As DRS marks 50 years, we are celebrating the people who have shaped our education programmes and supported the development of dispute resolvers across the built environment. Since DRS began delivering training, our tutors have played a central role in strengthening professional competence, building confidence in ADR processes, and supporting dispute resolution practices across industry.
As part of our DRS 50 celebrations, we are spotlighting the tutors who have given their time, expertise and support to help develop the next generation of arbitrators, adjudicators, mediators and party representatives.
Today, we speak with Andrew Crease, who reflects on how his professional expertise informs his lectures on the Diploma in Arbitration, and how his work with RICS continues to support raising professional standards.
What does your day‑to‑day work in dispute resolution involve, and how does that experience inform the teaching you deliver through DRS?
On a day to day basis I am involved with rent reviews on a wide variety of properties, acting for both landlords and tenants and acting as Arbitrator, Independent Expert and Independent Assessor. I advise clients as to the implications of their dispute resolution clauses and deal with a variety of Arbitration and Independent Expert cases as the third-party dispute resolver. This involves me making complex decisions regarding valuation issues where both parties have made strong arguments and interpreting legal points myself and with the assistance of qualified legal advisors.
What does your work with DRS involve, and do you have any highlights from your work with DRS?
My work with the DRS involves answering requests for appointments. Occasionally I have been lucky enough to be involved in representing the RICS with the Government. I represented the RICS in discussions about the Coronavirus Arbitration Scheme and was lucky enough to attend the Law Commission, where I was one of the team representing the RICS on the changes to the Arbitration Act 1996. I lecture on the diploma in arbitration and have also delivered the training on the last two independent expert training courses. I have been regularly in volved in exam/assignment setting, marking and moderation and helped setting up the revised diploma in arbitration.
In your view, what makes education around dispute resolution valuable for practitioners in today’s built‑environment landscape?
There are many people involved in the fringes of dispute resolution as experts in building disputes, construction disputes, rent review disputes and option agreements. Their work will be limited, perhaps to the role of expert and many people who enter the Diploma in Arbitration do so to gain better knowledge and become better at providing such evidence. A knowledge of how Arbitrators and Independent Experts reach their decisions is fundamental to how an Expert puts their evidence forward in the best manner possible. Whilst many people go into dispute resolution training courses with this intention, several decide that they quite like the role and go on to become the dispute resolvers of tomorrow. I have always believed it is vital to bring new dispute resolvers on as credibility is so often linked to activity in the market, and whilst it is useful having very experienced, older practitioners on the panel, many of the end users of the Dispute Resolution Service would much prefer to see those active in the market making decisions.
Can you share an example of how your work with DRS contributes to raising standards, improving practice, or supporting better outcomes in dispute resolution?
I think the best example of how my work with the RICS contributes to raising standards, was my involvement with the Coronavirus Arbitration Scheme. As well as attending meetings with the BEIS, I, along with others, helped design the RICS scheme for Coronavirus arbitrations. I was also involved in delivering the training to those people who volunteered for the service and as well as conducting a fair few of these arbitrations myself, I was constantly available on the telephone to the other arbitrators who were undertaking this work. I think it is really important that the RICS were seen to be a provider of dispute resolution services that had a ready-made panel, able to quickly re-train to the new statutory scheme of arbitration and I am very proud that we managed to convince enough panel members to get involved, train them and deliver a large number of arbitration referrals under this scheme in a very short period of time.
Looking ahead, how do you see dispute resolution evolving?
I would hope that the use of arbitration and independent expert determination increases. I think disputes in any form of commerce are an inertia to progress and profitability, and therefore any quick, cost-effective means of resolving disputes is very much needed. If one looks at the history of arbitration itself, it really expanded in Victorian times when commerce became far more intensive and the strain that this put on the court system meant that there had to be a highly evolved and trustworthy system of dispute resolution. I think we are at a crossroads now where again, the court system is creaking at the seams and credible binding, cost effective, timely methods of dispute resolution are more important than ever. I see there being many statutory schemes for arbitration in the future and I would hope that the RICS, as the largest panel of arbitrators, is ready and able to adapt to meet these challenges.
Tutor spotlights like this are part of our wider DRS 50 programme, recognising the people who have helped strengthen standards, inspire confidence and support the growth of dispute resolution over the past five decades.
To explore more about DRS 50 and follow upcoming celebrations, visit DRS celebrates 50 years.