ABOUT US

David is a practising solicitor who was admitted to the profession in 1985. Over 35 years he has built a reputation for the quality of his legal work and was recognised in Chambers and Partners and Legal 500 as a leading individual in construction law. David is also a RIBA appointed professional conduct panel member and he presents CPD for the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.  In his practice, David has significant experience in contractual and commercial disputes, civil, commercial and property litigation and professional negligence. In addition, and in recognition of the merits of alternative dispute resolution, he trained and qualified as an Accredited Civil and Commercial Mediator and offers his services through several mediation panels including Mediations Work. With an inherent ability to identify the facts and isolate the nature of any dispute, David brings his interpersonal skills to bear when mediating disputes between parties that believe it is impossible to find common ground. 

Howard is an Accredited Mediator. He is registered with  the Civil Mediation Council and the Society of Mediators. In his commercial life, he has been involved in running charities for over 20 years, having been Chief Executive of the National Association for Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty for over 10.  He is a highly experienced non-executive director and trustee, and has been a Minister-appointed board member of Natural Resources Wales for 5 years.  Howard is also an experienced Chairman and a trained Company Secretary.   and is a qualified Lumina Spark practitioner with specific experience in developing collaboration across complex networks of organisations and people, a skill that he utilises in his approach to mediating disputes.  Howard operates at a senior level across governments in England and Wales and is a member of the IUCN's World Commission on Protected Areas, Hon. Vice President of the North Wales Wildlife Trust, and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

Stephen became an Honorary Lecturer at the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies at the University of Portsmouth in August 2019. He has worked in a variety of private and public commercial environments having retired as the CEO (then Chairman) of a business initially placed on AIM and then admitted to the Official List of the London Stock Exchange. He has gained considerable experiencing over the past 40 years, working with the insurance and credit hire industry to resolve industry disharmony. Following a career that involved litigating tens of thousands of cases, and drawing on a career that has relied almost exclusively on litigating disputes, he has long since recognised that there is a better way for the credit hire industry and insurers to reach agreement and, with that in mind, trained and qualified as an Accredited Civil and Commercial Mediator in 2020. He now brings his knowledge of the relative positions taken by litigants in insurance disputes and his skills as a mediator to champion the merits of alternative dispute resolution. Stephen is a member of the Civil Mediation Council and a member of the Society of Mediators.

David Kinnear is a Barrister (Middle Temple, called ’89) and Accredited Mediator. He is also the publisher of High Performance Counsel, which tracks the rapid evolution of the modern legal industry. He is co-located in London and New York. Having worked for Pinsent Masons and Linklaters in London, he moved to the US with Credit Suisse to manage significant real estate and business re-engineering matters. His subsequent career has encompassed the spectrum from global banking operations to technology start-ups – and the people and economic issues, which so often make or break success. Drawing on more than 25 years of business and legal experience, he brings a rich perspective to the table in mediation and its benefits over traditional litigation. David has always had a passion for communication and credits his choice of legal career to this early sense. He is also a champion for understanding the true drivers of disagreement – and the benefits of achieving sensible commercial agreement over unnecessary legal risk and expense. David is a member of the Bar of England & Wales, The New York State Bar Association, The New York City Bar Association, The Society of Mediators, The Mediator Network, and The Civil Mediation Council.

After graduating from Oxford University James joined PricewaterhouseCoopers (“PwC”) where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. During his time at PwC James worked with a wide range of clients from FTSE 100 companies, to Central Government and International Charities.

As an accredited mediator and Chartered Accountant James is able to fully understand the commercial challenges and financial realities facing participants and uses this and his strong communication skills to help those engaged in a dispute to find resolutions which work for both of them. When he is not mediating James works with Barnardo's, the UK's largest Children's charity.