After more than 15 years at Independent Mediators and a mediation career spanning 35 years Nicholas Pryor, one of our founding members, will be retiring at the end of June this year. We have felt ourselves very fortunate to have been able to benefit from Nicholas’ unparalleled expertise in our field.

Nicholas was a pioneer of mediation from the beginning in the UK, from knocking on doors to promote mediation and practicing mediation to assisting those starting in mediation. He conducted his first mediations in California in 1986 (possibly the first person from Britain to conduct a mediation in the modern era!), and has mediated disputes in the UK, USA, Europe and the Middle and Far East regularly since 1990. This has included more recently many mediations conducted online. He has been appointed in over 1,250 mediations in his career. Clients regularly praise Nicholas’ professionalism and care, his ability to quickly build rapport and gain the trust of the parties. Many comment on his pre-mediation contact with one saying it was the most effective ever experienced.

He was the joint founder of the Lamport Hall Group, an association dedicated to the advancement of high standards of practice amongst leading mediators. In 2009, he was elected as a Distinguished Fellow of the International Academy of Mediators.

Nicholas has worked with countless organisations over the years informing those within them about mediation and regularly providing training sessions for solicitors. For many years he has been a judge / mentor at the ICC Mediation Competition which gathers hundreds of students and coaches from all over the world, as well as over 100 professional mediators and mediator trainers. He has delighted in seeing the next generation thrive at the event.

We will miss Nicholas’ sage advice, wisdom and humour. We wish him a wonderful retirement and many happy days vintage car rallying, travelling and visiting the theatre.