UK Mediation Centre announces new Director of Commercial Dispute Services

Lauren McGuirl, a former Senior Associate in the Financial Institutions Dispute Group at the law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, is announced as the new Commercial Dispute Services Director at CEDR (Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution). Lauren will oversee the hundreds of mediations conducted by CEDR each year by its global panel of 144 mediators, with a combined quantum of claims of multiple billions in pounds sterling.

The CEDR Commercial Dispute Resolution services is Europe’s largest independent mediation service provider for major commercial disputes, operating for three decades and having helped over 100,000 disputants with civil and commercial disputes.

Lauren takes over from John Munton, Director of Dispute Resolution Services, who has been with CEDR since 2011, is now focusing on contracted ADR services for Corporates in the Business to Consumer space. John has been instrumental in growing both CEDR’s Commercial and Consumer ADR operations. CEDR’s Commercial Mediation team works with hundreds of law firms every year on the appointment of mediators and management of cases, including the successful National Health Service Mediation scheme which John developed and piloted. CEDR now also handles many thousands of consumer complaints in a wide range of sectors under certification from a number of public bodies and government agencies. The success in this area has necessitated the need for Lauren’s recruitment in CEDR’s Commercial Dispute Services.

Lauren joined Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in 2007 and is an Attorney in New York and a Solicitor Advocate in England & Wales. At the firm she represented financial institutions and multi-national corporations in a broad range of litigation and contentious regulatory matters. Educated at DeSales University in the USA and St Catherine’s College, University of Oxford, Lauren’s experience at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer included extensive court experience, specialising in high value disputes in the financial institutions sector involving complex financial products and agreements. She advised a number of leading international institutions, on multi-jurisdictional disputes before the High Court and Court of Appeal and worked closely with local counsel on related proceedings outside England and Wales. Lauren also advised clients in relation to contentious regulatory matters, many of which involve multiple jurisdictions and regulators.

Commenting on the appointment James South, CEDR’s Managing Director said; “Lauren McGuirl’s successful track record of working with clients and lawyers will enable CEDR to further enhance our mediation service across the many hundreds of cases dealt with each year. Through Lauren’s insight we intend to deliver more settlements in a wide variety of disputes, providing huge savings to business and government both in the UK and overseas.”