Liability – What immunities or potential liabilities does a mediator have? Is professional liability insurance available or required?

There is no statutory requirement under UK domestic law to have any training, experience, professional accreditation or membership of a body in order to describe oneself as a ‘mediator’. However, in practice, unless a recognised course of training has been completed successfully and accreditation, certification, registration and/or empanelments by a recognised body, such as the Civil Mediation Council (CMC), the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution or the International Mediation Institute, has been achieved then a would-be mediator may struggle to build a successful practice. In England and Wales, the CMC, which was founded as a charity in 2003, is the largest registering and membership-based regulatory organisation for all matters related to mediation and is considered to be the first point of contact for the government, the judiciary, the legal profession and industry on mediation issues. The CMC includes most of the country’s top mediators among its membership. CMC registered status is considered a guarantee that the mediator will have undertaken approved training to agreed industry standards, follow an appropriate code of conduct (no less rigorous than the EU Model Code of Conduct for Mediators), carry out necessary continuing professional development activities (at least six hours of mediation-specific CPD per year), and have suitable insurance (not less than £1 million and more if the sums involved exceed this amount) and a suitable published complaints-handling procedure (meeting the CMC’s minimum standards). Further details of the CMC’s requirements, including the full membership rules linked therein, can be found at https://civilmediation.org/membership/.