Commercial Mediation
Resolving your dispute
What is involved?
No one wants to be in a commercial dispute – they are both time-consuming and costly. Increasingly, mediation is the preferred way to resolve commercial disputes rapidly and effectively, without the need to go to court.
We understand that it takes different skills to prepare for mediation than it does to prepare for trial. We ensure that we always agree with you the best settlement strategy before the mediation.
Mediation is appropriate across the full range of commercial disputes from contractual and negligence claims to shareholder disputes and inheritance claims.
The team are active members of the Association of Midlands Mediators (AMM). Mark Keeley is a long standing member of the Association of Contentious Trust and Probate specialists and now sits on their organising committee, and is also the Secretary of the AMM.
Why choose Freeths?
- You can rely on us to be approachable, friendly and calm when working with all parties involved
- Our firm are committed to using mediation whenever possible, to avoid the need for costly litigation
- Our dispute resolution lawyers are all experienced in mediation
- Mark Keeley is a busy commercial mediator who understand what it takes to achieve a sensible commercial outcome to your dispute by making the most of the opportunity mediation presents for early dispute resolution
Call us now to see how our mediation team can help resolve your dispute.
"Freeths’ work advising on and responding to ACV nominations has been excellent. They have achieved some great results for us and I would certainly recommend their services to any property or pub owners who have received an ACV nomination or had a property ACV listed."
David Nathan
Director - WH Brakspear & Sons Ltd
"We needed a professional approach from an experienced practice to defend us against an application to make our pub into an Asset of Community Value. We spoke to several friends in the same line of business and they recommended Freeths. Their approach was very efficient, taking into account all of our points as well as adding several of their own that we would not have thought of. We won our case. I would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone requiring help in this area."
David Brown
Key contact
Mark Keeley
Partner & Joint Head of Private Client Services
Get in touch
- Rescuing a sale – Instructed by a pubco client to resist an ACV nomination of an asset due to be sold. Freeths contacted the local authority to obtain the nomination documents and supporting evidence, drafted and submitted representations resisting the nomination on the owner’s behalf and prevented the property from being ACV listed. The sale was able to proceed without delay.
- Protecting value – Instructed by a private client to conduct a review the ACV-listing of his property, in order to protect its value. Freeths contacted the local authority to instigate the review process and to obtain the nomination documents, supporting evidence and decision notice. The decision notice revealed errors of fact and of law that underpinned the local authority’s decision to list at first instance, which Freeths highlighted in review representations submitted on behalf of the owner. The review was successful and the property was removed from the local authority’s list of ACVs.
- Advising on relevant disposals – Instructed by a Pub Co client to advise on the implications of ACV listing, the statutory moratorium and the process of selling ACV-listed properties. Freeths advised to ensure that sales were effective and none fell foul of the statutory restrictions on disposition.
- Unlocking development value – Instructed by an investor client to unlock the development value of an (already) ACV-listed former public house that had ceased trading roughly a year before our involvement. A planning application for change of use of the 1st, 2nd and part of the ground floor of the property was submitted. The ACV listing and a perceived loss of quality/quantity of community space were material to the decision to refuse planning permission.
- Freeths submitted an ACV compensation claim to protect the client’s position in respect of the lost development value of the property and worked with planning advisors to mitigate the perceived loss of community space through a revised planning application. The compensation claim was pursued to the First Tier Tribunal. Final determination was delayed to account for the determination of the revised planning application, which was ultimately successful, unlocking the development value of the property despite ACV listing.
Our accreditations
We are celebrating another year of accreditations and rankings.
Meet the team
Philippa Dempster
Senior Partner & London Office Managing Partner
Mark Keeley
Partner & Joint Head of Private Client Services
Sadiea Mustafa-Awan
Senior Associate
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