News from the Society

News
The Society held its Annual Dinner in the splendid surroundings of the Armourers’ Hall on Thursday 6 November, 2014. The guests of the Society attending the dinner were HH Judge Havelock-Allen QC, HH Judge Grant, Mr Hamish Lal, Ms Ann Levin, Ms Anne Minogue, Mr Ron Nobbs, Mr Peter Rees QC, Mr Mark Roe, Ms Sally Roe, and Mr Mark Tiggeman.
The Hon Mr Justice Akenhead kindly presented a short paper to the Society, and led the discussion on the subject of “Parkinson’s Law in relation to Adjudication”. The light-hearted subject yielded some interesting observations on the growth of adjudication and its effects on the fair resolution of disputes in the construction industry.
Members can now pay their membership subscriptions and selected event tickets online. Please use the links in the Members tab.

The contributions to the Conference, loosely based on the topic “Evidence” were as follows:

Mrs Frances Kirkham - Tribunals as experts
Ian Salisbury - Excoriating the expert
Christopher Miers - Expert shopping
John Redmond - Equal treatment of witnesses
Tony Canham - Teasing out crucial evidence in document-heavy cases: proportionality, justice and economics
Philip Fidler - Distinguishing submissions from evidence in adjudications
John Sims - Does hot-tubbing need a protocol?
Simon Tolson - The short life of the jointly appointed expert

John Rushton passed away peacefully at his home in the care of his wife Jenny on 22 May 2013, following a second battle with cancer.

A new paper by Philip L. Bruner entitled "Rapid Resolution ADR" is available to download.

The Society is pleased to welcome the following new members: Gwyn Owen, Philip Fidler, Frances Kirkham, Simon Tolson, Max Wieliczko, Rosemary Jackson QC, Adrian Hughes QC, Roger ter Haar QC, Nick Henchie, David Bateson and Stuart Kennedy.

The Society held its Annual Conference at the Geroge Hotel, Hathersage, Derbyshire, over the weekend 14-15 May, 2005.

The Government has announced that it has appointed Sir Michael Latham to review the workings of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 following representations from various trade bodies in the Industry. More details can be found on the DTI website. A number of members of the Society are on the Adjudication Panels of the bodies listed in the Press Announcement as having been contracted by Sir Michael. The consultation period is rumoured as being very short.

The Review Body has been asked by the Committee of the Society to draft a supplementary procedure to reflect the lessons of adjudication whilst allowing for a more detailed consideration of the evidence than is possible in 28 days. The principal initial suggestions include a time limit of perhaps three months, or 100 days, within which the Award must be produced which can only be amended by the agreement of both parties.