The ICC International Commercial Mediation Competition is the only moot I know of devoted to international commercial mediation and it will take place in Paris in early February. It’s an annual event organized by the International Chamber of Commerce and has become the best excuse to travel to Paris, drink coffee and eat pastries on the…

As we head into a new year of mediation and managing conflict in the world it strikes me that, at least in this little corner of Europe, the discipline of mediation itself is at a crossroads. A combination of political and socio-economic circumstances and potential legal developments could lead to mediation taking a greater part…

While large scale efforts are being made in order to be recognized as a worldwide and a free standing profession, the mediation became a profession in some countries and it remains an experiment in others. The general public’s perceptions about mediation have registered significant changes over time. If in its early stages mediation was seen…

Mediation has produced some surprising and unexpected outcomes. One has been its revolutionary speed of acceptance as a means of bringing a civil dispute to a conclusion without judicial determination. Judicial determination has a lot of benefits. One is that there is a clear, authoritative statement of the legal rights of parties in opposition. Another…

As we all know mediation is an interest-based method to resolve conflicts. Nevertheless it is not always easy to know: • which interests drive parties into a conflict • which interests make them want to resolve conflicts and • which interests have to be met in the solution. The first question I ask in the…

One of the things that has been exercising me for some time is the question of what constitutes success in commercial mediation. I ask the question because the experience of the London office of my international law firm – which has attempted to gather data on mediations in which we have participated for nearly 15…

Some times I meet friends or acquaintances whom I had not seen in a long while and when we reach the question What have you been doing lately? I also tell them about mediation. Since they aren’t familiar with this concept, each time, their reactions are very expressive. Mediation for what issue? or Mediation as…

One of the privileges and perils of working as a mediator in Scotland is that we get a close-up view of developments in England and Wales. In an ideal world this should allow us (pop. 5 million) to learn from them (pop. 55 million): to pick the best innovations and avoid the failures. As I…