Developing the Field

ADR Clauses, Combined Clauses, Commercial Mediation, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution Clause, Enforcement, Enforcement of a Mediation Clause, Enforcement of an ADR Clause, Future of mediation, Legal Issues, Negotiation

(National University of Singapore, Faculty of Law)/ /1 Comment

I would like to focus this blog entry on a recent development of Singapore relating to agreements to agree/negotiate in good faith and some of the practical consequences that can arise from this case. In the English common law, the traditional position has been that an agreement to agree or an agreement to negotiate was…

Apologies, Clients, Creativity, Developing the Field, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), Lawyers, mediation models, Mediation Practice, Mediation Schemes (In Courts, etc.), National Mediation Laws, Regulation, Scotland, Uncategorized

(University of Strathclyde)/ /1 Comment

Mediation is often portrayed as a useful vehicle for disputes between equals, where parties can be expected to speak for themselves and neither has significant power over the other. Critics, and even supporters, become more sceptical when it comes to less symmetrical situations. Complaints against professionals are one such category. The professional is seen to…

Clients, Communication, Conflict, conlfict coaching, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Intuition, Mediation Practice, Negotiation, Planning, Skills

(Singapore International Dispute Resolution Academy)/ /1 Comment

In this posting I want to reflect on how, as a mediator, I’ve learnt much from the related but independent conflict management process, called conflict coaching. Before I get ahead of myself, however, let me start by offering an explanation of conflict coaching. Conflict coaching is a service provided by a conflict specialist to a…

Accreditation, ADR, Appointment of Mediators, Availability of Mediators, Commercial Mediation, Confidentiality, Confidentiality and Transparency, Developing the Field, Ethics

(Brick Court Chambers / Clifton Chambers)/ /Leave a comment

We mediators need to market our wares, just like the fruiterer at my local Sunday Farmers’ Market when he calls out prices from behind his stall. Increasingly some mediators are choosing to do this by the numbers – advertising how many mediations they have completed and what level of success they have achieved. For instance, this…

Conflict, Cross-cultural, Developing the Field, Europe, Family Mediation, Future of mediation, General, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), International Mediation, Mediation Reforms (Legislation, etc.), Mentoring, Transformation

(Sabine Walsh Mediation)/ /Leave a comment

The location was the Old Post House in Stafford, a traditional English, allegedly haunted, building with excellent conference facilities, good food and awful coffee. The occasion was World Conflict Resolution Day, this year on 18th October. About 45 mediators from around the world had gathered for a day of lectures on workshops on mediation. The…

ADR, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Future of mediation, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), Lawyers, Legal Practice, Mediation Lawyering, Mediation Practice, Negotiation, Training

(National University of Singapore, Faculty of Law)/ /Leave a comment

Singapore was the location of an ADR conference over 4-5 October 2012. The conference was entitled “The 5Cs of ADR: Collaboration-Communication-Consensus-Cooperation-Conclusion” and was jointly organized by the Subordinate Courts of Singapore, the Singapore Mediation Centre, the Law Society of Singapore, the Supreme Court of Singapore, the Singapore Academy of Law, the Ministry of Law and…

Conventional wisdom, Cross-cultural, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Ethics, General, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), insider and outsider mediators, mediation models, Mediation Practice, mediation traditions, omnipartiality in mediation

(Singapore International Dispute Resolution Academy)/ /1 Comment

Geoff Sharp’s recent blog posting, Biased is better and Partiality is In, challenges the conventional mediation wisdom that views impartiality and neutrality as hallmarks of the mediation process. Here impartiality refers to a disinterestedness in the outcome of the dispute and the absence of real and perceived conflicts of interest in relation to the matter….

Accreditation, Appointment of Mediators, Developing the Field, Future of mediation, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), mediation as a career, Mediation Reforms (Legislation, etc.), Mediators’ Conduct, Reform, Regulation, Training

(Sabine Walsh Mediation)/ /Leave a comment

Over the past few weeks I have been following a discussion on LinkedIn around mediator certification which has been going on non-stop for no less than four months. The question of whether the regulation of mediators is good, bad or indifferent seems to go straight to the heart of issues surrounding our identity as mediators…

Developing the Field, Hong Kong, Mediation Practice, Policy, Scotland

(University of Strathclyde, Law School)/ /1 Comment

It’s nice to be asked.  It means that someone somewhere is taking notice of your work.  Yes conference invitations are generally a good thing.  They are a bit like buses though.  You hang around for eons waiting on them and then suddenly two come at once.  Thus I find myself this May being invited to…

ADR, Appointment of Mediators, Availability of Mediators, Bias, Clients, Commercial Mediation, Conflict, Developing the Field, Due Process, Ethics, Future of mediation, Hong Kong, International Law, International Mediation, mediation as a career, Mediation Practice, Skills, Standards

(Brick Court Chambers / Clifton Chambers)/ /Leave a comment

I come from a Western mediation tradition that argues strenuously for neutrality and impartiality in a mediator. Indeed, one of the first questions lawyers will ask when hiring me is whether or not I have any conflict of interest – in other words, do I know those involved in the dispute, have I worked with…