Michel Kallipetis KC

Michel Kallipetis KC is among the UK’s most sought-after mediators. He is regarded as an authority in mediation. With an apparently effortless blend of charm and authority, his style is versatile and effective.

Mediation experience

Michel regularly mediates a wide variety of disputes including: partnerships; banking; insurance and re-insurance; all areas of employment disputes including racial and sex discrimination claims and pension rights; solicitors and valuers’ negligence claims; medical negligence and personal injuries claims; construction, engineering and commercial disputes with claims over several £100m including referrals from the Commercial Court and the Technology & Construction Court. He has also mediated a variety of land disputes involving rights of way and disputed boundaries. Many of the mediations have been multi party disputes and others have involved international companies and the laws of other countries. He has mediated for the ICC and the AAA. This has included more recently many mediations conducted online.

 

Other dispute resolution experience

He initiated and was the first Chairman of the Bar Council ADR Committee holding the position for 9 years until retiring from the position in summer of 2008. He was a member of the working party which drafted the EU Code of Practice for Mediators, and gave expert opinion to JURI, the legal service committee of the European Parliament, prior to its adopting the European ADR Directive. He was counsel for the ADR Group in Halsey v Milton Keynes, and in Brown v Rice and Patel.

In November 2023 Michel represented Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council in Churchill v Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council at the Court of Appeal in a landmark case revisiting the contentious issue of court-mandated dispute resolution processes.

In May 2024 Michel was awarded ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ from the International Academy of Mediators. In November 2020 Michel was awarded ‘Lawyer of the Year’ in the Mediation category in the Who’s Who Legal awards.

Mediation style

Mixing the authority and stature of a KC and a former Deputy High Court Judge with his personal charm Michel is able to quickly gain the trust of the parties. He blends facilitative and evaluative techniques as the situation demands to create his own versatile and effective style of mediation and is able to affect settlement in a more direct manner than many other mediators.

Directories

Michel features in the top bands of both Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners. The current editions of the directories state:

Legal 500 2024

Michel has been appointed in approximately 1430 mediations since joining Independent Mediators, is ‘practical and has the gravitas to compel clients to consider the upsides and downsides of litigation seriously. This is invaluable in mediation settings, particularly when emotions are running high‘. The former head of Littleton Chambers, Kallipetis mediates a wide range of disputes, in relation to partnerships banking, insurance and re-insurance, employment claims and pension rights, and solicitors and valuers’ negligence. Other areas of strength are medical negligence, personal injury, and construction, engineering and commercial disputes; and several of Kallipetis’ mediations are multi-party disputes, while some involve international companies and the laws of other countries.

Chambers & Partners 2024

Michel Kallipetis KC of Independent Mediators is a highly regarded mediator whose practice is active across a range of commercial claims. His experience includes mediating professional negligence, insurance and property matters, among other disputes. He’s an absolute master; he’s my first choice. He’s very good with clients and getting people to see the reality of the situation but in a charming way. He’s also good at knocking heads together in a non-confrontational way.” He’s the most formidable presence in the mediation circuit, and I give him my most difficult mediations. He deserves his fine reputation and works very hard to settle his cases.” A very experienced mediator with a lot of gravitas, which is helpful when you need to persuade people to think about settlements. He’s very accessible and a very safe pair of hands.”

Who’s Who Legal: Mediation 2023

Michel Kallipetis KC is singled out as a “brilliant, astute and constructive leader” who is a clear star in the mediation field.  He was the WWL Mediator of the Year for 2020. He also features on the list of Global Elite Thought Leaders in mediation. “Michel is the king of mediation and well deserving of the crown.” “He is an astute and constructive mediator.” “He has a thorough grasp of the detail and the legal issues.”

Who’s Who Legal: Global Elite Thought Leaders – Mediation 2023

Michel features on the list of only ten individuals from the EMEA. Who’s Who Legal explain this new feature as ‘bringing together for the first time the insight, expertise and wisdom of some of the world’s foremost practitioners. They report that these practitioners obtained ‘the highest number of nominations from peers, corporate counsel and other market sources in their most recent research cycle.’  He is “One of the most experienced mediators in the UK and internationally.”
“He is incredibly intellectual and the person you need on big cases.”  In November 2020 Michel was awarded ‘Lawyer of the Year’ in the Mediation category at the annual Who’s Who Legal awards.

Who’s Who Legal: UK Bar – Mediation 2023

The directory states, Michel Kallipetis KC stands out as “a very judicious choice for employment and company crossover disputes”.

Client comments

‘Thank you for your consummate performance yesterday. All present on our side agreed that without you the mediation would have failed. You made your role appear effortless. You were supportive, understanding and emphatic to our bruised and optimistic beneficiaries, whilst setting realistic levels of expectation.’

‘So I can now thank you for your wise assistance in settling this matter. Your efforts were greatly appreciated by our side. I don’t think the matter would have settled without your involvement.’

‘I would highly recommend Michel and it was a pleasure to work with him.’

‘Excellent – he identified the issues quickly to concentrate the parties minds on their strengths and weakness and his calm, concise and professional manner enabled the negotiations to commence much earlier than previous mediations I had attended. A settlement was achieved on the day. The clients and I were very pleased with his handling of the whole process.’

‘He had an extremely good grasp of the issues and highlighted strengths and weakness in both side’s cases which assisted in discussions. Overall, I found the mediator to be extremely helpful. He invited discussion on the merits, and offered a very preliminary view, and put forward arguments both for and against the construction of the agreement contended for by my client and trod a careful line between being too interventionist and not intervening enough. He was on all accounts excellent.’

‘With skill, dedication and good humour. I would give a rating of excellent all round’

‘Michel did an excellent job. The process was explained clearly to the parties. The pace was slow enough that everyone had their say, but fast enough that a conclusion was reached. Michel struck a good rapport with my clients and they were very pleased with the assistance he provided.’

‘Very good, great with clients, excellent knowledge of the key areas, made realistic suggestions for clients and explained pro’s and cons.’

‘The mediation was conducted professionally and impartially. Michel cut through the issues and provided clarity where this was needed and facilitated a line of communication where none existed before.’

‘The mediator conducted the mediation excellently with clear measure and balance of relationship with the parties and their lawyers and firmness where necessary.’

‘First rate; could not have been a better mediator.’

“Thank you for your clarity, focus & common sense, which were crucial to the resolution here. We appreciate the rational result achieved under your skilled and sensitive guidance”

“Michel sought to make clear to both sides where their risks lay, the benefits of a negotiated resolution and the reasons for adopting a commercial approach.”

“The mediator explained the mediation process clearly at the start of the day and highlighted to the parties the objective of the mediation and its advantages compared with a trial/arbitration. The mediation maintained a good pace and the mediator quickly identified the key issues that needed to be dealt with so that the parties would have a chance of reaching a settlement. In the latter half of the day, the mediator swiftly encouraged the parties to begin the exchange of settlement figures. The mediator maintained a good relationship with both the lawyers, accountants and clients. The mediator saw the benefit of accountant-only meetings in order to settle any outstanding queries concerning the financials.”

“Excellently; Michel was very effective in helping to resolve this complicated dispute.”

“Having done a lot of mediations, by some distance the Mediator was the best we have used.”

“Very Well. Before the mediation I was a little concerned that the parties seemed so far apart. In the end, reaching a settlement seemed effortless and I am sure that this was wholly down to Michel’s skill. My client has written to say that he was very happy with the end result.”

“Really well. Michel was very patient and had empathy with clients. Excellent legal ability and experience really helped the achievement of a compromise.”

“Pre-mediation calls with solicitors for each party assisted in breaking the ice and identifying issues for discussion. Good introductory session and ground rules. Good rapport with clients and their advisors.”

Professional background

Michel is the former Head of Littleton Chambers, and has 40 years’ experience as a practising barrister in the field of general commercial, professional negligence and employment work. He is recognised in The Legal Directories as an expert in his field in Mediation, Commercial Litigation and Professional Negligence. He is an Accredited Mediator with CEDR and ADR Chambers, was appointed to the Hong Kong HKIAC Accredited Mediator Panel and as one of the first CIArb Mediation Fellows in 2008. In 2009 he was made a Distinguished Fellow of the International Academy of Mediators and in 2014 was invited to become a director. In 2012 Michel was invited to become a member of the Singapore International Mediation Centre’s Panel of Mediators. He is a member of The Sports Resolution Panel and The Panel of Independent Mediators and is a Chartered Arbitrator. He is fluent in German, and has a working knowledge of French.

Training/talks/books/articles

Talks and Training Michel has given include:

He regularly conducts training sessions for barristers and solicitors to enable them to represent their clients more effectively in mediation. He has carried out mediation training for the Hong Kong judiciary at the request of the Chief Justice, and the for the Bar in England, Hong Kong, Trinidad and Jersey. Michel led a team to train Arbitrators for the Kingdom of Bhutan at the request of the Chief Justice and arbitrates disputes in the UK concerning commercial and franchise agreements. He is a Recorder and sat as a deputy High Court Judge in Queen’s Bench, Chancery and the TCC for over twenty years.

Books/articles:

He is the author of several articles on mediation in the English legal press.

  • He is the author of a chapter on ‘Mediation in Employment disputes’ in “Mediators on Mediation”
  • Co-author with Stephen Ruttle KC of the chapter on “Mediation in the UK” in Volume I of ‘Mediation in Business’ published by Kluwer
  • Author of the chapter on ‘Mediation Privilege and Confidentiality and the EU Directive’ in Volume II.
  • Author of the Chapter on ‘Mediation Ethics’ in “How to Master Commercial Mediation” published by Bloomsbury in January 2015.

Please click on the link at the top of the page to download Michel’s CV. This provides an overview of his background but is obviously not exhaustive. If there is something you can’t find or an area in which you would like more detailed information please call on the number above or email imoffice@independentmediators.co.uk.

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Areas of practice

A brief overview of areas of practice:

  • Banking / Finance
  • Commercial contracts
  • Commercial fraud / Fraud
  • Company shareholders
  • Competition
  • Construction and engineering
  • Defamation
  • Employment
  • Franchise
  • Group actions
  • Insolvency
  • I.T.
  • Insurance / reinsurance
  • Intellectual Property
  • International
  • Local and national government
  • Medical negligence / Personal injury
  • Oil and gas
  • Partnerships
  • Pensions
  • Probate / Trusts / Estates
  • Professional negligence
  • Property
  • Regulatory
  • Sport
  • Transport / logistics

Professional memberships

  • Hong Kong HKIAC Accredited Mediator Panel
  • CIArb Mediation Fellow
  • Distinguished Fellow of the International Academy of Mediators
  • Singapore International Mediation Centre’s Panel of Mediators
  • Japan International Mediation Centre’s Panel of Mediators
  • Member of Sport Resolution (UK) panel
  • PIM Senior Mediator
  • CMC Fellow
  • International Mediation Institute Certified Mediator
  • Chartered Arbitrator