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ARTICLE · 13 JULY 2004

Local Government Law - Costs Sanctions on Refusing ADR

Pinsent Masons
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Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) is now well-established and positively encouraged in all suitable cases. On 23 March 2001 the former Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, pledged that Government Departments will go to court only as a last resort and that Government legal disputes will be settled by mediation or arbitration whenever possible.

United KingdomGovernment, Public Sector
Nicholas Dobson
Nicholas Dobson

Originally published June 2004

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) is now well-established and positively encouraged in all suitable cases. On 23 March 2001 the former Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, pledged that Government Departments will go to court only as a last resort and that Government legal disputes will be settled by mediation or arbitration whenever possible.

Lord Woolf giving judgment in the Court of Appeal on 14 December 2001 in Cowl and others v. Plymouth City Council indicated the 'heavy obligation' of lawyers acting in a public law dispute where there is a suitable alternative dispute resolution mechanism 'to resort to litigation only if it is really unavoidable'. And the Department for Constitutional Affairs points out that:

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