UIA World Forum of Mediation Centres took part in Prague from Friday June 7 to Saturday June 8 20013. What are the newest developments mentioned during the symposium? The beginning of the June 2013 was affected by heavily floods that stroke in all the Czech Republic and that threatened the Czech capital Prague. By coincidence,…

This month of May witnessed the launch of the India International ADR Association (IIADRA). And what a blast it was! Judicial luminaries, leading lights of the legal profession, business leaders and politicians all descending upon the gorgeous port city of Kochi on the southwestern Indian coast in the state of Kerala. At first glance Kochi…

Ever since I started Law School, and for some years throughout my legal career, I was trained to work with the Win-Lose negotiation approach. Our legal culture glorifies the winners, but lacks conciliation alternatives. It provides no other alternative rather than seeking victory at the expense of the other parties. However, as soon as I…

“If we listen attentively, we shall hear amid the uproar of empires and nations, the faint fluttering of wings, the gentle stirring of life and hope. Some say this hope lies in a nation, others,in a man. I believe, rather, that it is awakened, revived, nourished by millions of solitary individuals whose deeds and words…

Since 2010, when the Brazilian National Council of Justice (CNJ), the agency that controls and manages the quality of civil services rendered by the Brazilian Judiciary Power, issued Resolution no. 125 , the mediation market in Brazil became considerably more active. This new Public Policy provided instructions on the proper handling of conflicts within the…

In a previous posting I looked at Hong Kong’s new Mediation Ordinance, which came into force on 1 January 2013. This legislative activity comes hot on the heels of a major revision of the Hong Kong Arbitration Ordinance which came into effect in 2011. Given the increasing interest in multi-tiered dispute resolution (MDR) processes such…

I once had the honour to meet the first woman in Space, Valentina Tereshkova. She said something that has always stuck in my mind: “Once you have been in Space you appreciate how small and fragile the earth is”. She meant that Space is a good place to be if you want put things into…

Despite the beautiful summer sunshine outside the window, the end of holidays always bring us back to the unavoidable reality of the new year: hard work. January is time to go through the large number of data and information that is published every year end, picturing not only the previous year (in this case, 2012),…