Jackson-Stops: Real need for this service
A joint venture between a well-established UK mediation firm and a US-based online dispute resolution provider is offering individuals and SMEs a chatbot-based service for only £25 each.
Henrietta Jackson-Stops, co-founder of Simply Resolved, said Molly the chatbot took a “gamified approach” to persuading parties to agree, and if this failed they could see a human mediator within two weeks.
Ms Jackson-Stops said Simply Resolved was a joint venture between IPOS Mediation, where she is a partner, and Resolve Disputes Online (RDO), a US-based provider of online dispute resolution to public bodies, including a number of state courts.
Sebastian Jenks, head of global sales at RDO, is the other co-founder of Simply Resolved.
Simply Resolved in the product of a 2021 Lawtech UK feasibility study and proof of concept for an online dispute resolution platform to support individuals and SMEs with simpler, more affordable access to justice than the courts.
Mediations begin on Simply Resolved when one party uploads their details, the details of the opposing party and a brief outline of the dispute onto the platform.
Simply Resolved contacts both parties within 24 hours to explain the process and, once they agree, they are invited to set out their version of the dispute and upload documents.
This is followed by “a conversation with Molly” in which she invites both sides to make a financial offer to resolve the dispute.
Ms Jackson-Stops, a solicitor and mediator who worked at Allen & Overy and the Government Legal Department, said Molly would urge parties who were “a long way away” from each other to “keep going” and those who were much closer to “make another bid”.
Negotiation by Molly costs each party £25. Should that fail, a human mediator contacts the parties via the platform within 48 hours and will then “use their skills to help both parties try to resolve their dispute within 14 days”. Mediators charge fixed fees based on the value of the case but are cheaper than the equivalent court fees.
Ms Jackson-Stops said Simply Resolved was at an early stage and had only completed one full mediation, relating to a commercial debt.
A second case heading for mediation involved an individual taking action against a builder.
Meanwhile, law students at King’s College London had put a dozen mock mediations through Molly as part of their coursework.
Ms Jackson-Stops said the part of the market Simply Resolved was really aiming for was people with cases valued between £10,000 and £150,000.
“There is a real need for individuals and SMEs to resolve these cases as quickly and efficiently as possible.”
Parties with small claims for up to £10,000 are entitled to an hour of free, telephone-based mediation from HM Courts & Tribunals Service, which she said was proving effective in dealing with up to half of cases.
There was “an opportunity” for those with high volumes of cases, such as companies like BT or insurers, to put them through Simply Resolved.
Ms Jackson-Stops said one of the benefits of the platform was that it became more cost-effective for mediators to take on lower value claims because the claims had been articulated online, with chronologies drawn up, and they had been through Molly. “Mediators have all the information they need to mediate.”
She added that at this stage there had been no commercial marketing or advertising of Simply Resolved.
One thing that would not be a problem was finding enough mediators. “There are plenty of mediators out there who are properly trained and accredited but underused.”
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