On the first day of this year the international mediation community lost a wonderful friend and colleague. The memorial page established by his family shows just how wide and deep the affection reaches. He provided memorable experiences to so many of us. And whilst we both certainly remember (and enjoyed) his joie de vivre, the…

This post is written by Tudor Mureșan and Constantin Adi Gavrilă. It is about the transformations of a young mediator while interiorising restorative justice and mediation principles as a student at the Conflict Analysis and Management International Master Program organised by the College of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences, Babeş-Bolyai University. Adi: Tudor, thank you…

Dear Young Mediation Enthusiast, Last December, I sent you a letter and shared three topics of mediation, namely, (1) qualifications; (2) practice and marketing; and (3) training, with you. Thank you for keeping in touch with me despite the pandemic. I am glad that you are still keen to start your mediation practice. Your further…

Negotiators in a mediation

It’s been a while since I wrote about practical tips for mediators. Yet when I ask people what they want from training or teaching the commonest answer is… practical tips. I offer some below on working with parties who take cold feet just as resolution is approaching. I was recently asked to speak with lawyers…

University of Strathclyde, host to Learning by Doing, mediation clinic conference

By the everyday miracle of Zoom, Carrie Menkel-Meadow spoke from her LA office to a Glasgow conference with a worldwide audience. Wrapping up ‘Learning by Doing,’ the UK’s first conference devoted to mediation clinics, her keynote described the inspiration for a whole career: a colleague in her legal aid office in the 1970s. While Carrie…

Given the confidential nature of mediation, it is a rare set of circumstances that allow us to catch a glimpse into the mediator’s craft. The current review of the professional standards governing Australia’s accredited mediators provides one such opportunity, The review seeks, to the extent permissible, to uncover what practitioners are actually doing, including the…

Dear Young Mediation Enthusiast, Thank you for writing to me and expressing your great interest in mediation after going through the 40-hour training and passing the accreditation assessments with flying colours. I am grateful to you for raising several important issues relating to the practice of mediation and how a mediator should charter the way…

Do Black Lives Matter

“Racially discriminatory behavior may be reduced more effectively when racial issues are made salient rather than ignored or obscured.” (1) This week I’ve been thinking about white privilege. Ok, my white privilege. Like much of the planet I was horrified by the casual, almost routine asphyxiation of George Floyd. I wasn’t surprised by protest and…

Those who have practised theatre may have heard of Constantin Stanislavski’s “An Actor Prepares” – a book on acting published in 1936. The book is popular in Hong Kong not only among those in the performing art but also fans of the Asia famous Hong Kong comedian,  Stephen Chow, who posed to be reading the…

“What’s the point?” asked the preacher, rhetorically. “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity” was his text, taken from Ecclesiastes, an Old Testament book apparently attributed to Solomon, whose wisdom we have all heard about over the years. The child and two women each laying claim to being the mother – and all that. What profit…