ADR CHAMBERS - a guide for prospective Panel Members

Thank you for taking an interest in the unique body that is ADR Chambers. We are delighted to provide you with background information which is intended to give you sufficient to understand what ADR Chambers is, what it does and does not do, and how broadly it operates.

You will appreciate that this is a major operation and full details cannot be provided in two sides of A4: if there is anything else you think you may need to know, please to not hesitate to contact Ian Duggan on 0845 072 0111.

ADR Chambers in the United Kingdom

ADR Chambers operates here under the auspices of ADR Chambers (UK) Ltd. This company was set up to support the Woolf Reforms and to provide a single point of access for those seeking the very highest quality of mediators, arbitrators, experts and neutrals.

It has been established for some five years and has its administrative base at a Case Management Centre in Taunton, Somerset. There is currently a panel of about 200 trained and accredited arbitrators and mediators, which includes retired Law Lords and Appeal Court Judges, former High and County Court Judges, Masters and District Judges together with Barristers and Solicitors. There are also some outstandingly qualified non-lawyers.

The list of Panel Members of ADR Chambers, their profiles and particular areas of expertise are shown on our website www.adrchambers.co.uk, in the profile section

Members are mostly non-exclusive: many remain in practice at conventional barristers' chambers or with firms of solicitors. This is a deliberate policy to allow ADR Chambers to offer the very highest range and quality of mediators and arbitrators without restricting their primary legal work.

The basis and ethos of our company is similar to ADR Chambers in Canada about which more is set out below. The UK Panel Members work from their homes, chambers and law firms and use appropriate venues for their ADR work arranged by the Case Management Centre.

Services for Panel Members include ADR marketing, diary management and de-confliction, liaison with Clerks and Secretaries, the arrangement appointments, document control, billing and fee collection. ADR Chambers also offers online library access and other ancillary services.

ADR Chambers elsewhere in the world

ADR Chambers Inc is Canada's largest alternative dispute resolution company. The Canadian Members are retired Superior Court Judges and retired and practicing leading counsel and senior solicitors. The company was incorporated in 1995.

ADR Chambers started about ten years ago with six retired Judges and two retired senior Barristers. From that time on, the group has grown to over fifty members, primarily retired Judges. As in the United Kingdom, the members of the Judicial Panels ensure that ADR Chambers maintains an absolute reputation for integrity, excellence and professionalism.

The Canadian head office is in Toronto, Ontario where there are 18,000 square feet of facilities for arbitration and mediation. Some of the members have their own chambers at this location. Across the rest of Canada, the members work from their homes or from law firms and perform ADR services at a Solicitor's board room or at a first class hotel facility.

The services offered by the group include mediation, arbitration, med-arb, neutral case evaluation, mini-trials and private appeals, on consent, from arbitral awards or from judgments in civil actions.

The Canadian company also owns and operates ADR Chambers International. This organisation provides a vehicle for world class arbitrators and mediators who work internationally. The members include some of the leading names around the world in conflict and dispute resolution.

Elsewhere, there are offices of ADR Chambers now open in Hong Kong and Ireland. Both have close links with the United Kingdom and there is an interchange of Panel Members and work. In the near future it is intended to open similarly constituted offices in the West Indies, France, China and Australia.

Whilst the areas of operation may vary, the ethos of ADR Chambers remains the same and users and Panel Members can expect exceptional standards and service. It follows that not all applicants are accepted by ADR Chambers which looks for a track record of excellence, full training and accreditation, experience and quality whilst at the same time being fearless in its advocacy of non-discrimination and inclusion.

Bullet points for potential members

The following answers to frequently asked questions may be of assistance:

• Panel Members' fees are based on whatever time is spent in preparation for their work and its execution: in the case of an arbitration through to the completion of the Award.
• ADR Chambers operates as a limited company to provide non-legal services to its clients and support to its Panel Members who, in turn, operate as independent contractors providing services to the clients who book them through the Case Management Centre.
• All bookings, billings and collections are done by ADR Chambers.
• Wherever Panel Members perform a service they let a Clerk know the amount of time spent and any person disbursements made. In the normal course of a booking, the Clerks attend to disbursements, make travel and venue arrangements.
• If a client asks for an individual Panel Member, then she/he is offered the work.
• When a client inquires generally for a mediator or arbitrator the Clerks make enquiries about the type of mediation or arbitration involved and find the most suitable two or three candidates. Every inquiry is followed up. Unusual inquiries are circulated to members.
• ADR Chambers has its own set of rules which you may wish to look at on our website at www.adrchambers.co.uk You will see that with respect to arbitrations we have deposits which are requested to protect the member.
• We do not ask for a deposit in respect of a mediation, except for matters which are two days or more in length or where the parties are from outside the UK.
• The application form which prospective panel members are asked to fill in and return can be downloaded from here.
• This information is correct to 1st July 2002 - please check for updates on 0845 072 0111.