tower of London, and history was made again  when two male yeomen accused of a sustained campaign of bullying against her were sacked. A 56-year-old man has also received a police caution under the Communications Act 2003 for defacing Cameron's Wikipedia entry, whic....

There has been discussion in the Guardian that a News of the World reporter who suffered from a culture of bullying led by former editor Andy Coulson, who is now David Cameron's head of communications, has been awarded almost £800,000 for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination. The background  is that Matt Driscoll, a sports reporter sacked in April 2007 while on long-term sick leave for stress-related depression an d  was awarded £792,736 by the East London em....

A totally bizarre story on the BBC website.  A 13-year-old paperboy in Bedfordshire who takes home £6.53 a week is to be offered a redundancy package. Kane Middleton received a formal letter which told him he was being laid off from his round in Clophill. It outlined a redundancy package of "one week's pay in lieu of notice, which equates to £6.93 (subject to tax and NI)". His employer is Letterbox Direct.Speaking about receiving the letter, he said: "I got ....

A recent piece in the Guardian highlighted that the number of divorce and separation cases being fought in the courts that involve children has risen, with £151m of legal aid money being spent on litigation, according to figures. Research by solicitors Mishcon de Reya shows that more than half of parents going through divorce and separation went to court to challenge issues relating to their children. Figures from the Legal Services Commission, which manages the government's legal aid budg....

As has been recently reported, a senior manager who has alleged he was unfairly dismissed on the basis of his views on climate change can take his employer to a tribunal, an employment appeal judge has ruled. Tim Nicholson, head of sustainability at residential landlord group Grainger, said his environmental beliefs were the reason behind a decision to make him redundant in 2008, because his views had strained relations with senior staff. Nicholson asserted his views on climate change amoun....

Recently I was doing some mediation and negotiation training for some lawyers and we came to the issue of the opening session of the mediation. One City lawyer was explaining to me that he had recently done an opening session where he made a significant concession out of the blue. It had not been put in the pre-mediation statement or otherwise before the mediation, but had been made to the other side's face at the opening session. The concession had been done....