Beverley mediates all types of commercial disputes. She has had recent experience of mediating disputes in Banking and Finance, Commercial contract, Corporate sales/ Shareholder disputes/ Joint venture disputes, Partnerships, Insolvency, Trusts, Professional Negligence and Real Estate (including Planning and Construction).
She has a reputation for managing strong personalities and cross cultural clashes. Both parties and legal advisors in mediations appreciate her straight talking, practical approach and her ability to mix a rigorous legal analysis of the case with empathy to help the parties find a solution that works for all of them. Beverley is frequently called upon to mediate disputes where one or more of the parties is based outside of the UK with recent mediations including participants from USA, UAE, India, Italy, France, Nigeria and South Africa.
Beverley has been listed as a leading mediator in both Chambers & Partners and Legal 500 for mediation work for a number of years. She regularly gives seminars on mediation and is a coach and assessor on CEDR Mediation Training programmes.
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
Beverley was a litigation partner in, and Head of Real Estate litigation at, Allen & Overy LLP until 2013 when, after 20 years practice as a litigator in the City, she transferred to the Bar to become a full time mediator.
Before becoming a lawyer, between taking her first and second degrees, Beverley worked in Banking and on a large IT project.
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Expertise
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ADR
Beverley accepts mediation appointments in disputes in the following areas:
- Banking & Finance
- Commercial Contracts
- Construction and Engineering Insolvency
- Nuisance/Negligence PFI
- Planning
- Professional Negligence Private Client
- Property
- Sale of Goods & Services Tort
- Trusts
- Warranties
- Wrongful Arrest
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Feedback
- “A clear, practical, expert contribution made a very difficult day easier.”
- “Beverley was excellent. The way she handled both joint and individual meetings was great.” “A sound handling of the process.”
- “We thought she was excellent! our client was very pleased with her.”
- “She did a very good job moving the parties from their original positions.”
- “I think Beverley was very helpful and judged the tone of the mediation well.
- “I thought Beverley was extremely professional and knowledgeable in the way she dealt with the issues. It was not the easiest mediation in terms of the positions of the parties with regard to the claim and in terms of the various personalities at play but Beverley treated the parties fairly, challenged us when appropriate and kept the mediation moving in order to achieve a settlement.”
- “Beverley did a very good job and kept the parties focused. Not an easy task with so many strands to address”
- “I’ve had a spate of mediations lately and definitely felt this was the best managed of the lot”
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Directory Quotes
Chambers UK (2024)
"Beverley Vara concentrates her mediation practice on commercial disputes. She displays notable expertise in real estate-related cases.”
Chambers UK (2024 )
"She's very impressive, very determined and clients like her a lot. She's hard-working and encourages the parties to negotiate, discuss and not walk away. My client was very impressed, and her patience is extraordinary".
Chambers UK (2024)
"She takes a no-nonsense approach to mediation. Beverley is very sharp and wastes no time getting to the core issues in a dispute to focus minds and see whether a resolution can be reached. She has a confident yet approachable mediation style and is a go-to mediator for thorny disputes.”
Legal 500 (2022)
“Beverley is a sharp and patient mediator. Great at absorbing all the key information, listens to all parties’ concerns, and is very adept at helping negotiations to successful conclusions.”
Chambers UK (2021)
“Likes to grasp cases by the scruff of the neck and is good at handling challenging situations.”
Chambers UK (2020)
Beverley is “very good at getting people to think in the right away about a case. She gets on top of the detail quickly and sees points that might have been missed.”
Chambers (2019)
"She's very good at getting people to think and to negotiate, and she gets cases quickly."
Chambers (2018)
"Beverley is firm, straight-talking and comes up with creative ideas to try to achieve a resolution. She grasps legal issues quickly, which enables the parties to concentrate on settlement discussions."
Chambers & Partners (2017)
“Beverley Vara is a “very supportive and helpful” mediator who is regularly appointed to property disputes and cases involving professional negligence. One impressed observer states that “she was very good and skilled in moving the parties to settle” and “she was instrumental in getting the parties out of their entrenched positions.”"