Jane Walmsley
BA, LLB, LLM, MCIArb, UKCP, MBACP, Psychotherapist, Coach, Commercial & Workplace Mediator, Barrister (non-practicing)
- 1998 CEDR Accredited Mediator
- 25 years mediation experience
- CIArb Commercial Mediation Tutor, Chief Assessor & Assessor, RICS Commercial Mediation Assessor, Coach, Trainer, Non practicing Barrister & Psychotherapist
- Specialisms, general commercial & workplace disputes
Training
1998: CEDR (Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution) Accredited Commercial Mediator
2002: MATA (Mediation and Training Alternatives) Advanced Mediator Skills Training Course, Italy
2004: TeCSA (Technology and Construction Solicitors Association) Specialist Construction Course for Mediators
Mediation Style
Jane encourages people to take full advantage of the mediation process and the control which it gives them to explore all possible means of resolving their dispute and find pragmatic, realistic solutions. She works with participants on assessing all options and constructing safeguards to protect positions post-settlement, to allow them to make well-judged decisions in the light of available information. She is described as professional, facilitative, patient, persistent and perceptive.
Mediator Jane Walmsley – Experience
Jane has mediated and co-mediated in a wide range of commercial matters, from multi-million pound claims to claims brought in the Central London County Court and the Birmingham Civil Justice Centre mediation schemes. She also mediates in workplace disputes where no cash claim exists but where conflict between individuals has resulted in declining productivity, efficiency or profitability and made working life intolerable. Some examples of the cases she has mediated are:
- Claim by a GP against a former Partner and the Practice for racial discrimination and unfair dismissal.
- Dispute in a university between a senior academic and a member of staff in relation to changes made to a job description during maternity leave and a consequent claim for constructive dismissal.
- Dispute in the same university between a head of department and a member of their staff in relation to claims of bullying.
- Dispute in a college of further education in which a lecturer claimed that her manager was bullying her. The conflict had been going on for 2 years and the lecturer signed off sick with stress for 6 months.
- Dispute between joint property owners arising after the breakdown of their relationship. While the main dispute was about the value of the property and therefore the amount to be paid, there were also a considerable number of relationship issues in play.
- £2 million dispute between brothers about breach of fiduciary duty and the ownership of a family business.
- £200,000 claim by a building company for non-payment of fees for work done during the construction of commercial premises.
- £2 million claim for alleged negligent advice against stockbrokers.
- Dispute between partners in a solicitor’s firm about the terms and conditions for one partner to leave the partnership.
- Dispute between partners in an accountancy firm about the mechanisms for one partner to leave the partnership, including a £260,000 claim.
- £250,000 claim for defamation by a businessman against a friend with whom he had entered into a project which had failed, resulting in the breakdown of their relationship.
- Dispute between two electrical engineering companies about the purchase of industrial robots and the subsequent breakdown of a joint venture project.
- Claim by a solicitors’ practice for non-payment of fees against a client for whom they were acting in an employment dispute.
Promoting and Raising the Profile of Mediation
1999 to date: A founder member of the Association of Midlands Mediators, a regional association of commercial mediators which:
- provides mediation services
- promotes mediation in the Midlands area
- provides CPD training for members
2000-2002: Member of the CEDR training faculty.
Involved in delivering “The Lawyer’s Role in Mediation” training courses to litigation departments in individual solicitors’ firms, a barristers’ chambers, an insurance company and the Treasury Solicitor.
2002-2005: Member of the Birmingham Civil Justice Centre Mediation Scheme Committee. Participated in the establishment and monitoring of this court-led mediation scheme from its inception to its end due to changes in Government policy.
2005 to date: Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) Mediation Accreditation Panel, acting as course director, an assessor and as a chief assessor.
2009 to date: Member of the MATA training faculty, providing feedback and coaching to delegates on the CIArb Commercial Mediator Training Course.
In addition, Jane has participated in a number of mock mediations, both as the mediator and as a party. These have been designed to demonstrate the mediation process and allow the audience to observe the strength, flexibility, and value of the process.
Mediator Jane Walmsley – Professional Background
Jane is a psychotherapist and non-practising barrister. She was called to the Bar in July 2008.
Has studied a LL.M in International Commercial Law at the University of Birmingham, comprising modules in:
- English law of the international sale of goods
- Commercial conflicts of laws
- International and comparative oil and gas law
- International commercial arbitration.
In addition to her mediation practice, Jane runs a training consultancy practice. She qualified as a trainer in 1987 and has been training lawyers since 1990, initially as Training Manager with a large national group of solicitors’ firms and since 1993 as an independent consultant. Her client base includes many of the leading city and regional law firms. She is much in demand for communication and management skills training, particularly negotiation skills and presentation skills, and as a coach to partners and assistants on improving and developing the ways in which they and their teams communicate and work together.
