Mediation is just as suitable for settling personal injury (PI) cases as it is for other disputes, the former vice-president of the Court of Appeal’s civil division has said.

Speaking at a conference for personal injury lawyers this week, Sir Henry Brooke, who chairs the Civil Mediation Council, said mediation had the potential for settling cases quickly, cheaply and less stressfully than conventional litigation processes.

He said concern was mounting about the expense of the litigation process in PI cases and the tendency for cases to settle shortly before trials, which wastes the courts’ scarce resources. Mediation offers a solution to this that claimants liked and that cut insurers’ and courts’ expenses.

Brooke, who is also chair of alternative dispute resolution outfit Trust Mediation, said mediation, when conducted by an expert mediator, had a 75-80% success rate, and even where no settlement was reached on the day, it narrowed the issues.

However, he warned that mediation should not be forced on unwilling parties and that it would not be an appropriate dispute resolution method in all PI cases.

Denise Kitchener, chief executive of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL), said: ‘Mediation is an essential part of every personal injury practitioner’s "toolkit" and APIL has an ongoing commitment to ensuring its members are aware of mediation, and how it may benefit injured people.’