Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics

This is interesting stuff from the old country.

UK based mediation provider CEDR, the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution, undertook an audit of UK based commercial mediators that turned up some interesting stats.
Top 10 findings include;

1. There were approximately 2700 mediations performed in the last 12 months - an increase of 35 per cent in two years since 2003.
2. The UK market is now split roughly 55:45 per cent between directly referred cases and those passing through the hands of service providers such as the ADR Group CEDR or In Place of Strife.
3. Only 17 per cent of the respondents were women (as compared to the legal profession, in which 42 per cent of all solicitors are women).
4. Sixty five experienced mediators dominate the market being involved in 70 per cent of cases (within this group 34 individuals perform 50 per cent of all cases).
5. Top mediators earn in excess of £170,000 (USD298,500) a year from mediation with some mediators able to charge a daily rate of over £4000 (USD7000).
6. Mediators claimed that around 73 per cent of their cases settled on the day, with nearly another 20 per cent settling shortly thereafter so as to give an aggregate settlement rate of 93 per cent.
7. The top two factors that most commonly influenced client executives to settle were legal and non-legal future costs of the continuing dispute.
8. The top two factors behind the non-settlement of cases were the approach of legal representatives and unrealistic expectations of clients.
9. Over 67 per cent of mediators favoured the courts taking a more directive approach towards the promotion of mediation.
10. Within five year's time, 47 per cent of mediators expect to be mediating more, while 34 per cent expect to be, or have become, full-time mediators.

CEDR have just held the The Second European Mediators' Congress in November and here you will find some groovy MP3 sound files for sessions like Surviving and Thriving as a Mediator and Pushing the Boundaries of Mediation.

Want more on the 2005 audit?....listen to the Congress session reporting back on the findings...but first relax, watch the latest Desparate Housewives and give the MP3 files plenty of time to load up)