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Mediators

Stephen Ruttle KC

Stephen Ruttle KC

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Stephen Ruttle KC – Brick Court Chambers  A full-time commercial mediator since 2002, Stephen Ruttle KC  at Brick Court Chambers ‘has the technical legal expertise to engage with even the most complex legal disputes, and is able to articulate clearly the options for the parties in a constructive way that makes it possible for them to compromise’. Handling approximately 2,000 cases to date (including over 100 virtual mediations), Ruttle’s appointments derive from both the public and private sectors; while a great share of his mediation work involves substantial sums that are in dispute. Practising predominantly in London, Ruttle also mediates regularly in other parts of the UK, as well as Ireland and numerous overseas jurisdictions. The chair of Trustees of Wandsworth Mediation Service, Ruttle is additionally mandated regularly to mediate community and faith-based disputes.
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Stephen has practised at Brick Court Chambers since 1978 and has worked full-time as a commercial mediator for the past 23 years. By June 2025, he had mediated over 2,000 business, legal, and governmental disputes of every kind, including some of the largest and most sensitive in the UK and internationally. In 2019, he co-mediated the landmark Group Litigation between Sub Postmasters and Post Office, and during the 2020–21 lockdowns conducted nearly 100 virtual mediations. While based in London, he regularly mediates across the UK and abroad, often involving sums exceeding £1bn.

Stephen is consistently ranked as a leading commercial mediator in The Legal 500 and Chambers. For three years he was listed among the top 10 commercial mediators worldwide by WWL, which in 2018 also named him one of 15 global “Thought Leaders” in mediation. He has since been appointed to The Legal 500’s “Hall of Fame” for mediators of the highest excellence.

Beyond his professional practice, Stephen founded Wandsworth Mediation Service in 2004, serving as chair of trustees from 2007 to 2024. The charity provides community mediation, trains local mediators, and promotes peace initiatives, and in 2024 was awarded the inaugural King’s Award for Voluntary Service. He is also developing a pilot project for a national community peace service.

Over the past eight years, Stephen has increasingly mediated disputes within the church and between faith groups. He works closely with the Archbishop of Canterbury’s reconciliation team and contributed to the 2013 Faith in Conflict conference at Coventry Cathedral.

Stephen is increasingly active as a mediator of community and faith-based disputes. He is currently involved in projects that aim to train a new generation of peacemakers and to use faith-group buildings as places from which community mediation services can operate as neighbourhood reconciliation centres.

In 2018 Legal 500 included Stephen in its Mediator Hall of Fame which recognises individuals who have received constant praise by their clients for continued excellence over many years.

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