Sheila Gooderham is a lawyer, mediator, psychologist and the Director of The Mediation Specialists.  She qualified as a solicitor in 1993, trained as a mediator in 2007 and established The Mediation Specialists in 2010 to provide swift, beneficial and bespoke dispute resolution services for clients.

Having commenced her legal career in commercial property with Clifford Chance, London in the early 1990s, Sheila subsequently practiced as a litigation solicitor with Thomas Eggar (now merged with Irwin Mitchell) for many years. She specialized in high net worth and high-profile disputes including Court of Appeal  cases attracting press interest, headed up the family team and was a member of the commercial litigation management team. Between 2003 and 2009 Sheila was a partner at MacDonald Oates LLP, Hampshire before leaving to establish The Mediation Specialists. In addition to her mediation practice, Sheila maintains her legal experience by practising as a part time commercial property lawyer focused on creating early intervention models and strategies to mitigate and resolve property and land management disputes.

Sheila is a CEDR accredited civil & commercial mediator and a registered mediator with the Civil Mediation Council. She is also an experienced family law mediator having trained with Resolution. Sheila provides the one day mediation model to address a broad range of civil, commercial, trust, probate and family law disputes. She will co-mediate where appropriate.

As a consequence of her experience of the significant benefits mediation brings to clients, Sheila is passionate about creating positive dispute resolution outcomes and limiting the time, cost and emotional impact for those engaged in conflict. She has a particular interest in the  transformative and transformational aspects of dispute resolution and post-traumatic growth and how mediation can positively enhance the experience of individuals and organizations engaged in it beyond the simple ending of a dispute.

Sheila has sat on the former Family Justice Council Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee which advised the Ministry of Justice on the introduction of pre-action mediation information and assessment meetings which then became law in England and Wales in 2014. She has conducted interviews with Radio 4’s The Today Programme, Sky and ITV, Radio 2 and 5 live on legal developments concerning mediation and is on the UK Ministry of Justice register of experts.

Training:

Fascinated by developments in neuroscience and how scientific insights can enhance dispute resolution understanding and outcomes, Sheila is an applied positive psychologist and is in the process of writing a book on the subject. She is an industry trainer and has been engaged as professional practice consultant for mediators. Sheila conducts training on the science of conflict  for professionals in law, mediation and organizational management across the private and public sectors wishing to enhance their conflict management skills and their understanding of the dynamics of conflict. She has also conducted training for professionals as a registered Law Society professional development provider on various aspects of the mediation process and handling high conflict personalities. Sheila trained as an Institute of Leadership and Management “Action Learning Facilitator” and in this role works with small groups within companies, organizations and professions on an ongoing basis over a series of months to enhance professional development, problem solving and conflict management skills.  

Publications:

Sheila publishes articles from time to time for the legal and mediation press. Her most recent article, ‘How to Successfully Manage Entrenched Conflict in Mediation’ was published in the Corporate Mediation Journal in 2020. https://www.elevenjournals.com/tijdschrift/cmj/2020/2/CMJ_2542-4602_2020_004_002_002. 

Sheila has also contributed to a leading UK family mediation training manual ‘Family Mediation. Appropriate Dispute Resolution in a new family justice system’ 2nd ed. Lisa Parkinson -published by Family Law.

Availability

MTWTFSS
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
March 2025
MTWTFSS
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31

Judith Hogarth

Faiza Alleg Dolivet

Elizabeth Bilton

Byron Tyson

Kevin Smyth

Neil Boothroyd

Ann Allen Encontre

Helen Johnson

Appointment service required:

Tim Carter

Sheila Gooderham