Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution

Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) is a London-based mediation and alternative dispute resolution body. It was founded as a non-profit organisation in 1990, with the support of The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and a number of British businesses and law firms, to encourage the development and use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and mediation in commercial disputes. Professor Karl Mackie, a barrister and psychologist, became the organisation's Chief Executive and Eileen Carroll QC (hon), a Trans-Atlantic partner with a law firm (who had been involved in the initiative to form CEDR) joined to become the Deputy Chief Executive in 1996. On 12 June 2010 it was announced in the Queen's Birthday Honours that Karl Mackie was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) by the UK Government for ‘services to mediation', the first citing of this reason for the award.

Initially CEDR's focus was, by necessity, UK-focused, where in the early 1990s mediation was not well established in business disputes. Through its campaigning and training work CEDR helped influence the civil justice system. In 1996 the then Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, Lord Harry Woolf (who now retired is Chair of CEDR's International Advisory Council), published his 'Access To Civil Justice Report' which encouraged the use of ADR, followed by the Civil Procedure Rules in 1999 which enabled judges to impose cost sanctions to either party when ADR was refused or ignored. These guidelines, along with case law (for example Dunnet v Railtrack, 2002) and subsequent clarification of the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) saw the growth of the use of ADR and in particular mediation in the UK. Parallel to this was a growth in demand for CEDR's services in dispute resolution and training. From the mid-1990s onwards CEDR’s focus became international, to begin with encouraging mediation in other European countries and working on international cases, to establishing the MEDAL international mediation service provider alliance (2005) and creating the first international mediation centre in China with China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT).

CEDR works in four main ways.

CEDR states that all money raised from its activities get put into the promotion of mediation and ADR, through events, schemes and running many services at cost. CEDR, a UK registered charity (no.1060369), asks global businesses to be members to support these activities. CEDR runs a number of elements under this umbrella, which include: The Exchange Participant Network Programme – quarterly events and newsletter for mediators around the world (over 700 members). The European Mediation Congress – a biennial conference event always held in London, last held in 2007. In 2009 this was instead a Conference on Settlement in International Arbitration. The Excellence in ADR Awards – another biennial event - a 20th Anniversary Awards will be held in 2010. The Mediator Audit – again biennial, previously to coincided with the Congress and gauges the quantity and quality of mediations in the UK over the previous two years. The last audit was published May 2010. The International Mediation Institute - as a board member of IMI since 2014, CEDR participates in setting quality standards and promoting the adoption of quality mediation around the world.

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