Farm Holdings Disputes

At the launch of his guide to alternative dispute resolution in April 2018, Bob McIntosh said “Strong and constructive relationships are a vital component in creating a thriving and prosperous tenant farming sector.” We agree and would add that mediation can support this objective, because these disputes so often involve families, long-standing business relationships and community interests that can easily be damaged, sometimes irreparably, by litigation and other forms of adjudicative dispute resolution. Most other dispute resolution processes can only offer the parties a win-lose outcome with money as the means of rewarding the winner and punishing the loser. Most disputes, and especially farm disputes, are too complex to be resolved by a binary financial award. Mediation can address both financial and non-financial expectations of the parties and the possible need to maintain relationships between them. Mediation, by putting the parties’ interests first, can succeed where other dispute processes fail.

Previous Experience in Agricultural Holdings Mediations

Eskhill & Co delivered a mediation service commissioned by the Scottish Government in 2016 in relation to the difficulties faced by landlords and tenant farmers resulting from the defective provisions of the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 2003 relating to limited partnership tenancies. We followed this with successfully delivering the Pilot Mediation contract which was the forerunner to the Scottish Land Commission’s new scheme which may in some circumstances provide a contribution to the costs of mediation. We have learned a great deal from these mediations. Each has presented a range of complex issues; not only legal and agricultural, but also in the areas of family, neighbour and community relationships.

Ways we can help:

We offer a without obligation meeting with both parties and their advisers to discuss how mediation can help and how we will design a mediation process to suit the individual circumstances of the dispute. Usually, Robin or Lindsay will take on the role of principal co-mediator who will be your main point of contact in organising and administering the mediation process. We usually work as a team of two co-mediators to deliver the mediation and in addition to our partners, Robin and Lindsay, we have options of working with one of our two experienced associates as co-mediators: Pamela Lyall and Crispin Agnew - see our brief resumes below for further information. Having two experienced co-mediators participating has the two heads are better than one benefit but because either of the two are equally capable of leading the mediation solo it provides a contingency should anything prevent one mediator from continuing. It also offers the potential of holding simultaneous meetings during the mediation should for instance a meeting between the legal advisers be useful at the same time as a meeting between the land agents. Our fees are no more for co-mediation. Please use the buttons alongside to explore our website mediation pages.

Agricultural Holdings

We have been helping Scottish farming resolve disputes since 2016. We offer a range of services from early dispute mediation to a full commercial mediation service. Together with our associates we are able to offer unparalled experience in the sector.

Mediation, Facilitation and Coaching

“I am convinced that mediation has a potentially important part to play in resolving landlord-tenant issues that might otherwise worsen, or which might result in litigation of one form or another. I’m keen to build upon what we have learned about using mediation and move towards mainstreaming mediation in the tenant farming sector.” Bob McIntosh Tenant Farming Commissioner

A word about the costs of farm mediations:

As members of the Scottish Land Commission (SLC) mediator panel parties may be eligible for a contribution to the mediation costs from SLC and more can be found out about that at Scottish Land Commission Mediation Scheme. If approved, the SLC support has a ceiling of £1000 plus VAT, which is intented to be a contribution of one-third of the total. Our fee rates are published online at our mediation fee page on this website. We will provide a quotation for a farm mediation in line with our scales but we guarantee that if a farm dispute qualifies for the SLC Mediation Scheme, the final fee will be not be in excess of £3000 plus VAT, enabling the parties to benefit fully from the maximum contribution under the SLC scheme of £1000. In addition to a full mediation procedure we are also offering an Early Dispute Resolution Service which may help some parties resolve their differences if tackled at an early stage - see below.

Early Dispute Resolution:

Our Early Dispute Resolution Servive or EDM will provide an online mediation session for the parties of up to 5 hours and each party wlll also have a private premediation session with the mediators of one hour. This service is not related to the value of the dispute but is likely to be a lower value dispute. Usually, parties would represent themselves in the negotiation, helping them to reduce the cost of advisers being present for the mediation. The fee for this service is £500 per party plus VAT. If after a fixed fee mediation, the parties require a more intensive full mediation, with advisers involved, we will discount our normal rates by half of the fee for the fixed fee mediation. This will provide an opportunity for landlords and tenants to access mediation at lower cost and before a dispute has escalated to the point where mediation requires them to meet the costs of other advisers attending the mediation session.

Crispi n Agnew Sir Crispin Agnew of Lochnaw Bt QC went non-practising in April 2020. He had a specialist practice in all aspects of Rural Land Law with a particular interes t in agricultural law and landlord and tenant under the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Acts. He is the author of boo ks including: Agricultural Law in Scotland (1996) and The Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Acts (co-author with D Rennie) (1996). He is a trained Mediator and, since 2000, has acted for parties in a number of agricultural related mediations as well as acting as mediator. He is based in Edinburgh but will travel througho ut Scotland. He will work in conjunction with Robin Burley or Lindsay Burley of Eskhill & Co. Email: crispin.agnew@advocates.org.uk Telephone: 0773 9 639 1 26

Pamela Lyall Pamela is one of Scotland’s most experienced mediators, accredited as a mediator by CEDR in 2000. She trained as a solicitor and made partner with Dundas & Wilson, Edin bu rgh. She is a fulltime mediator and has mediated in disputes relating to a broad spectrum of sectors , including farming. She was part of the consortium, with Robin and Lindsay Burley, which succes sfully won the tender bid for the TFC Pilot Mediation Scheme. Normally working with an unpaid as sistant, she would be willing to co-mediate with Robin or Lindsay Burley. Based in Edinburgh, Pamela is happy to travel anywhere in Scotland if required. Pamela’s style is proactive, realistic, prag matic and positive. Email: pamela@pamelalyall.com Website: www.pamelalyall.com Telephone: 0777 8 384150 or 0131 44 7 8394

Robi n Burley Robin has been mediating for 17 years in over 300 cases involving commercial, workplace, planning, in-court, complaints and farming disputes. Rob in has a Masters in mediation and dispute resolutio n from Strathclyde University and is actively engag ed in developing mediation, including as past chair of Scottish Me diation. Robin co-ordinated mediation services for Scottish Government and Scottish Land Commission contracts dealing with seven tenant farming dispu tes and co-mediated four. His approach is to de sign each mediation to fit the case offering fixed-fee early dispute mediat ion to full mediation processes. In appropriate cases Robin will co-mediate with Lindsay Burley, Crispin Ag new or Pamela Lyall. Contact Robin by clicking here:

Lindsay Burley Lindsay has mediated for 17 years, carrying out over 300 mediations in t he commercial, court, workplace, complaints and agricultural s ectors. Over the last four years she has led or co -mediated six mediations between landlords and tenant farmers, initially under the aus pices of a Scottish Government project and subsequently f or the Scottish Land Commission pilo t. Lindsay mediates across Scotland and has considerable experience of virt ual mediations, mostly using Zoom technology. As a member of the SLC Panel, she may use a co - mediation model, working in partnership with Crispin Agnew, Robin Burley or Pamela Lyall. There will also be opportunities to de sign short early dispute resolution meeti ngs for parties where appropriate. Contact Lindsay by clicking here:

“Thank you very much for facilitating our agreement. We regard it as a good result, though what an extraordinary journey you had to take us on to get there. Avoiding the Land Court was a huge relief and we remain extremely grateful to you and all the professional advisers on both teams who got us over the finishing line. We would undoubtedly use mediation again should we be unfortunate enough to find ourselves in a similar position. ” Party in Mediation

Find out more

Why not have an initial, free consultation with us? There's absolutely no obligation. Find out how we work and what we can do to help you resolve a problem involving two parties.

Eskhill & Co | Green House at Eskhill | 15A Inveresk Village | Musselburgh EH21 7TD | Tel: 07774 127809 or 07831 605858

Farm Holdings Disputes

Previous Experience in Agricultural Holdings

Mediations

Ways we can help:

We offer a without obligation meeting with both parties and their advisers to discuss how mediation can help and how we will design a mediation process to suit the individual circumstances of the dispute. Usually, Robin or Lindsay will take on the role of principal co-mediator who will be your main point of contact in organising and administering the mediation process. We usually work as a team of two co-mediators to deliver the mediation and in addition to our partners, Robin and Lindsay, we have options of working with one of our two experienced associates as co- mediators: Pamela Lyall and Crispin Agnew - see our brief resumes below for further information. Having two experienced co-mediators participating has the two heads are better than one benefit but because either of the two are equally capable of leading the mediation solo it provides a contingency should anything prevent one mediator from continuing. It also offers the potential of holding simultaneous meetings during the mediation should for instance a meeting between the legal advisers be useful at the same time as a meeting between the land agents. Our fees are no more for co-mediation. Please use the buttons alongside to explore our website mediation pages.

Agricultural Holdings

Lindsay Burley Lindsay has mediated for 17 years, carrying out over 300 mediations in t he commercial, court, workplace, complaints and agricultural s ectors. Over the last four years she has led or co -mediated six mediations between landlords and tenant farmers, initially under the aus pices of a Scottish Government project and subsequently f or the Scottish Land Commission pilo t. Lindsay mediates across Scotland and has considerable experience of virt ual mediations, mostly using Zoom technology. As a member of the SLC Panel, she may use a co -mediation model, working in partnership with Crispin Agnew, Robin Burley or Pamela Lyall. There will also be opportunities to de sign short early dispute resolution meeti ngs for parties where appropriate. Contact Lindsay by clicking here:

A word about the costs of farm mediations:

Early Dispute Resolution:

Find out more

Why not have an initial, free consultation with us? There's absolutely no obligation. Find out how we work and what we can do to help you resolve a problem involving two parties. “I am convinced that mediation has a potentially important part to play in resolving landlord-tenant issues that might otherwise worsen, or which might result in litigation of one form or another. I’m keen to build upon what we have learned about using mediation and move towards mainstreaming mediation in the tenant farming sector.” Bob McIntosh Tenant Farming Commissioner

Mediation, Facilitation and Coaching