Dispute Resolution

Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Future of mediation, ICC Mediation Competition, Legal Practice, Mediation Lawyering, Training, Young Mediators

(Sabine Walsh Mediation)/ /Leave a comment

While I am watching hailstones the size of peas fall in the West of Ireland, a good number of my colleagues are celebrating the culmination of the ICC’s Mediation Competition in Paris, where in excess of 60 teams of mediators and negotiators compete to resolve disputes through mediation. The relevance of this to today’s blog…

Commercial Mediation, cross-border mediation, Dispute Resolution, Future of mediation, International commercial mediation, International Mediation, Japan, Promoting Mediation, UNCITRAL

(Waseda University) and (University of Sydney & Williams Trade Law)/ /1 Comment

More than 1,400 years ago, Japan codified Confucian and Buddhist approaches to governing in Prince Shotoku’s Constitution, whose first article provides that “[h]armony should be valued, and quarrels should be avoided.” The underlying principle, wa (harmony), was promoted and reflected in the fabric of Japanese society and may have contributed to a persistent preference for…

Dialogue, Dispute Resolution, Mediation and Society, Mediation Practice

(Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine )/ /2 Comments

This post is based on the research of two professional communities – mediators and dialogue facilitators – in Ukraine (see the research article) and poses a few preliminary questions that require deeper thinking and more research. Although the fieldwork for my article was done in Ukraine, I was told that similar developments are also noticeable…

Commercial Mediation, Dispute Resolution, Lawyers, Legal Practice, mediation as a career, Mediation Practice, Reflective practise

(Core Solutions Group)/ /1 Comment

At the start of another year, it can be useful to conduct a bit of a personal stock-take. What holds us back from achieving all we could this year? How many of us suffer from silent self-doubt? How many of us would admit to feelings of inadequacy, anxiety and uncertainty about what we do? Far…

Dispute Resolution, Future of mediation, Legislation, Mediation Practice, mediation process, mediation traditions, Middle East, Policy, Promoting Mediation, Reform, Regulation, The role of the mediator

(Georgetown University Law Center)/ /Leave a comment

Mediation existed in the Middle East hundreds of years ago. In fact, the notion of deferring to a neutral and objective third-party for a decision towards the resolution of a dispute is well steeped in Arabic/Islamic traditions. For example, one of the most famous stories of Prophet Muhammad’s early life is that of him being…

ADR, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Future of mediation, India, Negotiation, Promoting Mediation

(Peacekeeping and Conflict Resolution Team), (V M Salgaocar College of Law), and (Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London)/ /Leave a comment

For many student mediators across the globe, the start of the new year will bring the final stages of their preparation for two mediation competitions. Next week, the Lex Infinitum competition will be held at V. M. Salgaocar College of Law, Goa, followed, in February, by the ICC Mediation Week in Paris. Now in its…

Conflict, Dispute Resolution, Future of mediation, insider and outsider mediators, Mediation Practice, Negotiation, peace negotiations

(Bill Marsh Mediator)/ /2 Comments

Over the Christmas break, I had the pleasure of reading Ken Newell’s memoirs, “Captured by a Vision”. Ken was (until his retirement some years ago) a Presbyterian Church minister in Northern Ireland who, out of deeply held conviction arising out of his Christian faith, played a central role in bringing together representatives of both sides…

Dispute Resolution, mediation as a career, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Understanding mediation

(Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London)/ /Leave a comment

It was a comment made a few months ago and it has stayed with me: “But Anna, mediators are all tree-huggers.” There have been many variants of this type in response to my answer to the very English question: “So, what do you do?” These comments continue to irk me. Finally, as this year draws…

Decision making, Dispute Resolution, lawyers in mediation, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Mediators’ Conduct, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Scotland, Stories

(Core Solutions Group)/ /1 Comment

As the year comes to an end, I am expanding upon a story to which I referred in a previous blog, in the hope that it may provide a couple of useful reminders of what we do as mediators. I had eaten a chicken curry rather hastily at the hotel where I had been mediating…

Conflict, Creativity, Decision making, Dispute Resolution, Impasse, Negotiation

(Core Solutions Group / Scottish Universities Insight Institute)/ /Leave a comment

James Robertson’s novel ‘To be continued…’ introduces us to a character who goes by the name of Mungo Forth Mungo. Mungo is somewhat far fetched, not least because he is a talking toad. In this capacity he engages in many thoughtful and reflective conversations with the main character in the book – Murray Findhorn Elder…