South West Mediation

We received a great service from Claire and the team and would certainly recommend them.She enabled us to work in a collaborative manner to reach fair solutions using a very calm but caring attitude. Claire was always very friendly and informative. She guided us through the process in a timely manner, telling us what we needed to hear rather than what we might have wanted to hear. Thank you Claire
Nov 14th, 2020

The mediators at South West Mediation do such an important job. I always recommend them to anyone I know who is contemplating a divorce. Its a much more positive and constructive experience to mediate as a separated couple, rather than face the horror of a divorce court. No one wins in a divorce court case, and no one should go into it willingly without knowing what they face. However, in mediation, with a good mediator, each side is considered, represented fairly and the outcome reflects this. In turn, this spares everyone a great deal of trauma. I couldnt recommend the team at South West Mediation more highly.
Feb 10th, 2019

We attended mediation with SWM in Taunton to resolve an outstanding dispute that had become deadlocked over 18 months by the defendants legal counsel. A court date had been set but we thought that we would once again suggest mediation. We were surprised that the defendant agreed to this as all previous suggestions had been knocked back. He had researched SW Mediation and suggested that they mediate our case as their Taunton office was half way from both parties in terms of driving distance. Our mediator was John Loram. John got in touch with both parties before the mediation via email. We sent him the case and our position statement prior to the mediation which he shared with the defendant and his statement with us. By sending the information ahead of Mediation John was able to read through the case to grasp what had happened and why we wanted to resolve the matter before the court date. When we met John in Taunton he showed us to the meeting room that we were to have use of for the mediation whilst the defendant had use of another room. He ensured that we did not meet the defendant as had been our wish. He arranged for different arrival and leaving times so that we would not meeting at any point when in the office building. We explained to John when we met him that the process of litigation was taking its toll on our health as it was becoming more and more stressful as well as very costly. We have never experienced litigation which we realised wasn't getting us the quick result that we wanted but that every step of the way seemed to be more stressful and expensive with long delays and with no real end in sight. John was able, in a matter of 5 hours, to restart a dialogue between us and the defendant and reach an agreement. After only an hour or so into the mediation he had persuaded the defendant to come to a financial agreement with us. It was not the full amount that we were claiming in court but we agreed to lower our settlement in order to find closure. John was very professional, enormously likable and very honest about his approach to mediation. We only wish that the defendant in our case had agreed to mediation 18 months ago. His legal advisers steered him clear of a settlement at the start of litigation but what did they actually achieve as the defendant in the end has taken back the goods that we purchased that were not found to be as advertised. I think that mediation should be a compulsory first step in litigation and that court can only be used as a final solution if a settlement cannot first be reached. We would like to thank John for giving us closure so quickly.
Sep 25th, 2019