• Logic;
• Human Values;
• Results.

Commercial Mediation in the UK, Slough, Berkshire, the Thames Vally and World Wide.

I am a CEDR Accredited Mediator If a commercial dispute can be kept out of court, everyone wins - including the lawyers. CEDR techniques provide the most effective Alternative Dispute Resolutions - especially when they're enhanced by unusual speed, agility and economy.

My IT/Investment Banking Consultancy is well-known and documented.

I now also offer an Expert Witness service. Since presenting highly technical matters, with total clarity, is at the heart of my skill, that makes sense, doesn't it?

The Common Factor is Common Sense.

Mediation

Unless both parties win, mediation can be as pointless as litigation.

You'll probably want to avoid the risk, stress, opportunity cost and sheer unpleasantness of going to court - and arbitration is simply another adversarial alternative to litigation. However, if you still want to win, there must be a remarkable understanding between you and the Mediator you select.
So remember:
The right Mediator will help you create your own solution.
The abilities, training and personality of your Mediator are crucial. Choose with care!
Although offering a congenial atmosphere and very low costs - especially when compared with court procedures - mediation allows disputing parties to vent their anger. Even when you know yourself to be in the right, you must be prepared for positive compromise. After all, your opponent knows they're right, too... Your aim is for all parties to achieve a worthwhile part of their agenda - and, if possible, to rebuild the value of what would otherwise be an ex-relationship. To achieve all this, without authority, mandate, confrontation, judgement, or breach of confidentiality is a real triumph for common sense.

What next? Simply Contact Max Parry. Then we can discuss the solution to your dispute.

Meanwhile, the Lord Chancellor says: "we should see litigation as the last and not the first resort in the attempt to settle a dispute."

Finally: - Mediation is, essentially, a human transaction. To discover a little of the human being behind the service, simply Investigate Max.

The CEDR Mediation model: how to use it more effectively.

The Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution was launched in the UK in 1990, to develop and improve non-litigious dispute resolution. Its methods and techniques are internationally recognised for their, practicality realism and ability to deliver mutually satisfactory results. CEDR's greatest strength lies in the negotiating skills of a neutral mediator who understands not only the facts of the dispute, but also the pressures on the individuals concerned. In an ideal world, mediation is facilitative - the use of diplomacy to help the parties reach a mutually satisfactory settlement. If, however, they still find themselves incapable of coming to terms, the mediator may need to suggest a neutral, non-binding evaluation, one that provides a foundation for ultimate solution. Ultimately, however, the mediator must find a way of bringing the warring factions together - because if mediation won't work, litigation won't either. I admire and subscribe to the CEDR agenda - and so do those who've experienced it as clients. However, there is a proviso...

Mediation is a job for an individual - but most mediators hunt in packs.

That's because they're members of (sometimes) quite large organisations.
In contrast, I am - and always have been - a sole operator; with access, admittedly, to a global range of complementary skills. This has certain advantages:

1) I've had to think on my feet.
2) I've found it easier to be fast on my feet.
3) And my clients don't have to pay the salaries and expenses of a team of colleagues. When they work with Max Parry, they only pay for Max Parry.


How mediation works:

Mediation demands total confidentiality. So this case history contains no names or details.
The dispute involved complex copyright and intellectual property issues, in which two parties claimed what might have been overlapping rights. Both parties claimed that exclusive rights to material had been violated.
Both parties were very, very angry.
Both had already wasted a great deal of money on litigation.
However, there was no solution in sight; merely an ever-deepening state of distress.
So first, I persuaded them to stop shouting at each other - and start talking sensibly to me.
However, eventually we all realised that mere facilitation was insufficient. Confronted by entrenched positions, I took an evaluative role. Neutrality and impartiality were, of course, essential.

Using analysis and report-creating skills similar to those honed in other areas of my consultancy work, I provided a non-binding recommendation of a Terms of Settlement.
Based on the needs of the adversaries, rather than on what a court might order, I placed particular emphasis on the future of their commercial relationship.
I then produced a draft Consent Order for their legal advisors to place before the court to end the litigation.
To my delight - and the amazement of at least one of their solicitors - the parties were convinced.
This was possibly the most difficult - but also the most satisfying - task I have undertaken in my professional life.
Thank you, to all concerned.


How much mediation Costs.

Whether you're a solicitor, a disputant, or simply a concerned friend, my services cover most needs and budgets.

Managed Mediation is a total service, covering: pre-mediation advice/guidance; management of document exchange, if required; provision of assistant mediator(s), if required; up to three hours of mediator preparation per party; arranging mediation venue; an eight hour mediation.

Customised Options: Whether you're a solicitor, or a disputant, you may wish simply to hire a neutral mediator, having made some or all of the other arangements yourself. This is just one of many options available. The fee will depend upon your needs.


About Max Parry

It's not all common sense.
When not at work, I'm a keen amateur footballer, country music enthusiast and I enjoy touring on my BMW motorcycle. Does that make me a rounded personality? Contact Max and decide for yourself.

IT / Investment

"I have to know more about IT than banking consultants - and more about banking than IT consultants."

It's a question of bringing the skills together.
With the common sense to view systems (and problems) objectively, true benefits (and consequences) become apparent.
For instance, I see S.W.I.F.T. as simply a 100% reliable messaging system: a secure telex. Do you agree?

My skills include:
Project Management. Software Selection. Relationship Management. Structured Methods. Business Analysis. Vendor Liaison. Implementation.

I'm highly experienced in:
Global Custody. Corporate Actions. Straight Through Processing. Settlement. Prime Brokerage. Trading Systems. Economic and Monetary Union. Private Banking. Securities Lending. Asset Management. Registration.

As a Member of the Institute for the Management of Information Systems:
I've worked at every level from Programmer to Project Manager, throughout the world.
I design training programmes, and produce training courses.
I manage relationships with external organisations, both clients and suppliers.
I'm here to help you specify the most appropriate solution.
And remember: "the ability to produce solution-led reports is a skill in its own right, depending on the intellect to identify the issues, cut through irrevelevancies and present the result in an accessible form."

Check my CV

Banking/Investment

Max Parry's Career: the last 10 years.

93/5: Barclays Global Security Services. Project Manager, selecting, customising and implementing a securities lending system. Produced initial business case. Produced Invitation to Tender. Evaluated candidate products. Recommended Global One. Managed all relationships with in-house teams and external suppliers. Introduced: rolling settlement; migration of gilt settlement processing; early recognition and processing of trades alleged against clients via INS.

95/7: UBS. Project Manager, based in New York and Zurich, extending securities borrowing and lending system, to support prime brokerage. Specified user requirements. Managed relationship with software vendor. Established benchmarks and success criteria for vendor development. Balanced scope, cost and timescales.

97/8: ABN AMRO. Functional owner of banks's international platforms for securities and private banking, heading two teams of business analysts - while commissioning,accepting and implementing enhancements from the development division.

99/00: Tribune Business Systems. Managing the infrastructural changes needed to support operational re-engineering for the Egyptian arm of a multi-national bank: file and print sharing services via LAN, WAN, mail, desktop and corporate applications.

00/01: Barclays Private Bank. Interim project manager, selecting a global custodian against a very tight schedule.

01/2: Tribune Business Systems. Researching, recording and analysing the IT Business Process Continuity requirements of the business banking division - in liaison with over 70 departments.

02/02: Centrix. Defining end-to-end process for deploying applications on a corporate standard desktop, based on thin client technology.


Expert Witness

An Expert Witness must analyse and present a difficult subject, to people who have every right to be ignorant of its finer points.
If he can do so with clarity and self-confidence - without being browbeaten by adversarial inquisitors - you need him on your case.

All of which you know already - so where do I fit in?

Max Parry: an IT/Investment/Banking Consultant - at the heart of whose business is the skill, confidence and yes, the status:
(a) To solve highly technical matters.
(b) To report clearly on both the problems and the solutions. (Unless a report is in plain English, it deserves to be shredded.)
(c) To present the facts - no matter how technical - with total accessibility.
(d) To be accepted as a peerless authority in his subject. See CV

Max Parry: a commercial CEDR Mediator - at the heart of whose service is posessing the skill and inspiring the trust essential when:
(a) Analysing disputes that may otherwise go to court.
(b) Reporting the findings with total objectivity.

Max Parry: an expert known and trusted for this experience, endeavour, integrity and common sense.

QED



Contact Max Parry

You can Ring me on: +44 (0)1753 545775
Fax me on: +44 (0)1753 547255
Call my Mobile: +44 (0) 7710 229 357
Address: Max Parry, Creg-ny-Baa, 22 Lambert Avenue, Langley, Slough, Berks SL7 7EB. UK

Mediation in Slough, Berkshire, the Thames Vally and worldwide.