Charles is married with four grown up children and currently four grandchildren. He is widely travelled. He also spends time skiing and playing tennis, enjoys the theatre and the ballet as well as reading a wide range of biographies, mysteries, history and good old fashioned novels. What he really enjoys is meeting people and enjoying the company of good friends, old and new, while at the same time sharing good food and wine.
Charles is a passionate supporter of mediation as a means of resolving disputes.
In mediations, he likes to encourage the parties to have a realistic discussion with a view to reaching an early assessment of the risks they face by continuing litigation and/or prolonging the dispute so that he can then assist the parties to find the most beneficial solution to their dispute.
During his legal career he specialised in Dispute Resolution for more than 30 years with Allen & Overy and Eversheds, mainly in the field of commercial disputes and involving various forms of dispute resolution such as arbitration, litigation and mediation. As well as litigation, Charles’s practice included a number of high profile public inquiries including the Bloody Sunday Inquiry and the Harold Shipman Inquiry. This area of work regularly demands a high degree of tact and diplomacy, good listening skills and an awareness of both personal and political sensitivities, qualities which are also useful in mediation.
