Barrister, mediator, arbitrator, expert determiner, facilitator and ADR systems design and advice work in ADR. Mary Walker was admitted as a solicitor in 1986 and was admitted to the Bar in 1988. She has been at the forefront of ADR in Australia since 1990. She has mediated over 3,000 matters in all areas of civil law over 25 years. Mary uses all models of mediation but prefers the facilitative method and has mediated numerous multi-party disputes including large commercial matters, class actions, environmental matters and cross-border disputes as well as everything from defamation matters, equity, company, insolvency and bankruptcy matters, disputes involving financial institutions, professional and medical negligence matters, mergers and de-mergers, retail lease matters, work place and industrial disputes, mining and exploration matters, indigenous and heritage matters, and many matters involving government agencies and large corporations (a non-exhaustive list). Mary has also arbitrated, provided expert appraisals, determinations and ombudsman services in many matters, particularly in commercial and insurance law. Mary has also mediated lists of matters in fast-track mediations in a number of jurisdictions and has advised on and implemented processes for mediating complex disputes and lists of mediations. Mary is an experienced litigator and has represented parties as an advocate and advised in hundreds of matters.

Mary is able to negotiate and represent parties in mediations across many civil jurisdictions including in tort, contract, commercial, company, banking and financial disputes, class actions, public interest disputes, industrial, complex and multi-party disputes, cultural, indigenous heritage and in environmental matters (not an exhaustive list).

As with mediating Mary moves from one style or model of mediation to another depending upon the dispute and the needs of the participants. Mary considers and discusses the mediation process before and during the mediation itself and reviews approaches through the mediation. Her preferred style is facilitative mediation (looking at the interests and needs of the parties) and she takes a practical and pragmatic approach to the process. She advices at each step of the negotiation and move towards assessing realistic outcomes which are capable of implementation which may require assessing the parties rights or risk analyses. In this regard she will work with her clients to establish a process for this to occur, if possible. She assists the parties to consider risk assessments when looking at options and works with the parties during the negotiation phase to consider likely outcomes. She is flexible in her approach and regards each mediation as separate and distinct and works with the parties to tailor the process.