Giles is an accredited mediator (ADR Chambers) and an accredited workplace mediator (CEDR). He mediates employment, partnership and professional disputes, and workplace conflicts between colleagues, teams or a professional and their employer, where the parties want a resolution that a tribunal or a disciplinary process cannot give them.

His thirty-six years as an advocate mean he understands how a dispute will look if it does go to a hearing, what each side's realistic alternatives are, and where a settlement is likely to be found. Parties and their advisers value a mediator who can test positions without taking sides.

Types of mediation

• Employment disputes: discrimination, whistleblowing, dismissal and exit terms, including matters already in the employment tribunal and those where proceedings are being avoided
• Workplace mediation: conflict between colleagues, between a manager and a team member, or within a partnership or professional practice, usually before any formal process and often as an alternative to a grievance or investigation
• Partnership and shareholder disputes: exits, profit share and the terms of separation

How a mediation works

A mediation day is normally arranged within a few weeks of contact. Giles will speak to each party or their advisers beforehand, read the papers, and agree the format: in person, online, or a combination. On the day the parties meet in joint and private sessions and any agreement is recorded in writing before the mediation ends. Workplace mediations are usually shorter, half a day or a day, and are often followed by a short written note of what has been agreed for the employer's records.

Fees are agreed in writing in advance, normally as a fixed fee for the mediation day including preparation, and shared between the parties unless otherwise agreed.