Paul Balen MA (Cantab) is a qualified mediator General Information Building on his creation of successful alternative dispute settlement schemes in his historical specialist area of clinical negligence, personal injury, defamation and product liability, particularly those involving group actions, Paul has developed into a successful all round mediator. Out of his more recent involvement in commercial mediations his personal litigation practice has expanded into the commercial and professional negligence arenas with marked success. He frequently adopts mediation as the route to resolution of his own cases. As a former Chairman of a private technology company and of Governors of a public school he is able to marry inter personal skills with business and legal acumen often devising unique practical strategies to resolve deadlocks. Comfortable with media attention as a result of the high profile cases with which he has been involved as a litigator he brings these communication skills into the mediation room, making the parties at once relaxed yet alert to the opportunities for resolution that mediation brings with it. Since qualifying as a mediator in 2004 Paul has conducted a wide variety of mediations involving clinical negligence, personal injury, probate, contract, construction, sports and professional disputes. He is a Past President of the Nottinghamshire Law Society having been Secretary between 1983 and 1988 and was a legal eagle on Radio Nottingham for over 20 years. He has written extensively and regularly lectures on legal topics and in 2000 was appointed one of the first 3 Senior Fellows of the Association of Personal Injury Law (APIL). He is a past President of the Nottinghamshire Medico-Legal Society and was national secretary and an executive committee member of APIL between 1998 and 2000. He was recently invited to lecture at an international conference on global dispute resolution and is a mediator approved by the NHS Resolution to mediate clinical negligence and personal injury cases.