Meet the man who can help us help ourselves
Could this be the man to bring about fundamental change within the industry? A lot could rest on the shoulders of renowned mediator Michel Kallipetis QC, who is expected to be hired to find a middle ground between the different factions in the trade, in response to the damning criticism of pubcos in the Business and Enterprise Committee report.
His expected appointment (it's yet to be announced officially) was revealed after the second meeting of the cross-industry mediation committee last week.
Further meetings of this group - which features the likes of the British Beer & Pub Association, the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers, Fair Pint and the BII - are due this summer, before Kallipetis's sessions that are expected to take place over two days in September.
His role would be to find common ground and, hopefully, reach an agreement about an achievable outcome for reform. It's intended that a negotiated agreement - or, to borrow the language of international diplomacy, a road map - should be reached by October 2009. That would be within the timetable recommended by Bec chairman Peter Luff for the Government to respond to the MPs' report.
The comparisons with international disputes are tempting. One trade figure compares Kallipetis's role to that of US Senator George Mitchell, who famously helped broker peace in Northern Ireland in the 1990s.
The hope is that Luff and Business Secretary Peter Mandelson will recognise the industry has a concrete plan for self-reform, so there is no need for a Competition Commission investigation, which was urged in the Bec report conclusion.
No one involved wishes to tempt fate, but there's a genuine feeling that formal mediation headed by a respected outside party is the best solution. The success rate for such a process is 80%, one observer points out.
So, who is Kallipetis, and what are his chances of success? Those who know him say his experience of this kind of mediation is second to none.
A practising barrister for 40 years, he is a regular mediator in a wide variety of areas, from banking and insurance to employment disputes, and commercial contract disputes with claims over £100m. Kallipetis is in high demand, mediating around 100 cases per year.
His previous work includes disputes involving the construction of London's Dockland Railway under the Thames, and he has handled several media cases involving high-profile clients such as Pierce Brosnan, Status Quo and Warner Bros.
"In my opinion he's one of the best mediators I've come across," says solicitor Nigel Forsyth, a dispute resolution expert at Barker Gillette, who has known Kallipetis for about 20 years.
Forsyth expects him to approach the task by "trying to get the confidence of both parties". "It's very important that mediators are seen by both sides as neutral - he is very good at that. If it looks like they are taking sides it doesn't work.
"He's not afraid to tell it like it is, but he still retains the confidence [of clients]. He is very good at finding common ground."
Matthew Rushton, editor of Mediator magazine, says Kallipetis is likely to take a hands-off approach. "He won't be playing a big part in the mediation necessarily. He will be taking a back seat and trying to get a balance between the two sides," he says.
Rushton describes the barrister as "hugely enchanting and charismatic". "He is formidably clever, but has a wonderful manner with people. He is gentle, but has an air of authority.
"He is an instantly likeable guy. There's a tendency among QCs to be a bit pompous, a bit stuffy. He's utterly unlike that. "There's nobody better than him. He is extremely well thought of among mediators. He has real skill and panache. If anyone can do it, he can."
