I was saddened to hear this news. I remember Michael as being one of the early corporate champions of mediation and, in particular, one meeting in a series of lengthy discussions that eventually led to the formation of the Civil Mediation Council, in which he told me after a round of self-introductions never to apologise for not being a lawyer. At the time I thought it was just a friendly joke about lawyers but later I came to realise that he was actually giving some sage advice about being proud of who you are, and standing up for yourself.
I’ve also got a file note of a meeting we had with Michael in 2002: “He had strong ideas about the need for CEDR to get the message across to corporates, and CEOs and chairmen rather than in-house lawyers. I said that we were conscious of this, but often found that CEOs / Chairman said “yeah, sounds great, tell my lawyers about it.” Michael replied that he thought we perhaps packaged it as a legal issue. I asked what the key messages are for CEOs if we get airtime with them. He said that it isn’t time and money, as is often thought, but enabling them to sustain effective business relationships.”
Yes, Michael really got it right, and he did a lot of important work to make mediation happen both in the UK and internationally. One of our most influential allies who will be sorely missed.