Stephen Barker
Stephen Barker Mediation is a provider of commercial mediation and training services.

For many years Stephen Barker was one of the leading commercial litigation and arbitration lawyers in the West Midlands. He spent the majority of his 25 year legal career at international law firm Eversheds, where he was the partner in charge of the Birmingham office's commercial litigation team. In 2012, Stephen left mainstream private practice and established Stephen Barker Mediation.

As a mediator Stephen brings together his deep understanding of commercial litigation and arbitration with a natural flair for creating innovative solutions to business disputes.

Background

In the early 1990s, when mediation in the UK was still in its infancy, Stephen had his first taste of mediation. It changed the way he looked at his clients’ disputes forever.

He was representing a business in a hotly contested bet-the-ranch dispute that had seemed impossible to settle out of court. The two sides were light years apart. The costs to take the case to trial would have been vast. Stephen took the then radical step of proposing mediation. The other party took some persuading, but eventually agreed. The mediator was able to achieve a deal that could never have been achieved at court. The clients on both sides were pleased with the settlement they reached.

Stephen has been involved in alternative dispute resolution ever since and gained CEDR accreditation as a mediator in 2001.

It is now widely recognised that no serious litigation or arbitration lawyer can overlook mediation as a route to solving their clients’ disputes.

If you are new to civil or commercial mediation or are just curious to know more, take a look at the Mediation FAQs.