Call: 1989

Iain Christie

  • Thank you so much Iain. I wanted to say again a big thanks for your wonderfully skilled support. I felt we were in very safe hands.

    People Director at a National Charity
  • Perceptive” and “user-friendly

    Legal 500
  • Thank you so much. You’re officially my first go to for future external mediation needs

    Head of Employment Law at a National Charity
  • First-rate

    Legal 500
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Practice Summary

Iain has been a full-time mediator since 2014 (first accredited in 2004) and successfully resolved hundreds of disputes drawing on his expertise as barrister, diplomat, certified coach and qualified facilitator.  Comfortable with handling conflict at all levels of complexity, Iain brings developed skills in negotiation, communication and relationship-building to the mediation room.  His complementary practices in civil and commercial, family and workplace mediation allows him to be flexible with the process and creative in generating solutions to seemingly intractable problems.  He is a Fellow of the Civil Mediation Council in recognition of his long-standing contribution to mediation.   

Professional experience   

Iain was called to the bar by the Inner Temple in 1989 and has been a Bencher since 2008.  Between 1992 and 2000 he was employed as a legal adviser at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office.  This role included conducting treaty negotiations on behalf of the United Kingdom at the United Nations and Council of Europe as well as handling cases before the European Commission and Court of Human Rights. 

He returned to private practice at the media and information law chambers 5RB where he co-founded the leading textbook on Privacy and the Media and was instructed in both private and public law cases across a broad range of subject matters.  He spent ten years on the Attorney General’s Panel of Crown Counsel dealing with data protection and freedom of information matters.   In 2020 Iain returned to Government service for a two-year appointment as the Lord Chancellor’s Policy Fellow in which capacity he set up the MOJ Dispute Resolution Team and devised a 10-point strategy to integrate mediation into the civil justice system in England and Wales, for which he was nominated for a Significant Achievement Award at the 2022 National Mediation Awards.   

Iain holds a number of quasi-judicial and regulatory roles as an Independent Member on Police Misconduct Panels, Independent Member of the Standards Committee of the Public Relations and Communications Association, Independent Complaints Reviewer for the UK Endorsement Board, Former Chair of the Bar Standards Board’s Independent Decision-making Body, Former Director of IMPRESS, The Independent Monitor for the Press and former Secretary of the Civil Mediation Council and Chair of its Complaints and Disciplinary  Committee.  He sits as a specialist independent member of the Parole Board of England and Wales.      

  • “Iain had a good manner and made me feel at ease” – Disputant in high-value commercial mediation

  • “A very able person” – Solicitor in medium value civil mediation

  • “I was treated with dignity and respect and am very grateful for the help given” – Litigant in small claims mediation

  • “The mediator played a blinder!” – Solicitor in high value commercial mediation

  • Christie v UK (1994) 78-A D&R 119 – interception of communications (Article 8)

  • Wynne v UK (1995) 19 EHRR 333 – mandatory life sentences (Article 5)

  • Tolstoy Miloslavsky v UK (1995) 20 EHRR 442 – award of libel damages (Article 10)

  • Bryan v UK (1996) 21 EHRR 342 – fairness of planning procedure (Article 6)

  • Hussain v UK (1996) 22 EHRR 1 – detention of juveniles (Article 5)

  • Goodwin v UK (1996) 22 EHRR 123 – disclosure of journalist’s source (Article 10)

  • Buckley v UK (1997) 23 EHRR 101 – gypsies’ home and family life (Article 8)

  • Stubbings v UK (1997) 23 EHRR 213 – access to court (Articles 6 and 14)

  • Chahal v UK (1997) 23 EHRR 413 – deportation of alien (Articles 3, 5 and 13)

  • Ian Brady v UK (1997) 24 EHRR CD 38 – invasion of privacy (Article 8)

  • Laskey and others v UK (1997) 24 EHRR 39 – private sexual life (Article 8)

  • Earl and Countess Spencer v UK (1998) 25 EHRR CD 105 – invasion of privacy (Article 8)

  • John and Frederick Barclay v UK (Decision of 18 May 1999) – invasion of privacy (Article 8)

  • Seray-Wurie v Charity Commission [2008] EWHC 870 (QB) (for Defendant)

  • Wainwright v United Kingdom (26 September 2006) – invasion of privacy (Articles 3, 8 and 13)

  • Mullins v Macfarlane and the Jockey Club [2006] EWHC 986 (QB) (for Defendants)

  • R (Mullins) v Appeal Board of the Jockey Club [2005] EWHC 2197 (Admin) (for Defendant)

  • Wainwright v Home Office [2004] 2 AC 406 (for Claimants)

  • Musa King v Telegraph Group Ltd [2003] EWHC 1312 (for Defendant)

  • HM Attorney General v Times Newspapers Ltd [2001] 1 WLR 885 (for Defendant)

  • WB v H Bauer Publishing Ltd [2002] EMLR 145 (for Claimant)

  • Lillie and Reed v Newcastle City Council and others [2002] EWHC 1600 (for Defendants)

4-5 Gray's Inn Square's Iain Christie provides mediation services in relation to family, workplace, civil and commercial disputes.

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