Mediation Special Interest Group

STEP has launched the Mediation Special Interest Group to marshal relevant expertise, raise awareness of the issues, and to promote best practices in dealing with these most difficult of disputes.

The past couple of years has seen a marked increase in trust and estate litigation, and as family fortunes suffer from the global financial crisis, it seems likely that the trend will continue to accelerate.

STEP is concerned at the impact of such litigation not only on the markets STEP members serve, but also on those members themselves, as anyone holding family assets, or who advised on the structure in dispute, is highly likely to get dragged into the fray. Litigation can become hard fought, prove costly and exacerbate family tensions. STEP considers that trust and estate disputes are well suited to Alternative Dispute Resolution, mediation in particular and wishes to encourage the greater use of mediation.

The group currently operates only in London but draws on experience gleaned from disputes before the courts in both England and Wales and certain offshore jurisdictions. We look forward to seeing similar local groupings appearing around the STEP World, and to local branches picking up some of these themes.

This Special Interest Group has created recommended mediation and stay agreements and has promulgated guidance. These, along with other resources, can be found in the Resource Materials section and are recommended for use by both members and non members alike. We welcome comments on them. We would also like to hear about your experiences, both good and bad, of litigation and ADR.

Please email all questions, comments and suggested additional content for this site to mediation@step.org