PI dedicated mediation service 'first'Defendant personal injury firm Berrymans Lace Mawer (BLM) and claimant firm Stewarts have come together to set up what they claim is the first mediation service dedicated to personal injury cases.The fixed-price and time service will be offered through a joint venture company, Workitout.

The company is likely to launch within the next few weeks pending final ratification from BLM's partners.Both firms will provide solicitor-mediators, and the company is recruiting other specialist PI lawyers to its panel, which will be led by US trial lawyer David Person.The service will offer fixed three-hour mediations for straightforward cases or six-hour mediations for more complex multi-party or clinical negligence claims, at a cost of 300 or 600 per party.

It will also offer an e-settlement service to encourage brokered Internet settlements.Stewarts' partner John Cahill said the concept of using both a claimant and defendant firm was to 'set aside cynics' who thought the service had affiliations with either side.'This is the only company set up to deal exclusively with personal injury and clinical negligence mediations, where it is being considered more actively than ever before,' Mr Cahill added.BLM partner Martin Bruffell, the former president of the Forum of Insurance Lawyers, commented: 'With specialist personal injury mediators and fixed-cost and time mediations, even if parties fail to settle, they will be much further down the line in narrowing issues'.Sue Allen