IPOS Spotlight on: Mark Shaw KC

IPOS are delighted to turn the spotlight to Mark Shaw KC

Mark is recognised by Legal 500 and Chambers UK as a leading silk in professional disciplinary & regulatory law, administrative & public law, environmental law, civil liberties & human rights law and information & data protection law.

He became a barrister in 1987, took silk in 2002 and qualified as a mediator in 2008; building his mediation practice and profile in the last decade especially. ?Though he still practises as a litigation barrister, his mediation practice now accounts for about a quarter of his time: a warrior, turned healer.? At the outset he expected to mediate within his litigation specialism, the public sector; rooted in many years on the Attorney General’s panel of counsel approved for government work, and as a Special Advocate security cleared for terrorist cases.? It turns out, though, that public sector disputes mediate relatively rarely: a sad phenomenon, which Mark and IPOS colleagues are trying to reverse in a series of current seminars.? So he has actually built mediation expertise across the board, notably: commercial, contract, partnership, tort, employment/workplace, industrial relations, financial services/regulation, environment/contamination, utilities, professional negligence, health sector, pensions & insurance, land and property, landlord and tenant, boundaries/neighbours, planning, care provision and costs (private and public), media, police, FOIA & data protection, religious disputes, university/school discipline, costs assessments and procurement.? Nowadays he often deals with the more complex and weighty mediations.? They demand advanced mediation skills and discussions with the parties before mediation day, to “hit the ground running”. ?Sometimes the disputes cover multiple parties and issues, around the world, spanning several days or (intermittently) even weeks and months.

Specific examples include a joint mediation (with Lord Woolf, the former Lord Chief Justice) to apportion what was said to be the largest costs bill in English legal history, a workplace mediation involving pension changes for 1000s of public sector workers, a dispute between a foreign government and its entire judiciary over their terms and conditions of services, the allocation of care responsibilities and costs covering many years between four organisations, and the settlement of a personal injury claim arising from a police dog biting the homeowner rather than the burglar.

In 2018 Mark was admitted to the Legal 500 Hall of Fame for excellence in mediation and shortlisted for “Silk of the Year” in the Chambers Bar Awards (one of three nominees) in the field of Professional Discipline.

About his mediation style, Mark says the following:

“Old problems often need to be approached from new angles, if middle ground is to be found. When the mediator arrives, there have usually already been various failed attempts to talk and settle.? I find a new start is best made by getting quickly to the true underlying issues: simplifying what seems to have become complex. What is really relevant to the parties now? Lowering the temperature helps to increase confidence and flexibility. So, I aim to inject some calm and informality too, but with sufficient authority and initiative to coax parties towards new solutions. And then you need stamina: the dogged energy to leave no stone unturned.”

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Clients say these sorts of things:

“Mark Shaw KC was excellent.? He is very clear and helpful.? His style was open and realistic, and he spelt out the reality to us, when necessary, at certain junctures.? This was an enormously difficult case and he helped us through it in a subtle and highly skilled way.”

“Simply excellent”, “a thoroughbred performer”, “insightful”, “entirely practical”, “immensely knowledgeable and reassuring”, with “complete moral and intellectual integrity”.

Directories agree:

“An exceptional performer who has unparalleled expertise in public sector mediations.”? Chambers and Partners

“He adopts a very calm and empathetic approach while also cultivating an air of authority that clients respect.”? Chambers and Partners

“He is extremely bright and committed to getting an agreement.? He’s willing to see through to the bitter end of a dispute irrespective of the time.”? Chambers and Partners

“[A] very approachable mediator, who exudes authority and unsurpassable knowledge of public law. It is a rare quality to be able to make people feel comfortable and get parties to open up in a mediation, while still maintaining mastery over the mediation process.”? Legal 500

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To find out more about Mark Shaw KC’s practice, please see here.