Moot Hill is one of the UK’s leading dispute resolution companies. Our expert team has a unique combination of broad business experience, military and security service and advanced skills in mediation, negotiation and arbitration.
Our team of consultants is led by our directors who founded the company and who are both active in supporting our clients. We’ve helped resolve hundreds of disputes, many of which were complex, emotional and high-value.
We’d be happy to help you too.
Mark Linnell is one of the UK’s leading negotiators and mediators. He achieved CEDR (Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution) accreditation in 2005, is ranked in Chambers UK and is a fellow of the Civil Mediation Council.
Mark is ranked in The Legal 500 as Level 2 mediator maintaining his position as one of the top 35 mediators in the UK. He continues to feature in their Hall of Fame, recognising those consistently placed in the rankings for eight years as leading mediators.
Alongside his work as a mediator, Mark has more than twenty years’ experience working at a senior level in both SMEs and global brands. As an experienced interim director, he has frequently been called on to resolve conflicts and negotiate settlements. At the beginning of his career, Mark served as an officer in HM Forces. Since 2021 he has been Chair of the Naseby Battlefield Project.
“Mark is an excellent mediator who brings a wealth of experience with him; and he is particularly adept at messy business disputes between former friends involved in small to medium-sized private companies/joint ventures.”
“Mark has a very engaging manner which quickly wins trust and confidence. He is able to bridge the gap between difficult parties during intense mediations when things seem lost.”
“Working with Mark leads to results. He brings new thinking and structure, creativity and order, and all focused on the goal. Blend that with fun, energy, and integrity and you have a great combination.”
David is a non-practising solicitor and CEDR accredited mediator. He has international experience from his time as a lead partner and board member for both regional and city law firms.
David has been an advocate of mediation for many years. He has a well-deserved reputation for bringing clients and lawyers together to resolve commercial disputes and secure lasting results. He also has many years’ experience serving in HM Forces as both a full-time officer and member of the reserves.
David is known for his commercial acumen and understanding of how disputes develop. He is skilled at finding innovative and creative solutions to complex and high-value disagreements.
“David instantly makes his clients feel at ease and in safe hands.”
We have both enjoyed a career in the military and are proud of our years in service.
We also know that military experience brings significant benefits in civilian life, in particular in relation to our work now.
For example, while he was serving in the reserve forces David negotiated in the most extreme circumstances. He spent time in Afghanistan where he was mentor to the Helmand police chief and successfully advocated for improvements in police pay and equipment. And earlier, while serving in Iraq, he liaised with Iranian representatives to reduce humanitarian issues during religious pilgrimages. Situations like these require advanced negotiation and mediation skills and deep cross-cultural understanding.
More generally, military and security personnel develop strong personal attributes and skills in many key areas. We have to depend on each other in the most high-risk situations. This gives us a keen understanding of what loyalty means and how critical it is when building trust. And it means we’re able to work under extreme pressure without losing our humanity or good humour.
Because of the demands of service life military and security personnel also develop a strong work ethic. When we were in service we learned to take responsibility, including our responsibility to lead, very seriously. These demands have also made us extremely disciplined and efficient in how we plan and use our time. And they mean we have well-developed decision-making skills.
Military and security service enhances a wide range of other skills including resilience, confidence and the ability to communicate and work with all kinds of people in all sorts of situations. All these skills are also vital for an effective mediator and we employ them across our work today.
Francine is a respected journalist with wide experience across business, politics and the arts. She has fronted many BBC programmes including Newsnight, The Money Programme and Front Row. She is known for her shrewd, tenacious and thought-provoking style and her ability to temper persistence with humour.
Francine is culturally aware with broad international experience that includes reporting from countries across the world including the US, Russia, Brazil, Hong Kong and Uzbekistan. She communicates effectively and appropriately, whether in a public or corporate context, and has interviewed people from slave workers and presidents to political prisoners and film stars.
A CEDR accredited mediator, Francine has moderated for the OECD and large corporations. She has served as non-executive director or trustee for a number of major arts institutions, including Tate, and is an Honorary Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford.
Peter has had a long and distinguished career in the security services where his experience includes time working in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the US. He is widely respected for his ability to manage complex and politically sensitive relationships.
Peter was the first Director of Security for the Houses of Parliament and has since worked extensively across the world advising governments, businesses and high net worth families.
Peter is an accredited mediator and an expert negotiator. He is used to working in fraught circumstances and to tight deadlines. In particular, he is an experienced analyst and advisor to governments, intelligence services, private businesses and individuals.
Anthony has enjoyed a long career in government service, first as an army officer and later as a diplomat specialising in national security, when he spent time working in central Europe, the Balkans and with the UN. He has served as head of analysis at the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre and a leader in learning and development at the Federal Foreign Office.
Anthony has particular expertise in security, risk, negotiation and conflict resolution and has managed investigations across jurisdictions.
Anthony is known for his ability to focus on detail while maintaining a strategic vision, especially in complex environments. He is an ADRG-certified civil and commercial mediator and speaks English, Serbian, French and German.
John is a practising barrister with vast experience of alternative dispute resolution (ADR). He is a member of the Bar Council’s ADR committee and also serves as one of two specialist advisors to the all-party parliamentary group on ADR.
John has particular experience working with central and local government and a range of environmental, health and heritage non-governmental organisations. He is an expert in town and country planning, environment, transport and property work. He has completed advanced mediator training where he focused on cross-cultural disputes and multi-party mediations.
John is a CEDR accredited mediator and a recommended member on the panels for the Association for Northern Mediators and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Dispute Resolution Service. He is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb).
The term moot hill is an ancient one that is strongly associated with resolving disputes.
A moot hill was a hill or mound used in medieval Britain as an assembly or meeting place. Local people would hold moots (what today we’d call meetings) at the hill where they would hear proclamations, make decisions and settle business.
Some moot hills were natural features of the local landscape, but others had been created as burial mounds or were purpose built.
We purpose-built our own metaphorical moot hill to help you resolve your dispute as quickly and easily as possible.
