Alun Thomas is an employment lawyer who has worked in the field for over 30 years. In the last 10 years he has come to realise that mediation is very often a better route to resolving workplace and employment difficulties than following formal grievance or complaints processes. A partner at Anderson Strathern he leads their Employment and Pensions Unit, is a founder member of the Scottish Discrimination Law Association and in 2018 was elected as Chair of Scottish Mediation.
Linn has been a Trustee for nearly 4 years. She is one of the two Vice-Chairs, and chairs the SM’s https://www.scottishmediation.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Linn-Phipps.jpgCommittee for Excellence in Mediation. Additionally she chairs the SM’s WEIG – its Workplace and Employment Initiative Group, which is open to all SM Members, and volunteers with the Strathclyde Mediation Clinic. Originally trained as a mediator by CEDR, Linn practices as an independent coach and mediator, focused particularly on workplace conflict, and has a range of non-executive and advisory roles. Linn is a passionate advocate of how mediation approaches can enable better relationships, and help people to reach better outcomes and lead happier lives.
Hilary has been given the title MBE for services to the Justice system in Scotland and to the community in Dundee. She is the Regional In-Court Adviser for the Tayside courts funded by the Scottish Legal Aid Board. Her role is to manage and develop the In-Court Project and is responsible for the management of a team and running a programme for volunteer law students along with providing Advice & Assistance for unrepresented parties and negotiating on their behalf. Hilary was instrumental in initiating and developing a dispute resolution scheme within the project.
Prior to her current role, Hilary, who is a management fellow, has worked in a variety of roles in senior management and in development. As well as having a sound management background, she also offers knowledge of the judicial systems. After having trained as a mediator she keeps her skills up to date by volunteering for the Edinburgh sheriff court Mediation service.
On the board since 2015, Hilary brings to the board an unusual mix of both management and development experience, combined with a working knowledge of dispute resolution within the court system.
Fiona is a Partner in Gillespie Macandrew’s Dispute Resolution team. She covers a broad range of civil litigation but has particular expertise in employment and property disputes. Fiona is a strong proponent of alternative dispute resolution methods including specifically mediation. She has been co-chair of the Young Mediators’ Group since November 2013 and regularly delivers CPD on ADR and mediation in her firm. Fiona joined the SM Board in December 2017.
I am a passionate believer in the power of mediation as a tool to build relationships and transform conflict. I feel that in our society mediation is currently underused and misunderstood and see the role of SM of promoting both the potential of mediation to civic leadership in Scotland and of good practice amongst those practicing mediation as really important.
I am a qualified mediator and have been very privileged to work with Mediation Northern Ireland and later with the Centre for Good Relations in promoting and developing civic mediation in England and see that there is strong potential for civic mediation to be further expanded not just in Scotland, but more widely. The current political context, the increase in migration and the impact of terrorist attacks across the globe is impacting on Scotland and the more skilled our society are in managing and building good relationships the better.
Amanda specialises in equality and inclusion and holds a law masters degree (LLM) in UK and EU employment and equality legislation and works as an independent equality and inclusion consultant, with a diverse profile of clients from the public and private sector. She trained as a mediator in 2008, with a focus mediation in employment. Having founded a community engagement social enterprise, 360 Engagment, she is particularly interested in community empowerment and capacity building, and promoting mediation skills and practice as an effective way of resolving conflict, which can drain resources and energy from community projects.
Amanda is a former trustee of Disability Sports Yorkshire, a charity which champions and enables inclusive sport and the participation of disabled people in public life. Her key focus as a trustee will be to promote mediation in the community, voluntary and business sectors, as well as raising the profile of accessibility and inclusion.
To follow
Rosanne is Head of Practice for Family Mediation at Relationships Scotland, having worked for the organisation since 2003. She oversees the training, professional development and practice of the 80+ family mediators on the Relationships Scotland Register and working in the 13 Member Services in the network that offer family mediation. Rosanne leads on initiatives to bring about an increase in the uptake of family mediation in Scotland. She is also the National Development Manager for Parenting Apart, information sessions for separating and divorcing parents to find out how best to help their children through the process of splitting up.
Rosanne is keen to encourage mediation and mediating ways to become embedded across all sectors of society in Scotland.
Eilish has been using mediation in ‘Getting to Yes’ since 2002, from her background of teaching, lecturing and education management in public
sector local authorities and in the private sector. She headed up the pioneering conflict resolution service in education in the City of Edinburgh Council from 1994, which was commended by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman’s Office.
Her passion is in supporting and facilitating people positively, pro-actively and creatively to minimise stress at work. Her focus is on psycho-dynamic practice, to promote mediation skills as an effective way of resolving issues arising from difficult relationships in the workplace.
From 2014, she is a freelance Mediator and Executive Coach (www.eilishgarland.com), and volunteers as a mediator in the Sheriff Court, Edinburgh.
Alastair Fraser has spent over 30 years as a management coach, consultant, and author, in that time, he has helped more than 250 organisations and over 4000 individuals across many sectors including: – retail, manufacturing, charity, finance, automotive, service, utilities, education, and brewing.
He is delighted to become a Board member for Scottish Mediation.
Alastair is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, a Graduate of the Open University and an Approved Mentor for CMI.
He has written the best-selling “Can I Help you?” a practical guide to working with ‘experts’ and is co-author of “A Practical Guide to Teambuilding”.
Colin retired for Police Scotland in December 2019, having completed over 30 years’ service and now provides coaching and advice on 
negotiating/communication skills.
Prior to retiring, he was the Operational Lead for the Police Scotland Hostage & Crisis Negotiation Unit. As well as overseeing all negotiator deployments and training, he was the Force Lead for Protest/Police Liaison. This role was introduced as part of the policing plan for Commonwealth Games in 2014. The positive relationships developed with numerous protests groups led to this approach being seen as best practice and is now imbedded in policing in Scotland.
His skills within the negotiator operational and training environment led to Colin working with specialist negotiators from across the UK, Europe, Canada and the US, to collaborate on business change with regards to negotiator tactics and training.
Colin’s commitment to negotiator development was recognised at the Police Scotland Excellence Awards in 2019.
He is a strong advocate in the power of negotiation and mediation to help build strong relationships and reach positive outcomes.
Sarah has been involved in rural development in the Highlands and Islands for over 25 years. She has worked mainly in, or with, the public sector providing practical advice on farms and crofts, actively engaging stakeholders with multiple interests in developing policy, and advocating culture change in ways that are fair and reasonable to all parties. She is currently supporting the work of the Tenant Farming Commissioner at the Scottish Land Commission – promoting and encouraging good relations between landlords and farm tenants. The Land Commission’s ethos is to influence behaviour, culture and practice by providing advice and guidance on what is seen as expected and reasonable, and supporting people to come to their own decisions and outcomes in a spirit of mutual respect. She has recently set up a pilot mediation scheme for the tenant farming sector.
She is a previous board member of the Crofting Commission and chaired the Scottish Government’s review of the Bull Hire Scheme.
She is looking forward to working with SM’s Committee for Promotion of Mediation
Gordon has significant and extensive experience in strategic senior leadership and management in the public sector. In his current role as head of service in a local authority, he is responsible for the “budgets, buildings and bodies” which make up the education service in the area. He also has oversight of additional support needs for children and young people to ensure they can flourish whatever their background or circumstances. As a significant component of his work involves the recruitment, retention and professional learning of over three thousand staff he has sought to ensure conflict is engaged with as early as possible in a way that is most likely to lead to a positive outcome. He became a mediator through the University of Strathclyde MSc programme and seeks to use mediative approaches and negotiation skills strategically in the workplace. Change management in complex environments is key to ensuring high quality service delivery and his skills have been extensively tested in leading change and engaging in conflict situations. He loves supporting people in their own growth and has invested heavily in sector leading approaches to professional learning.
