Patrick Scott

I practised as an advocate in South Africa for thirty years before moving to Scotland in 2017, and I now reside on the Isle of Arran. I became a senior counsel in 2010 and gained considerable experience in general litigation, including banking law, damages’ claims, defamation, motor vehicle accident claims, family law (in particular divorce law), insolvencies and liquidations, land evictions, medical negligence claims, property law, home owners’ associations, law of purchase and sale and municipal law. I trained as a mediator in South Africa with Mediation in Motion, in conjunction with the University of Cape Town. I am completing my LLM in Mediation and Conflict Resolution at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, and I am a mediator with the University of Strathclyde Mediation Clinic. I also serve on the Board of the Mediation Clinic.

I believe that mediation is a very effective process for dispute resolution. It is a relatively inexpensive and efficient process which enables parties to find their own resolution to the dispute, with the assistance of the mediator. The parties have a wider choice of possible outcomes which they determine themselves, than they may have if they follow the litigation route. Parties are able to make use of legal advisers in the mediation but can also take part in the mediation without representation. I encourage the involvement of solicitors, especially when the amount in dispute or the importance of the matter to the parties justifies it, and the parties’ budgets permit legal assistance. Where there are locational difficulties and travel for the parties is uneconomical or impractical, mediations can be conducted telephonically.