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Let me respond to Mr Cooper’s comments

1. I am a solicitor on the roll but non-practising. I understand that enables me to call myself a lawyer.

2. Although many years back I was paid by HMCTS to run a pilot of online mediation (not blind bidding ) for two courts in Yorkshire, I do not run any companies specifically set up to sell any services to HMCTS . There are a number of major companies fully competent to provide online court services. My companies are set up to run a training course in ODR, run a panel of online mediators (just setting up) and run conferences.

3. HMCTS did not pay me or Ican for the use of Smartsettle ONE. The decision to use Smartsettle ONE was entirely decided upon by the parties themselves separate from the court.

4. Smartsettle ONE would only be used by parties who have for themselves decided they wish to settle. It would never be forced and in any event it does not require bidding beyond what the parties wish to bid. This does not prevent in any way a defendant who believes he has no liability to pursue his defence through the courts. What it does do extremely well is avoid the delay that comes about when parties submit open offers and counter offers that do not reach settlement. This will help mediators increase the prospects of, and shorten the time to, settlement

Smartsettle ONE is a simple level one use of the patented algorithms created by Ican. Smartsettle INFINITY enables parties to more easily resolve multiple issue disputes that involve more than payment of a sum of money. If you are interested to learn more rather than critcise beforehand, a good explanation is given towards the end of an article on the conference I organised in Liverpool last year. See https://tinyurl.com/KLUWERODR


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