News | Alternative Dispute Resolution

Friday 20th October 2006

SJ Berwin LLP is delighted to announce that the ADR group has won the Professional award at the biennial CEDR Awards for Excellence in Mediation held in London on 28 September beating very strong competition from Herbert Smith, Lewis Silkin and Fenwick Elliott.

This acknowledges the work of the SJ Berwin team, particularly David Shapiro and Phillip Howell-Richardson for their contribution to the development of mediation in the UK.

Craig Pollack, Head of Litigation, says "This high profile award recognises the way in which we approach dispute resolution. Our lawyers and mediation advocates are solution driven and take a holistic approach to resolving difficult disputes."
Phillip Howell-Richardson says: “This award confirms the reason why I joined SJ Berwin.  The people here really understand ADR.”

Karl Mackie, Chief Executive of CEDR says: “The judges believe that SJ Berwin has been one of the longest-standing supporters of mediation through its own ADR Group, formed in 1996 under the leadership of David Shapiro, who is one of the field’s most distinguished mediators.”

For further information, please contact:
Craig Pollack, Head of Litigation, T+44 (0)20 7111 2275 E craig.pollack@sjberwin.com
Phillip Howell-Richardson, Consultant, T+44 (0)20 7111 2526 E phillip.howell-richardson@sjberwin.com
Helen MacRae, Business Development Manager, T+44 (0)20 7111 2903 E helen.macrae@sjberwin.com

Founded in 1982, SJ Berwin is a leading City corporate and commercial law firm with more than 550 lawyers working across its offices in London, Berlin, Brussels, Frankfurt, Madrid, Milan, Munich, Paris and Turin.

The Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution practice at SJ Berwin has 11 partners, 5 consultants and over 40 fee earners, all based in London. In addition we have specialist departments for competition, construction litigation, property litigation and employment.

We have extensive experience in litigating not only in England but also worldwide and have a reputation for acting in highly complex, multi-jurisdictional disputes. In addition to High Court litigation we have market reputations in International Arbitration, Mediation, Fraud and Banking and Securities Litigation, with leading individual names in each area.

We see our skills primarily as ‘problem solvers’. Typically, we are closely involved with our clients in steering them clear of litigation where possible and deploying our litigation skills when there is no better solution to help the clients achieve their business objectives.

Most recently we were nominated for the Dispute Resolution Team of the Year 2006 Award by Legal Business.