Earlier this year I acted as adjudicator in four related adjudications that ran simultaneously, and I thought it would be worthwhile sharing my experience as I think there are some interesting points for parties and their representatives who might be considering using adjudication for multiparty disputes.
Jonathan Cope
The fast evolving nature of the law of adjudication means that it’s important to continually review related guidance, and early in 2016 I was asked by RICS to chair a working group tasked with producing the fourth edition of the guidance note.
If you Google my name (so I am told as I obviously wouldn’t do that myself…), I’m nowhere to be seen. The first hit you get is the former lead male in the Royal Ballet (the name is where the similarities end) and an English General who took a pounding from the Scots in 1745.
In the November 2011 edition of this newsletter I wrote an article about a panel debate held on the ‘new’ payment provisions by the London and South East Region. One year on, I thought it was worthwhile reviewing how they are faring.
Whilst the amendments to the adjudication provisions of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 are interesting, the changes to the payment provisions will have a more significant impact on the industry – both on contractors as they try to grapple with the various different notices and on lawyers, adjudicators and judges dealing with the inevitable payment disputes that will arise.
“Nomination – a dark art?” – Report from the London and South East Region Event on 2nd December 2009
On the 22nd February, the London Region assembled a top class panel from the world of adjudication for our “Myths and Legends of Adjudication” event. We managed to get representatives from the life cycle of an adjudication: representing the users, we had Alastair Easton of Skanska UK, for the lawyers we had Adam Constable of Keating Chambers, for the nominating bodies we had Martin Burns of the RICS Dispute Resolution Service and for the adjudicators, Franco Mastrandrea of Northcroft Management Services.
On 19th September the London Region welcomed John Sheils of Shadbolt who gave an excellent talk entitled “The Liability of Adjudicators”. John admitted that, when first asked to talk on this subject, considering the wording of s.108(4) of the HGCRA, he wondered how he was going to fill an hour. However, such was the depth of his research and the active involvement of the audience John’s talk could have continued well into the night.
The London Region held the second part of its myths and legends panel event at the offices of Nabarro in November 2007 and we once again managed to assemble an expert panel representing the complete life cycle of an adjudication.