PARTY REPRESENTATIVE

In litigation the parties are normally represented in court by a solicitor and possibly a barrister. In alternative dispute resolution processes such as arbitration, adjudication, conciliation, mediation, med-arb or expert determination there is no specific requirements for the party to be represented by anyone or by any type of person in particular. While the parties can be represented by a solicitor or a barrister, they can equally be represented by themselves or anyone else, especially someone who has some expertise in the subject matter of the dispute e.g. an architect, an engineer, or a quantity surveyor if the dispute is a construction dispute. In alternative dispute resolution processes whoever is representing the party is known as the party representative.

The parties should be conscious that if they do appoint a non-lawyer or a non-practicing lawyer as their party representative they will not be obtaining legal advice from the party representative and may need to still obtain legal advice at times, or throughout, the relevant process type