Peter Webster: Mediator
Peter Webster is or has been a company director[1], charity trustee[2], association secretary[3], team captain[4] and committee chairman[5].
He is a baptised and confirmed[6] member of the Church of England and member of several PCCs and church choirs since the end of the 1980s, master of arts from Cambridge University[7], and a solicitor of the senior courts of England and Wales[8].
He has been involved in the mediation of disputes since 1994. Fresh from the college of law, he took on the role of Executive Secretary of the Newick Park Initiative. His brief was to research the issues behind the war and genocide in Rwanda and support an élite-level international mediator who had just successfully mediated between the leaders of the Zulus and leaders of other political groupings in the run-up to the first multi-racial elections in South Africa. Peter chaired the committees of Rwandan delegates which drafted joint declarations on national reconstruction, repatriation of refugees and restoration of justice at the end of four-day conferences in 1996 and 1997[9].
As a trainee solicitor, Peter volunteered as a mediator with Southwark Mediation, and from 1998 onwards mediated numerous neighbour disputes in South London where he still lives. Peter expanded his practice to commercial mediations in 2006 and family mediations in 2011. Also in 2011, he set up Mediating Complaints and Concerns with former ombudsman Mike Reddy.
Peter has worked and trained with many mediators in the 25+ years he has been involved in mediation. He has also been confronted with a great variety of parties in dispute or conflict. His aim in every situation is to help the parties choose a way forward which is workable for them and which they can commit to.
Peter is familiar through ongoing training and practice with several “models” of mediation procedure. The key issue for him is that the parties begin with the end in mind, and choose a process which is workable for them and which they can commit to. If the parties choose their mediation process freely, they are one step from choosing a workable way forward within the process, and one more step away from choosing to commit to that way forward after the process is over.
Peter has undertaken mediation online, particularly in recent times during the Covid-19 lockdown, but prefers to work with the parties in person where this is possible, especially if matters have become highly emotive.
[1] All Saints Theatre Limited (1999 to date) (www.allsaintstheatre.com), Boss House Management Company Limited (1999-2001), Thea Limited (Solicitors and Mediators) (2006 to date) (www.thea.ltd.uk), All Saints Hatcham Community Centre (2012 to date - Chair of Board 2019 to date) (www.allsaintscommunitycentre.co.uk), MCC Mediators Ltd (2011 to 2016)
[2] Thea (1998 to date) (www.thea.org.uk)
[3] Old Mancunians Association Chess Section (1992 to 2017)
[4] Greater Manchester County Chess Captain (1985-86 and 1992-95), Cambridgeshire County Chess Captain (1988-89), and Oxford and Cambridge Club Inter-Club Chess Captain (2010-17)
[5] Cambridge University Chess Club President (1988-89), Oxford and Cambridge Club Sports and Games Committee (2013-17)
[6] First Communion 1988
[7] Admitted 1993
[8] Admitted 1999
