Rebecca Attree

Commercial Mediator

About Rebecca

Rebecca is an experienced mediator who regularly mediates a wide range of commercial, common law and workplace disputes for a range of values. She has over 25 years’ experience in assisting businesses and individuals domestically and internationally to resolve commercial disputes and reach agreements. A City qualified solicitor, with significant experience as an owner of several businesses, Rebecca brings commercial acumen and pragmatism to her mediations. She is fully accredited to mediate in the UK (since 2010), US and online.

Mediation Approach

Rebecca’s style is calm, relaxed and empathic, quickly putting people at ease. Incisive and analytical, she helps the parties at an early stage identify what they want to get out of the mediation and focus on practical solutions. She is articulate and persuasive, and will reality test where necessary. Rebecca is energetic, and tries to facilitate a resolution within the allocated time so her mediations rarely continue into the night. Rebecca is excellent at working with people from a variety of cultures.

Mediation Experience

Rebecca has a particular reputation for mediating disputes relating to contracts for sale of goods and services, workplace, agency, distribution, franchise, joint ventures, manufacture, aviation, construction, property and family business. Many of those involve international, cross-cultural and European issues. Cases have involved, for example:

  • Corporate law, directors’ duties
  • Sale of goods and services
  • Disputes between senior managers, employees, teams, employer/employees
  • Construction contracts, property, landlord and tenant, timeshare agreements
  • Shareholders’ disputes
  • Recovery of professional fees
  • Professional negligence
  • Partnership agreements
  • Expropriation/ diversion of business, IPRs and goodwill Insurance related claims
  • Finance agreements
  • Joint ventures
  • Agency and franchise agreements
  • Loans and financial arrangements
  • Contentious probate and Inheritance Act claims
  • Family trusts and TOLATA
  • Division of assets and businesses following relationship breakdown

And have been:

  • Between corporates with represented and unrepresented parties
  • Inter-personal or intra-family
  • Between parties at varying levels in organisations

Whilst most disputes are between two parties, the largest number of parties Rebecca has worked with as a mediator has been 10 and as an adviser 30. Values in dispute range from multi million pound to small monetary values, but where parties place high value on issues such as reputation, relationships and values.

 

OTHER DISPUTE RESOLUTION AND COMMERCIAL EXPERIENCE

  • Assisted clients as a solicitor to resolve contract disputes 1996 – 2002
  • Chairman, Director and Shareholder of Attree Estates Limited, a property development company, since 2002
  • Founder of Attree & Co (1995), initially a solicitor’s practice, subsequently a consultancy engaged in mediation and training
  • Non- Executive Director of ADR Net 2012 -2016
  • Resolved a complex probate and family business litigation as an Executor of an Estate 2002 -2004;
  • Mediation Advocate;
  • Used mediation herself as a business owner.

Publications & Training

  • Lead Trainer of Civil and Commercial Accredited Mediator Course for ADRg.
  • Regular speaker at ADR Group conferences
  • Experienced trainer since 1996 of 1000’s of lawyers and business executives in mediation skills and contract law. Clients include City law firms, FTSE 100 companies and public organisations
  • ADR Group Standard documentation for setting up mediations and regulatory aspects
  • ICC Commercial Mediation Training Role-Plays 2015
  • International Commercial Agreements (Thorogood)
  • European Product Liabilities (Butterworths 1st and 2nd Editions)
  • European Economic Interest Groupings (Jordans)

Professional Background

Rebecca graduated in Law from Downing College, Cambridge and qualified in 1989 as a solicitor in the City of London (Richards Butler (now Reed Smith). She was an Associate with Laytons in the Company Commercial department from 1989 – 1995.

 

In 1995, Rebecca set up Attree & Co, her own solicitor’s practice, specialising in contentious and non-contentious international commercial advice.

 

Since 2002 Attree & Co has provided training to corporate solicitors and individuals globally and since 2010 also mediation services.

 

Rebecca is a founder member of Hexagon Mediation.

 

QUALIFICATIONS AND SKILLS INCLUDE

 

  • CMC Registered Mediator
  • ADRg Accredited Civil and Commercial Mediator
  • US Qualified Mediator (INADR)
  • ADRg Accredited International Online Dispute Resolution (“ODR”) Mediator
  • Member by Experience, Law Society Civil and Commercial Mediators Panel
  • Fluent in Italian, good French, significant experience in delivering legal and related services in Europe and beyond
  • Honorary Member since 1994 of Libralex, International law firm network, Deputy Ombudsman, Chair ADR Working Group
  • Judge at the ICC Mediation Competitions, Paris , 2011 – 2015
  • First female Member of the Worshipful Company of World Traders 1994, former member of the Court of Assistants and Education Committee
  • Liveryman of the City of London since 1994