Earlier this year, the Adjudication Society launched the Equal Representation in Adjudication Pledge and Women in Adjudication, and there has been much tangible interest in both. Here I will explain the initiatives, including the opportunities they offer to those involved with statutory adjudication, and will also consider the challenges they face.

Statutory adjudication is of fundamental importance to construction; in practical terms it is very often the final dispute resolution mechanism. As Lord Justice Coulson commented in John Doyle Construction Ltd vs Erith Contractors Ltd [2021] EWCA Civ 1452, “I rather cavil at the suggestion that construction adjudication is somehow ‘just a part of ADR’. In my view, that damns it with faint praise. In reality, it is the only system of compulsory dispute resolution of which I am aware which requires a decision by a specialist professional within 28 days, backed up by a specialist court enforcement scheme which (subject to jurisdiction and natural justice issues only) provides a judgment within weeks thereafter. It is not an alternative to anything; for most construction disputes, it is the only game in town.” My sense is that no one would disagree with Lord Justice Coulson’s analysis.

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