CV

It is widely thought that the mediator needs to be qualified in the profession relevant to the dispute; that a case with deep legal issues requires a lawyer mediator, or that an engineering dispute needs a mediator who is also a chartered engineer. That is seldom the case, as Chris Makin's range of cases illustrates. He is often chosen as a mediator because he is a chartered accountant, because he understands business, and because he is seen as the best man to solve a partnership or director dispute.

It seldom works out that way!

The mediator does not give advice, and does not make any judgements. He encourages the parties to put all their past squabbles behind them, to rise above the details of the dispute, and to consider how the dispute may be resolved to the advantage of both sides, by looking at the bigger picture and by reaching a solution they can both (or all) live with.

To assist the parties with that approach, it is not necessary for him to explore – or even to understand fully - all the technical aspects of the dispute. His main skills should be as a listener, to draw the parties together and perhaps to suggest imaginative solutions. Whatever his core profession, the mediator must be, above all, a warm human being.

As mediator he has dealt with many types of disputes, including of course business purchase and sale, partnerships, contractual failings and professional negligence – an accountant's kind of dispute – but also construction, sub-contracting, rights of way, boundaries, legal fees, playwrights, fraud, housing disrepair, expensive motor cars, horrendous family probate disputes, and many more.

One of Chris Makin's specialisms is housing disrepair. He came into it by chance, for what is a chartered accountant expected to know about leaky roofs, damp walls and Section 11 of the Landlord & Tenant Act, or Section 4 of the Defective Premises Act? Yet many public housing bodies and their tenants have chosen to appoint Chris Makin as their mediator, because he can do much to help both parties in this difficult area.

These are some of the areas of challenge in the mediations Chris has conducted:

• Engineering contractual failure
• Boundary disputes in construction projects
• Neighbourhood disputes – the infamous Leylandii hedge
• Defamation
• Failure to write a play for which a fee had been received
• Partnership dissolution
• Defective - very expensive - motor vehicles
• Fraud in a family partnership
• Sale of companies
• Electrical contracting
• Valuation of accountancy practices
• Legal costs
• Joint ventures in construction
• Housing disrepair
• Rights of way

Chris Makin is always willing to talk to you, without charge or obligation, about how he could help to settle your disputes.

Attached is Chris Makin's formal CV. It is often necessary for the solicitor on one side to persuade the other solicitor of his choice of mediator. To facilitate this, the CV may be downloaded and sent to the other side.