Geoff Sharp

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

After 18 years in the law, and until 1998 as a partner of Bell Gully, a major NZ commercial law firm, Geoff is a commercial mediator and has resolved hundreds of contentious, often litigated, matters over the last 10 years.

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.

He has now conducted hundreds of mediations over the past decade and runs a busy national mediation practice.

In late 2008 Geoff was honoured as LEADR(TM)s 3rd Australasian Fellow and in the same year was invited to join the Visiting Faculty of California(TM)s Pepperdine University Law School as part of its Annual Summer Professional Skills Programme for Mediators. Geoff also participated in Bond University(TM)s Distinguished Practitioner in Residence program and is a Vice-Chair of the Independent Standards Commission of the International Mediation Institute in the Hague currently setting global credentialing standards. In May 2009 Geoff 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

Geoff is on the advanced mediation panels of both LEADR and the Arbitrators(TM) and Mediators(TM) Institute of New Zealand and is a member of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre(TM)s panel of accredited mediators. He is also a Distinguished Fellow of the International Academy of Mediators (USA).

Geoff has trained mediators and lawyers in New Zealand, USA, Malaysia and Thailand and has consulted widely to the New Zealand Government on aspects of public sector mediation.