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Geoff Sharp is a commercial mediator and barrister from New Zealand.

Geoff is regularly requested to mediate complex and hotly debated litigation covering a wide range of subject matter from insurance disputes to historic sexual abuse claims.

Geoff's approach to mediating cases has meant that in 2008 (and a similar pattern is emerging for 2009) over 90% of cases reached resolution - only a handful of cases did not settle.

"My aim is to conduct the mediation in a manner that complements the litigation process and I hope my reputation is as a proactive mediator who adds value to the negotiation and who is able to assist unyielding parties to settle the most difficult and contentious cases"

1. In October 2008 I was honoured as the first New Zealander to be named LEADR's 3rd Australasian fellow. The two previous LEADR Fellows were retired Australian Federal Court Judge Honourable Tony Fitzgerald QC and MATA founder Ms Joanna Kalowski. The role of Fellow is to act as an ambassador and to represent ADR to the community and to government [read more]

2. Academic;

2.1 In June 2008 I was invited to join the visiting faculty of California's Pepperdine University Law School as part of the 21st Annual Summer Professional Skills Program in Dispute Resolution for mediators. Pepperdine University is ranked #1 dispute resolution graduate school in the USA in 2007 and 2008.

At Pepperdine I taught Mediating The Complex Case: An Emphasis on Process Design, Party Management, and Insurance Coverage.

2.2 I was also invited to be a Distinguished Practitioner in Residence at Queensland's Bond University Faculty of Law for 7 days in late 2008 where I taught a program, talked to faculty and took part in the intellectual life of the law school for a brief time.

2.3 In May 2009 I was appointed to the Advisory Board of Singapore Management University's newly founded Centre for Dispute Resolution located in SMU's School of Law in Singapore.

3. I was recently admitted to the Hong Kong Panel of Mediators maintained by Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre and have been accredited to the Australian National Mediation Standards that were implemented in January 2008.

4. In April 2008 I was invited to join Europe's new International Mediation Institute as an Independent Standards Commissioner.

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