Every now and again something happens to cause me to pause and think – or re-think. Recently, I had that experience at a small ruined castle in the heart of Scotland, near a lovely country town called Edzell. Edzell Castle, visited by, among others, Mary Queen of Scots and her son, King James VI of…

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…

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…

Several months ago, I received an email from a university student named Madison. She had been trying to connect with an experienced mediator to learn about the work but hadn’t received any responses yet. We met up. Being around the same age, we found that we knew a lot of the same people and had…

“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” – Winston Churchill Improving Habit of Thinking The popular quote attributed to the former British prime minister is easily adaptable to mediation. The optimistic mediator considers the mediated settlement probable and helps the parties by spreading the friendly and promising…

In one of my recent cases, the question of impartiality appeared in quite an irregular way. It happened when I entered the mediation room where both parties were seated together with their lawyers. They were drinking coffee and making small talk. To my surprise, one of the lawyers looked quite familiar. Just for a moment,…

I recently attended a fantastic presentation by Gina Warren, entitled “The Power of Empowerment”. Gina is a visionary, servant leader with a career marked by workplace inspiration and empowerment. I really enjoyed her presentation at the Global CEO Summit of UFI in Cannes, France, this past January, and I was delighted to meet her during…

Mediation can sometimes be a lonely business – in one very specific way: when there is no or little qualified feedback and shared reflection. When I teach and train, I always get some feedback and often I get very precise feedback, and sometimes very warm and encouraging feedback. When I mediate disputes or moderate strategy…

Today I want to encourage all mediators who are at the beginning of their quest for mediation excellence! I am by no means “there yet”, but I accomplished a professional milestone this year and would like to share how. “Mediation does not equal meditation” In 2010, I learnt about mediation when my classmate told me…

As a spiritual junkie, I like to read empowering quotes on the internet. This one I like: “The only time success comes before work is in the dictionary”. Why? Because the road to becoming a mediator is a journey. Interesting, enriching, but sometimes this journey feels like an eternity. As you attend your first training…