Ireland is grinding to a halt. Or, at least, looking in from the outside one could think it is. 40 days on from the general election, we have no government. None of the parties had a sufficient majority, and no coalition can be formed. The latest attempt at talks ended yesterday almost before it had…

  At the end of March, when I finally arrived back to  Prague after weeks full of traveling (I almost flew the globe around), I sat down and wanted to share with you some experiences I had having attended the Global Pound Conference Series launch in Singapore. Then I realized that the time did not…

On 15 February 2016, the European platform for solving disputes arising out of online purchases (https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/odr)the ODR Platform, based on EU Regulation 524/2013 (the Regulation) was officially launched. The platform enables EU consumers and traders to settle their disputes by putting them in touch with the ADR providers selected by Member States. This platform is…

УмомРоссиюнепонять, Аршиномобщимнеизмерить. У нейособеннаястать, В Россиюможнотольковерить! Fyodor Tyutchev, Russian poet, 1803–1873 You will not grasp her with your mind Or cover with a common label, For Russia is one of a kind — Believe in her, if you are able… translated by Anatoly Liberman This well-known quatrain was written 150 years ago by Russian poet…

As I write this, I am looking across the Gulf of Aqaba at the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, near the place where the Egyptian border abuts Israel, south of the Israeli Red Sea port of Eilat. This morning’s BBC news tells us that Israel is on alert for IS attacks in the Sinai. The accompanying…

In this blog, I’ll follow up on Deborah Masucci’s overview, and in doing so I’ll offer a three observations about technology and one about a very non-technological aspect of mediation. First, on the technology: as those who were there will know only too well, and those who have followed at arm’s length will appreciate, the…

We would like to announce an opening for the position of Associate Editor for the Kluwer Mediation Blog (KMB). The Associate Editor will report directly to the editors Bill Marsh and Nadja Alexander, and work closely with the Kluwer team. The essential duties of the Associate Editor are (1) collecting, editing and reviewing guest submissions…

The first Global Pound Conference event was held in Singapore on March 17-18. Over 400 people participated in the event. Attendees came from all over the world including the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, Pakistan, Great Britain, Fiji, and more. Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon used his Opening Address[1] to outline changes in the economic…

Cogniscenti (and readers of Ema Vidak-Gojkovic’s blog The UNCITRAL Convention on Enforcement of Conciliated Settlement Agreements – An Idea Whose Time Has Come?) will know that talks are ongoing in an attempt to see if it is possible to find a common system for the direct enforceability of agreements concluded in mediation. This is a…

Over the past months, indeed years, I have been blogging about Ireland’s proposed new regulatory regime for mediation contained in the draft Mediation Bill 2012. 2012 2016 It was stalled and delayed and, despite promises which started in the Programme for Government back in 2011, and were made as recently as last summer, has not…