Upon appointment on a dispute, Mouchel commence work investigating the matter and reviewing the papers. The contract documentation is examined and the contractor's claim is scrutinised. Having achieved initial familiarisation, Mouchel has "without prejudice" meetings with both the Engineer and the contractor, to gain a full understanding of both points of view, and then reports back to the client. At the same time, it is likely that an arbitrator will be nominated by the contractor and Mouchel then provide advice on the acceptance or counter-nomination for the appointment of the arbitrator. With the arbitration in progress, Mouchel provide a preliminary 'strengths and weakness' report to give initial guidance to the client on their future strategy. Once the contractor's pleading has been received, Mouchel drafts the client's response, assists Counsel in settlement of pleadings, reviews the 'strengths and weakness' report and commences formulation of an appropriate amount to be put forward in a Calderbank offer. At the same time, suitable experts will be located and proposals put to the client for appointment of experts for the dispute. The experts' technical briefs will be prepared by Mouchel.

After the client's pleading has been settled by Counsel, Mouchel updates the strengths and weaknesses review, briefs the client and assists if ill negotiations with the contractor, if appropriate, with a view to achieving an early settlement. If agreement is not reached, Mouchel continue with the preparation for the Hearing, dealing with Discovery, and experts' and witness' of fact statements. This includes briefing the witnesses and reviewing their statements.

As the matter crystallises, which always occurs as the progresses in the arbitration, Mouchel again review their "strength and weakness" report with a view to re-assessing amounts included in the Calder bank offer. If the matter does not settle, but continues to-a Hearing, Mouchel provide full support to the Solicitors and Counsel through the Hearing.

The procedures adopted by Mouchel are, of course, tailored to the individual dispute as each matter invariably follows a unique course. However, Mouchel use innovative methods to assist in driving the matter toward final resolution, which is normally negotiated settlement. The full paper will detail the impact of the innovative methods on the dispute procedures.

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