A leading reputation

St John’s Chambers’ reputation as the leading mediation set in Bristol and the South West region reflects the quality and breadth of our team of experienced mediators.   Regularly instructed by the country’s leading firms, our specialists work across a wide range of practice areas, mediating in person in Bristol, London and across the UK, as well as online both nationally and internationally.  Recent clients range from high profile international corporations to UK public bodies and local government, SMEs, charities, insurers, landowners and occupiers, professionals, groups and individuals, and recently included a foreign national government.

Our Expertise

The majority of our mediation team is ranked in the legal directories, either for mediation or as counsel for their specialist areas of law.  Our excellent client feedback and volume of repeat instructions are testament to their skill and commitment to mediation.

Our team includes experts across the full spectrum of Chambers specialisms, including commercial, contractual and company disputes, land and property, construction and engineering, wills and trusts, professional negligence, public and local government law, personal injury, and family law (see below for a full list).  We are able to offer a range of seniority within most of those practice areas.

Our mediators have extensive experience in both high and lower value disputes, as well as those that are legally complex, and conflict marked by high emotion.  We often mediate in multi-party disputes and are experienced in handling less common formats such as multi-day and hybrid (combined in person and online) mediations.

We offer barristers who are mediators in cases within their areas of specialism; in addition, a small number of our mediators are full time, specialist mediators who regularly mediate across a wider range of practice areas.

All our mediators take great pride in offering a mediation service that is professional, user-friendly, efficient, and empathetic – whether commercially or emotionally.

Areas of law

We offer mediation services across a wide range of legal areas, including:

Our mediation facilities

Our mediators are happy to travel to other venues, but Chambers regularly hosts mediations in our own suite of rooms for no additional charge.  We have excellent, modern and fully equipped, scalable conference facilities. Our main conference room can comfortably house up to 24 people and we offer a number of smaller rooms to suit varying sizes of mediation teams.  Video conferencing is available along with high speed WiFi, and all necessary catering and refreshments can be provided.

Our clerks offer efficient administrative support to ensure that your mediation is handled smoothly from start to finish.

Arranging a mediation – next steps

Our mediators charge a fixed fee for mediating, whether for a whole day, or for longer or shorter sessions.  You will find that our rates are highly competitive.  Please contact our clerks to discuss fees.

Our mediators are always pleased to talk informally about potential or upcoming mediations, and are well placed to offer guidance on sensitive issues such as process design, engagement and preparation.  Do get in touch if you would welcome a conversation and we will arrange for one of our team to talk to you.

Once a mediation is booked we will provide a timetable for the preparation and exchange of paperwork.  In appropriate cases our mediators will offer a pre-mediation online meeting with each team separately (without additional charge); usually this will take place shortly before the mediation.

Testimonials

Alex is very good at putting the parties on the spot and challenging them. I always found him very robust to deal with when it came to contentious probate work. He provides robust opinions and has an excellent style. He is very approachable and clients feel reassured by him.”

Chambers UK, 2025 Mediation

 

Harry is fantastic. He goes above and beyond when dealing with both parties. He quickly understands the sensitive issues and the key areas of dispute that are crucial to focus on. He’s approachable and well prepared. He quickly builds up a rapport with clients, which is invaluable throughout the course of the mediations. He’s balanced and he challenges where necessary.”

Chambers UK, 2025 Mediation

Contact Us

Please contact our clerks to find out how we can help you.

Mediation Team

alex-troup

Alex Troup KC

  • Call: 1998
  • Silk: 2023

Alex is an experienced mediator with particular experience of dealing with contentious trust and probate cases. He adopts a friendly but no-nonsense approach to mediations and has a high success rate for achieving settlements. Alex was one of...

View profile

Richard Stead

  • Call: 1979

Richard has been a qualified mediator for over 10 years, and has extensive expertise in personal injury, clinical negligence and professional negligence claims, and property damage matters. Richard’s practice is also complemented by his highly sought-after expertise in...

View profile
John Sharples

John Sharples

  • Call: 1992

John became a fully-qualified mediator in early 2015 and now specialising in mediating property, private client and related areas. He also lectures on aspects of mediation law and practice to solicitors in the South West and Wales. John...

View profile
Jacqueline Humphreys

Jacqueline Humphreys

  • Call: 1994

Jacqueline is an accredited mediator and a member of the Society of Mediators. Her mediation skills and qualifications are fully applicable to any area of civil and private family law. Where parties prefer a meditator with specialist professional...

View profile
John Dickinson

John Dickinson

  • Call: 1995

John trained as a mediator at the London School of Mediation, was accredited in 2015 and now serves as both a mediator and as a representative at mediations. His approach to facilitative mediation is to control the process...

View profile
Matthew White

Matthew White

  • Call: 1997

Matthew is a skilled barrister and accredited mediator with over 25 years of experience in personal injury litigation. He is highly ranked in the legal directories and is described as having a “fantastic attention to detail” as well...

View profile
Julian Horne

Julian Horne

  • Call: 1998

Julian is an experienced personal injury barrister with expertise across the field. He is a qualified mediator and has also appeared as an advocate at mediations across the full breadth of his practice.

View profile

Harry Spurr

  • Call: 2001

Harry is an accomplished and directory-ranked mediator in commercial, civil and property disputes. Described recently as “outstanding”, highly-skilled” and “at the top of his profession”, Harry is regularly commended by parties for his mediation style, and in particular...

View profile
James Pearce Smith

James Pearce-Smith

  • Call: 2002

James qualified as a mediator in January 2018.  He is very experienced in representing parties at mediations, especially involving commercial disputes and claims for professional negligence, and is now able to use this experience to assist parties as...

View profile

Zoë Saunders

  • Call: 2003

Having practiced in family law Zoë is well aware of the toll that the stress and uncertainty of litigation can take on clients and how costs can escalate. As a mediator Zoë will draw on her experience of...

View profile
Christopher Jones

Christopher Jones

  • Call: 2004

Christopher qualified as a mediator in January 2018. His background is predominantly in trust litigation and advice, contentious and non-contentious probate applications, real property litigation (particularly in relation to easements, restrictive covenants and contracts for the sale of...

View profile

Jody Atkinson

  • Call: 2005

Jody’s practice embraces both traditional chancery (wills and trusts) and family finance (divorce and financial remedies). The truth is that in all of these areas there is usually a family relationship breakdown lying behind the dispute, and it...

View profile
Ben Handy

Ben Handy

  • Call: 2008

As a qualified mediator, Ben can help parties resolve disputes without the need for costly and uncertain litigation. His varied personal injury and clinical negligence practice means that he is keenly aware of the legal and practical realities...

View profile
Oliver Wooding

Oliver Wooding

  • Call: 2009

Oliver is a trained mediator and experienced mediation counsel who deals with a whole range of legal disputes, but in particular contentious probate, trusts, and real estate disputes. He offers a practical and friendly approach that encourages parties,...

View profile
Natasha Dzameh

Natasha Dzameh

  • Call: 2010

Natasha is an accredited mediator who is available for instruction in mediations in any of her practice areas. She is a specialist commercial and chancery barrister who is accustomed to acting as sole counsel in high value litigation...

View profile
Charlie Newington Bridges

Charlie Newington-Bridges

  • Call: 2011

Charlie qualified as a mediator in January 2019. His background is predominantly in commercial litigation, company and shareholder disputes, contract disputes, financial services/banking disputes, contentious probate applications and Inheritance Act claims but Charlie is happy to mediate in...

View profile

Adam Boyle

  • Call: 2012

Adam is passionate about mediation and the benefits it can offer to the parties who participate in it. He trained as a mediator with the London School of Mediation nearly ten years ago in 2015 and has been...

View profile
Oliver Riley

Oliver Riley

  • Call: 2013

Oliver is a qualified civil and commercial mediator, and represents interested parties in various forms of alternative dispute resolution in matters across his areas of specialism. Oliver has a great deal of experience in the successful resolution of...

View profile

Daniel Soar

  • Call: 2016

Daniel has been an accredited mediator for 7 years, having completed the Civil and Commercial Mediation Course with ADR Group in 2016. He is a firm advocate of mediation and has witnessed time and again how it can...

View profile
Zoey White

Zoey White

  • Call: 2018

Zoey is a specialist family law barrister with a particular focus on matters relating to private law children disputes. She is regularly instructed to represent clients in all types of applications under s.8 Children Act 1989 and is...

View profile
Guy Adams

Guy Adams

  • Call: 1989

Guy is a chancery and commercial specialist who acts in complex cases which often raise difficult and/or novel points of law. His commercial work includes banking, finance, commercial contract, company and partnership and professional negligence. He also has...

View profile
Richard Gold

Richard Gold

  • Call: 2006

Richard is a qualified mediator, having trained with the London School of Mediation. His mediation experience includes acting as a mediator in a complex probate dispute, in which a settlement was reached at the end of the mediation....

View profile

Get in touch or request a callback

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.