General Terms & Conditions

Pre-Mediation:

1. Prior to any Mediation, all Parties to the Dispute shall individually enter into a Mediation Agreement with Impact Mediation in the form (amended as required) shown on the company’s website. The format & agenda of your Mediation and any terms relating to it shall be confirmed by the Mediation Agreement.
2. Following the signing of the Mediation Agreement and the payment of all fees due, Impact Mediation will arrange for the Mediator chosen by the Parties (“the Mediator”) to attend the agreed Venue (or as the case may be, an online video conference) on the agreed Mediation Date to mediate the Dispute between the Parties. The parties similarly agree to attend the agreed Venue, or the online video conference, on the agreed Mediation Date and in good faith for the purpose of seeking to mediate the Dispute between the Parties.
3. Not less than ten (10) working days prior to the Mediation Date, the Parties shall deliver to the Mediator a Mediation Bundle of Documents, preferably agreed by all Parties, together with any ‘Position Statements’ the parties wish to prepare. If included, position statements should not be more than five pages of A4. Please refer to our notes on ‘Preparing for Mediation‘.
4. The Parties shall adequately prepare for the Mediation so that the mediation day can be constructive with all information available in advance. Please refer to our notes on ‘Preparing for Mediation‘.
5. The Parties agree and acknowledge that neither Impact Mediation nor your appointed Mediator nor any employee of Impact Mediation shall be permitted to act for or represent any of the Parties in connection with the Dispute.
6. The Parties further agree and acknowledge that neither the appointed Mediator nor Impact Mediation is acting as agent for the Parties in connection with the Dispute and that neither the Mediator nor Impact Mediation will offer legal advice to the Parties and further that no comments made by the Mediator during the Mediation shall be construed as legal advice.

The Parties

7. The Parties agree and confirm that:

• In the case of an individual Party, they will either attend the Mediation personally to present and negotiate on their own behalf or will appoint a legal or other representative to present and negotiate on their behalf or together with them but that whoever shall present and negotiate on behalf of the Party shall have full authority to settle or compromise the Dispute. If there are any restrictions to the authority of the person/s attending they will disclose the same to the Mediator at least 5 working days before the Mediation; and/or
• In the case of a business entity, whether Limited Company, Partnership or otherwise, a director, partner or other officer of the business entity will attend the Mediation personally to present and negotiate on behalf of the business entity or will appoint a legal or other representative to present and negotiate on their behalf or together with them but that whoever shall present and negotiate on behalf of the Party shall have full authority to settle or compromise the Dispute. If there are any restrictions to the authority of the person/s attending they will disclose the same to the Mediator at least 5 working days before the Mediation;

8. The Parties agree and confirm that they will fully comply with the terms of the signed Mediation Agreement and with any directions made or given by the Mediator both prior to and during the conduct of the Mediation or in relation to the submission of any documents to the Mediator or to any other Party prior to the Mediation.

The Mediation

9. The Mediator shall mediate the Dispute at the agreed Venue or as the case may be online (“the Mediation”) on the Mediation Date. The Mediation will begin at the time notified by the Mediator and agreed by the Parties and will continue for up to one day (unless agreed otherwise by the Parties) to allow agreement or settlement to be reached or until terminated by any of the Parties or by the Mediator.
10. The Mediator will chair the Mediation
11. No recording or transcript of the Mediation will be made.
12. The purpose of the Mediation is to negotiate a settlement of the Dispute and the Parties agree that they will take part in the Mediation in a spirit of good faith for that purpose. The Parties accept and agree that no offers, concessions, proposals or comments made at the Mediation will constitute a binding offer or agreement unless they shall be put into writing and signed by all the Parties.
13. The Mediator may facilitate the drawing up of any settlement agreement at the Mediation if requested to do so by the Parties. Where however the Parties may be legally represented it is agreed by the Parties that their respective legal representatives will between them draw up any settlement agreement.
14. If the Parties are unable to reach a settlement at the Mediation the Mediator may, if all the Parties so request, produce a non binding recommendation on possible terms of settlement but the Mediator shall, even if all Parties so request, be under no obligation so to do. Any such recommendation shall not represent legal advice to the Parties nor will it represent an opinion as to what a court or tribunal might order but it will set out what the Mediator considers are appropriate terms of settlement in all the circumstances.
15. If the Parties are unable to agree a settlement on the day of the Mediation the Mediator may agree, if all the Parties so request and if a settlement appears possible or relatively near, that the Mediation shall be temporarily postponed to another date in order to give the Parties a further opportunity to reach a settlement. Dates, venues, fees and/or other terms for any such postponement or extension shall be agreed with the Mediator by all the Parties.
16. If any Party wishes to withdraw from the Mediation at any time, the Mediator will declare that the Mediation shall terminate at that point. The Parties may agree to arrange a future date for resumption of the Mediation or if no such agreement is reached, the Mediation shall be considered to be at an end.

Confidentiality & Without Prejudice

17. Confidentiality is the hallmark of Mediation. The Mediator shall openly discuss all issues in dispute with each party privately but shall not divulge or pass on any part of those discussions to the other party/parties without the prior and express consent of the party concerned. Any settlement agreement that may be reached and entered into in the form of a written agreement signed by the parties shall not be confidential to any individual party but may be expressed to be confidential as between the parties themselves and any external third party. This is sometimes referred to as a ‘Tomlin Order’.
18. The privilege afforded by the Without Prejudice rules means that nothing that is said between the parties during the Mediation should leave the meeting and cannot be used later in correspondence or any proceedings, unless required by law. It specifically means that any offers, concessions or admissions made by either party in an effort to find a solution, as well as any information disclosed, cannot be used in any subsequent litigation unless required by law.

The Option to Litigate

19. Either party may commence or continue litigation at any time, even during Mediation

Mediator as Witness to Proceedings

20. All Parties agree and acknowledge that they may not and will not call the Mediator or Impact Mediation or any of its employees to give evidence in any proceedings or litigation between the parties or otherwise in connection with the Dispute or arising from the Mediation.
21. Impact Mediation and its Mediators shall be entitled to destroy any papers received by them from the parties or otherwise in relation to the Mediation when the Mediation has ended, whether that be by way of settlement, termination or otherwise.

Fees & Expenses

22. Fees for Impact Mediation’s services shall be those listed on the ‘Our Fees’ page and shall be payable prior to the Mediation Date.
23. Cancellation charges may apply at the rates shown under ‘Payment & Cancellation Terms’ shown on the ‘Legal Info’ dropdown on the main menu of our website.
24. In addition to the fees referred to above, each Party shall, in the absence of any other agreement, be responsible for their own costs and expenses of attending the Mediation. Where the Parties do not arrange the Venue for the Mediation themselves and the Venue is either arranged by Impact Mediation at a location agreed by the Parties or if the Venue is to be at the offices of Impact Mediation, a charge will made for the Mediation Venue the Parties will be jointly and severally liable for any such charge and for all expenses incurred at the venue. In the absence of any other agreement the Parties shall share all such expenses equally.

Numbers in Attendance

25. Only the Parties to the Dispute and/or their advisors (legal or otherwise) should attend the Mediation. If either Party wishes to bring other persons to the Mediation, they must first obtain the consent of the Mediator at least 5 working days in advance of the Mediation. Any such additional party attending must sign a formal confidentiality agreement at least 5 working days before the Mediation and identify their purpose for attending. The Mediator shall have complete discretion as to the attendance of such additional parties.

Coronavirus Protocol

26. For so long as the Coronavirus pandemic shall remain a threat to health in the UK, the Parties agree and confirm that they will comply with the reasonable requirements of Impact Mediation’s special rules set out and referred to under the heading of ‘Coronavirus’ on our website Home Page or the reasonable requirements of the Mediator.

Exclusion of Liability

27. The Parties agree, acknowledge and confirm that the Mediation shall be conducted by the Mediator in an effort to facilitate a settlement of the Dispute and in doing so he/she will exercise their skill, experience, knowledge and judgment as they may determine is required by the Dispute. Neither Impact Mediation nor the Mediator shall be liable to any of the Parties for any failure on the part of the Parties to agree a settlement or for any perceived act or omission in the services provided by the Mediator unless such perceived act or omission shall have been made in bad faith.

General Data Protection Rules (GDPR)

28. All information received by or disclosed to Impact Mediation or to any of its mediators or employees shall be subject to the GDPR rules as set out on our ‘Privacy & Cookies Policy’ page.

Proper Law

29. These General Terms & Conditions shall be construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales and the parties hereby submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.