I am a litigation solicitor by profession will have been qualified for 50 years in November 2008. I have represented thousands of people in my time but I have as the years have gone by thought that there must be a better way of solving disputes than the court process.

Among my more memorable clients were Norman Scott who I represented for about a year before he made the announcement in court which led to what had been a carefully controlled scandal being made public largely bringing Jeremy Thorpe's political career to an abrupt end. I knew I was on their fringe of something really important but I didn't realize that I was placing myself and my family at risk by representing Scott. I had my phone bugged, was threatened with having my house burnt down and I was also watched which was pretty scary. I was defending Scott in Barnstaple Court when he made his announcement and by the time I got home my wife had heard my plea in mitigation on the one o’clock news!

I also represented the owner of Corky the Cockerell a magnificent bird who annoyed the next door neighbor and which got some press coverage at the time and is apparently re-told in a book of legal oddities!

In 2002 I was elected vice President of the Devon & Exeter Law Society and was asked by one of our local judges if we could do anything to help him and his fellow judges who were struggling to keep up with a huge increase of litigants in person in the County Courts. As a result of that request and with the support of the Society and the judges I found myself being introduced to litigants in the Exeter County Court as the Duty Mediator in July 2002 and since then must have mediate 70 or more cases and with an average settlement rate of over 60%, my colleagues also became trained and over the next 6 years we have mediated over 650 cases and settled 400. This year our scheme has been replaced by a full time mediator appointed by the court. In addition to the Small Claims Scheme the Society has trained our members for time limited mediations and we have been admitted to the Civil Mediation Council list of approved mediation providers, I and my fellow mediators (all lawyers) are continuing to undertake mediations both as a result of ongoing court cases and as a result of direct approaches made to the Society (now The Devon & Somerset Law Society). Mediation in the West Country is accepted as the best way to try and resolve cases and I firmly believe that if our settlement rates of 75% in the main court cases were to be repeated throughout the country mediation would be the method of choice.

In addition to mediating I have taken up mediator training and in 2004 trained the members of the Polish Mediators association. Since then I have given talks in Germany,Zimbabwe,Kenya (to the Commonwealth Law Conference) Baku (Azerbaijan), to the members of the Federation of European Bars and before the end of 2008 will have held seminars and training in Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda Tanzania and St Petersburg I have also been invited to Hong Kong in April 2009 and expect to train more mediators there and hopefully in India whose Supreme Court are (I believe) interested in our mediation model.

I have a Video Diary of my travels these I called "Jeremy's Jaunts" and an edited version is with the studio. I look forward to doing mediations on air and hope in that way to help people in dispute resolve their differences without having to go to court saving them time and money in the process and hopefully demystifying the procedures and encouraging the use of mediation throughout the country.

Jeremy John Ferguson
D O B 12 November 1935
Profession: Solicitor, Qualified 1958.

Speciality: General Civil and Matrimonial Litigation, Matrimonial & Civil Mediator and Civil Mediation Trainer in time-limited mediation techniques

Status: Married.
Hobbies: flying, motor- racing.broadcasting.
Interesting cases: Representing Norman Scott, defending Corky the Cockerel.

Recently: President Devon & Exeter Law Society(2002/3) Vice president Legal Aid Commission Federation of European Bars(current)
Legal contributor to Jeremy Vine Show radio 2 for 6 programmes 2003/4. Contributor to LegalTV adviser to Divorce Aid
Founder trainer & principle Mediator for the acclaimed

Exeter County Court Small Claims Court Mediation Scheme.( Present numbers of small claims cases mediated about 70, settlement rate 75%.) Mediator for the Exeter County Court Main court Scheme,( present settlement rate 66%). Member Civil Mediation Council

Mediation Trainer and Board Member for the Polish Mediators Association (2005)
Chairman of Devon & Exeter Law Society's Mediation Committee and Member of International Committee
Trainer of civil mediators for Zimbabwe Law Society Harare May 2207
Shortlisted for Solicitor of the Year 2007
Addressed Commonwealth Lawyers Conference Nairobi 2007.
Trained 20 mediators Bulawayo Zimbabwe 2007.
Attended conference on Kenya mediation Scheme May 2008.
Trained 15 civil mediators Kampala Uganda May 2008.
Trained 50 lawyers and judges in mediation techniques Dar es Salaam Tanzania May 2008.
Attended Commonwealth of Independant States conference St Petersburg June 2008 and trained 8 mediators.
Invited to join Law Society of England & Wales bid for review of Civil Mediation in Tanzania (result of bid awaited).
Nominate for Solicitor of the year 2008.
Presenter of The Mediation Show for Mediation TV.
Invited to Speak at a Conference on Arbitration and Mediation in Valencia November 2008.
Invited to speak at the Commonwealth Law Conference April 2009.