Is Mediation the Best Method for Financial Disputes?

We now hear from Anthony Trace who has extensive experience behind him allowing him to be a skilled mediator. With 35 years at the Bar, Anthony is often described as astute, responsive and unflappable. He speaks with Lawyer Monthly about his work and how he prepares to work with participants involved in banking and finance mediations.

You began at 4 Pump Court in June last year and have been very busy ahead of 2018. What does your daily schedule currently look like?

On a typical day when I have a mediation, I remind myself about the papers and consider the strategies that will or might be needed by me in the course of the mediation in order to facilitate a settlement. A mediator in a facilitative mediation does not advise, but seeks to help the participants reach a settlement. In the period running up to the mediation, I will carefully read and digest all the respective papers and in certain cases might speak with each participant in advance, to check how each participant would like to begin the mediation; in some cases, participants prefer not to have a plenary session (with all the participants present) at the beginning of the mediation and instead go straight into negotiation.

What are the biggest concerns regularly addressed in mediation regarding the banking and finance sector?

In business/finance cases, the biggest concerns that each participant has are to ensure that any agreement reached is a commercial one and one that properly reflects its interests and aims. My role is to facilitate the reaching of an agreement that both sets of participants are prepared to sign up to.

How does 19+ years of being a QC prepare you to take part in high profile mediations in this sector? Do you have any past examples of such cases?

I find that participants very much like the fact that I have been a QC for some 19 years, working on all types of leading business/finance cases and that they consider that this experience is invaluable both in terms of my suitability for appointment as a mediator (because the participants in business/finance cases prefer a mediator experienced in these areas), and in terms of facilitating a settlement in the mediation; because, although a mediator does not advise the participants, nevertheless, with their agreement, I can “stress test” the strengths of their arguments. In these situations, my experience is seen by the participants as very useful.

From fraud and commercial claims to partnerships and trusts, which area of the banking sector do you find most challenging and how do you confront this?

I find that the most challenging areas in the banking sector are the regulatory ones and the ever-changing and fast-changing commercial ones. In order to ensure that the business/finance mediations that I am involved in are the best possible, I keep up to date with all the relevant regulations and keep myself abreast with the commercial banking world generally.

According to client feedback, you prove to be ‘good at unpicking difficult cases’ and have ‘excellent strategic vision’; do you have a particular process for the analysis and implementation of strategies in your mediations?

I find that one of the best ways to facilitate the participants to reach an agreement in a business/finance mediation is to seek, to get them both to analyse what the issues actually are and what their respective strategic aims are. When mediations are unpicked in this way, I find that the participants are helped in recognising the strengths and weaknesses of their respective cases which, in turn, helps in facilitating the reaching of an agreement.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

I would add that the finance/business world is a highly specialist one, that this sector is involved in a fast-moving world and that it is important to choose the right mediator who has proper finance/business experience and who is fully up to date in the relevant areas in issue.

Anthony Trace QC
4 Pump court
Temple
London
EC4Y 7AN
+44 207 842 5555
www.4pumpcourt.com

Anthony is a hugely experienced barrister who practised at the Bar for 35 years,19 of them as a QC. He appeared in many of the most complex and high profile cases across his areas of expertise and was ranked in Chambers & Partners directory as a leading silk in 8 practice areas. Anthony is now working as a full time commercial mediator doing both facilitative mediations and evaluative mediations (e.g. early neutral evaluation). Anthony is accredited by CEDR and by the London School of Mediation who have accredited him as a mediator to international standards.

4 Pump Court is a leading full-service commercial set of barristers’ chambers with particular expertise in commercial dispute resolution, professional negligence, IT and telecoms, energy, shipping, construction and engineering and insurance and reinsurance. Our wide-ranging commercial work also includes banking, sale of goods, pensions and financial regulation, dry shipping, oil and gas.