Andrew Hildebrand

With a unique background as mediator, lawyer and business adviser, Andrew brings extensive business and legal experience to his mediation practice.   Andrew has been on both sides of the table, as mediator and advising clients in mediation.  This, combined with his extensive commercial experience, gives him an enviable ability to see all sides of a dispute and to find the best way to resolution. Ranked as a leading mediator in the Legal 500, Andrew is highly effective. He is attuned to what solicitors and clients want from a mediator and can be relied on to be relentlessly proactive, tenacious and commercially focused. He combines this ability with an affable nature that allows him to deal with difficult personalities and the confidence to know when to be robust and challenging and when to defuse the dynamics in a room.

A leading Entertainment, Sports & Licensing mediator and IFTA Arbitrator, Andrew has mediated high profile cases involving Hollywood studios, broadcasters, rights owners, agents, managers, licensors, distributors, producers, creative talent, financiers, event organisers, sportsmen, franchises, brands and rock bands. His approach is underpinned by his in-depth industry experience working with creative businesses and his familiarity with the business practices and the personalities, both here and abroad. He set up and ran the commercial side of FilmFour, headed up business and legal divisions for companies like Channel 4 and ‘The King’s Speech’, Momentum and executive produced for the late Richard Attenborough. He has co-financed over 100 feature films, including ‘Motorcycle Diaries’, ‘The Madness of King George’ and ‘Trainspotting’ and numerous television productions.

Andrew also specialises in mediating disputes as they start to flare up. Disputes between businesses and disputes within businesses, including between Partners, Shareholders and Family Members. Where people are having difficulties handling a commercial relationship, he can get it safely back on track or, if they prefer, help them separate sensibly, managing the transition sensitively and productively.

Separately, Andrew acts on an exclusive basis for clients as a Dispute Settlement Specialist, working closely with them and their advisers to ensure that they manage their dispute risk portfolio effectively, settle on the most effective terms and get the best out of mediation.

Andrew has particular expertise of working with creative and rights based businesses and is familiar with their business practices and personalities, both here and abroad. He also specialises in mediating commercial disputes where there has been a breakdown in working relationships, especially those involving family businesses, partnerships and shareholders.

Advertising & marketing

Assisted deal-making

Breach of contract

Commercial contracts

Cross-border & international

Defamation

Discrimination

Distribution, agency & licensing

Employment

Energy, oil and gas

Fashion

Franchising

Gaming

Insurance

Intellectual property, trademark, patents & copyright

Media, entertainment & the creative sector

Music

Outsourcing

Partnership disputes

Professional Negligence

Public sector

Publishing

Regulatory

Retail

Shareholder disputes

Sponsorship

Sport

Trusts, wills, probate and inheritance

2015: Cofiloisirs Bank; Senior Vice-President, UK

2003 – 2012: Qwerty Films & Momentum Films; Head of Commercial & Business Affairs

1993 – 2003: Channel 4 & Film 4; Director of Business Affairs

1985 – 1993: Mishcon de Reya; Partner

Solicitor since 1985; Accredited mediator since 2006; accredited family mediator; IFTA Arbitrator

The most recent editions of the legal directories say the following about Andrew:

Chambers and Partners, 2025:

Andrew Hildebrand of IPOS Mediation has broad commercial mediation experience with a focus on disputes occurring in the entertainment and media industry. He also has significant experience handling insolvency cases.

"Andrew is personable and experienced. He is highly successful at devising practical strategies to encourage parties to meaningfully engage with each other."

"He is an exquisite mediator. He is inherently commercial and finds creative routes to settlement. He is enormously charismatic, which means that he can challenge robustly without losing rapport."

Chambers and Partners, 2024:

Andrew Hildebrand of IPOS Mediation has broad commercial mediation experience with a focus on disputes occurring in the entertainment and media industry. He also has significant experience handling insolvency cases. "He's an adept mediator and can get a successful and favourable outcome."

"Andrew has all of the qualifications and positive personality traits of a good mediator: he's personable and empathetic, he understands the arguments at play, and he has an affable nature which allows him to defuse otherwise contentious situations to allow a more persuadable settlement style."

"He is extremely approachable and charismatic."

Chambers and Partners, 2023:

Andrew Hildebrand of IPOS Mediation has broad commercial mediation experience with a focus on disputes occurring in the entertainment and media industry. He also has significant experience handling insolvency cases. "He's a fantastic mediator. What sets him apart is his emotional intelligence as he's very good at reading the room. He knows when to accept client frustration and when to push back and challenge."

Chambers and Partners 2022:

Andrew Hildebrand of IPOS Mediation has broad commercial mediation experience with a focus on disputes occurring in the entertainment and media industry. He also has significant experience handling insolvency cases." Andrew displayed all the skills I would expect of a front-line mediator. He expressed empathy with those making claims, while at the same time retaining commercial objectivity, in order to ensure that the process was fair and effective."

Chambers and Partners, 2021:

Andrew Hildebrand of IPOS Mediation has broad commercial mediation experience with a focus on disputes occurring in the entertainment and media industry. He also has significant experience handling insolvency cases." Andrew was superb throughout the mediation: proactive, engaging and with a unique ability to connect with the parties."

Chambers and Partners, 2020:

Andrew Hildebrand receives plaudits from clients for being able to “help the parties to focus on the pragmatic solution that might be reached.” He handles an array of commercial mediations, and is active in both domestic and international disputes.

Chambers and Partners, 2019:

Andrew Hildebrand of In Place of Strife possesses “a thorough understanding of the business, and an ability to talk the same language as those participating,” in the words of one client. He mediates a range of commercial and contractual cases, including partnership and family business disputes, and offers unique experience in entertainment, sports and IP matters.

Legal 500 2026:

With ‘an excellent reputation in the market’, Andrew Hildebrand has 'great people skills, is genuinely interested, and has a real commitment to getting a settlement. Andrew is able to get on top of the detail quickly and distil the key issues in dispute. He is a superb mediator’. A Fellow of the Civil Mediation Council, Hildebrand is an entertainment, sports and licensing mediator, whose track record includes mediating high-profile cases involving Hollywood studios, broadcasters, rights owners, producers, event organisers and rock bands. He also handles disputes between businesses, as well as conflicts between business partners, shareholders and family members.

Legal 500 2025:

One of the UK’s most sought-after mediators, Andrew Hildebrand is ‘an exquisite mediator – a go-to for anything tricky. He is the ideal mix – inherently commercial, he finds creative routes to settlement, and is interested in what makes people and businesses tick. Absolutely at the top of his game’. In addition to mediating commercial and civil cases, Hildebrand, who is also a Fellow of the Civil Mediation Council, specialises in mediating disputes involving multiple international parties, as well as business partners, shareholders, supply chains, and family businesses. In the entertainment industry, he is particularly well known for film, TV, music, sport, fashion, and brand management.

Legal 500 2024:

‘Does not give up on cases. He always wants to see them through and keep the process going for a long as possible.  This is a valuable quality when enthusiasm starts to flag on the day‘. A widely-respected entertainment, sports and licensing mediator, Hildebrand’s experience covers the mediation of high-stakes conflicts involving Hollywood studios, broadcasters, agents, managers, distributors and producers. He also mediates disputes involving financiers, event organisers, sports, franchises, brands and rock bands. Hildebrand additionally specialises in conflicts between businesses (and disputes within businesses), including between shareholders, partners and family members.

Legal 500 2023:

‘A definite first-choice mediator‘, Andrew Hildebrand at IPOS Mediation is ‘extremely emotionally intelligent and gifted at reading the room. He knows both when to be receptive to the client’s concerns, and when to push and challenge the client‘. Hildebrand is a highly respected entertainment, sports and licensing mediator, whose track record includes high-profile cases involving Hollywood studios, broadcasters, rights owners, agents, managers, distributors and producers (among others). He additionally mediates disputes between businesses, as well as conflicts within businesses, including between partners, shareholders and family members.

Legal 500 2022:

Andrew Hildebrand 'has a wonderfully empathetic manner that invites open and direct discussions and gains trust quickly - he is notable in his level of follow-up after the mediation'. A highly rated entertainment, sports and licensing mediator, Hildebrand also conducts mediations concerning disputes between businesses, as well as disputes within businesses, including between partners, shareholders and family members.

Legal 500, 2021:

Andrew Hildebrand is 'always very calm and takes all the upset of disputes in his stride - the consummate professional'. Hildebrand is widely respected for his mediation of entertainment, media and commercial disputes. He has mediated high-profile cases involving Hollywood studios, broadcasters, agents, managers, licensors and distributors, as well as producers, financiers, event organisers, franchises, brands and rock bands.

Legal 500, 2020:

In Place of Strife’s Andrew Hildebrand is ‘excellent – he goes above and beyond to help parties achieve a settlement’. Hildebrand is particularly well regarded for his mediation experience in the entertainment industry, as well as highly complex and emotional family business and partnership disputes.

Legal 500, 2019:

Andrew Hildebrand  'works hard to understand the emotional aspects of cases and clearly establishes parties' trust; he is also very well prepared, thorough and quietly persuasive without resorting to browbeating'. Hildebrand recently handled over 30 commercial mediations in a 12-month period; he mediates a wide range of commercial and contractual cases but specialises in entertainment, sport and IP; and partnership, family business and private client.

Legal 500, 2017:

Andrew Hildebrand at In Place of Strife ‘deals with mediations excellently; he has an excellent style, asks the right questions, and puts a good amount of work into the pre-mediation period and pre-meetings with the parties, which very much helps on the day’. Hildebrand acts in a range of commercial, contractual and private client disputes; and has a specialist entertainment industry and creative businesses practice, mediating approximately 10-15 entertainment or sports-related cases a year.

Andrew runs bespoke in-house tailor-made Conflict Training seminars & workshops including for the Intellectual Property Office, the Institute of Chartered Accountants, the Law Society, businesses and trade organisations. He writes regularly about dispute resolution including UK chapters for Lexis Nexis’ ‘Singapore International Arbitration’ and OUP’s ‘EU Mediation Law & Practice’.

Themes emerging from feedback

Empathic & flexible

"Excellent. Andrew was very empathetic and obviously personally cared about our client's well being. We reached a satisfactory negotiated settlement. Andrew had very good listening skills and was good at reading between the lines; thereby bringing both parties to a 'realistic' negotiating point, which was solidified in the eventual deal."

"Andrew has an instinctive grasp of what people need in order to resolve their dispute and move on, and the ability to help them do so"

Andrew’s commercial experience is unusually broad. He has regularly been on either side of the fence, e.g. as buyer or seller, and understands commercial issues from a variety of perspectives. He also has a high level of understanding and empathy for the parties, having run his own businesses and mediated his own disputes.

Engaging and problem-solving

“Andrew has a knack for engaging with people and is adept at handling fractious disputes and difficult personalities and steering people past conflict, without getting ruffled or losing his sense of humour”

Proven commercial track record, with over 20 up to years’ extensive business experience.

Knack for engaging with people from all walks of life and swiftly creating constructive working relationships.

Resourceful and Committed

"Thank you for all of your hard work getting us to a settlement.  I think it’s pretty clear we simply would not have got there without someone like you assisting us,  we were really impressed with your handling of a clearly difficult and delicate situation." Solicitor, Insurance dispute

"the mediation went as well as any I can remember and you were fantastic." Solicitor, Insurance dispute

"Andrew grasped the key issues and commercial sensitivities quickly and was sensitive to these throughout. He was very good at making the client feel comfortable about the process as a whole and instilling confidence in his role as impartial facilitator. We were particularly impressed with Andrew’s continued involvement after the mediation. This was excellent and resulted in an agreement being reached between the parties. We would certainly recommend using him again in the future. Andrew is a pleasure to work with." Solicitor, Brand dispute

"Andrew resolved the issues in one day, as opposed to months of arbitration. He understood the client’s needs and objectives, handled matters well… and was aware and proactive. Without him, we simply wouldn’t have got a deal.’’ Solicitor, Insurance dispute

He cuts through complex detailed issues but also thinks outside the box and encourages creative decision-making. He is also informal and unstuffy. He communicates clearly and avoids legal jargon.

Mr Hildebrand was well prepared and struck up a good rapport with the client which was very helpful. He handled the plenary session well and I think got the most out of the day. 5/5 Solicitor, Insurance dispute

These comments, taken from direct user feedback, represent a fair and balanced summary of the responses received.