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Geoff Sharp is a Fellow of the International Academy and has been involved in commercial litigation for the past 18 years both in New Zealand and in Australia, and until the end of 1998 he was a litigation partner with one of New Zealands largest litigation practices.
He has specialised in contract, securities, banking and commercial property litigation; and in the early 1990s began to develop his own mediation practice, which he eventually left his firm to pursue.
He is now a barrister specialising in commercial mediation work.
Geoff is admitted in the following Courts:
All the Courts of New Zealand (1982)
Supreme Court of Victoria (Australia) (1983)
Federal and High Courts of Australia
In January 2003 Geoff was contracted as Principal Mediator to the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service, with responsibility for the New Zealand government mediation service and its 20 contract mediators dealing with the leaky building crisis in New Zealand.
Other appointments include:
- Contract by the NZ Ministry of Housing to lead, mentor and advise on its 62 tenancy mediators throughout the country (June 2002).
- Board member of LEADR Lawyers Engaged in Alternative Dispute Resolution, an Australasian association of 1000 lawyers and others involved in mediation (1997-2004).
- Member of the New Zealand Law Society Dispute Resolution Committee (2000-2005) and Chair of the Committee in 2006.
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Areas Of Practice |
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Civil |
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Commercial |
Background
Geoff Sharp is a member of the only two advanced mediation panels in New Zealand, being the LEADR Advanced Panel of Mediators and the Arbitrators & Mediators Institute of NZ Mediation Panel.
Geoff works exclusively as a commercial mediator in a broad range of disputes, usually being appointed legal advisers to the parties. He has conducted over 500 mediations around New Zealand and the Asia Pacific.
Geoffs aim is to conduct the mediation in a manner that does not interfere with the litigation process. This is not always straightforward, and he attempts to do it by being creative, by being persistent and by understanding and respecting the process, the parties and counsel.
He aspires to a reputation as a mediator who is able to facilitate and assist in the settlement of the most difficult and hotly debated cases.
Although there are many ways to measure the effectiveness of a mediator and the mediation process, parties to mediation are often interested in a mediators resolution rate with that qualification, Geoffs resolution rate in 2003/2004 was well above 90% and it is ahead of that in 2005, meaning only a handful of cases do not settle at mediation.
Education/Training
Geoff has received training from Harvard Law School, CDR Associates (Colorado) and Bond University (Queensland, Australia) as well as closer to home from LEADR NZ and Massey University (NZ).
He occasionally lectures students at Victoria University Law School (Wellington, NZ).
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