It’s been some time since my last post, and I hope readers will forgive the hiatus I took. For better or worse, I’m back! 🙂 Years ago, through my training in Neuro-Linguistic Programming, I learned about the word of systemic family therapist Virginia Satir. Satir was one of the original persons which NLP modelled and…
Technology has been defined as the application of scientific knowledge to the practical aims of human life. More often than not we think of this as the application of knowledge from sciences such as physics, chemistry or biology to provide new ‘things’ which improve life. However, perhaps this is too narrow a perspective, which doesn’t…
The EU Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) Platform, once seen a future cornerstone of cross-border consumer protection in the European Union, has officially been discontinued. The platform will be finally closed by 20 July 2025, and since 20 March 2025 new complaints cannot be submitted any longer. This development marks a significant shift in the landscape…
I have been following OpenAI’s large language models since the summer of 2022, when GPT-3 was released. Even at that time, GPT-3 demonstrated occasional glimpses of its potential to assist in dispute resolution. For instance, it spontaneously performed an expected value calculation, which it used to help make a decision on whether to settle or…
“I started paddling. The water felt ominous. I doubted my ability to read the map, worried about finding hidden portages, and wondered if I’d made a colossal mistake. But I just kept going…” That was my first day on a two-week solo canoe expedition through Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA). At 53, with a…
A recent study from Cornell University reignites the debate on how language impacts our interactions with AI—and each other. On April 18, 2025, an article published in O Globo – a major Brazilian newspaper prompted me to reflect. It reported on a recent study from Cornell University, revealing that the way we address artificial intelligence…
In the case of Destin Trading Inc v Saipem SA [2025] EWHC 668 (Ch) (24 March 2025), the English High Court (Chancery Division) held that the dispute resolution clause contained in a settlement agreement superseded the arbitration clause in a previous contract concluded between the parties. This decision underscores the importance of mediators discussing with…
“We are used to thinking about competitions in which there is only one winner….But the world is rarely like that.. The key to doing well lies not in overcoming others, but in eliciting their co-operation.” Robert Axelrod Zero-sum thinking (one can only improve one’s position at someone else’s expense) seems to becoming ever more prevalent…
Understanding the Challenge From 2019 to 2022, the New Zealand International Arbitration Centre (NZIAC) collaborated with Gerard Doolin on an international research initiative exploring the causes of software project misalignment and the role of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms in mitigating or resolving emerging contract disputes. Gerard Doolin, an NZIAC Panel Mediator and member of…
Mediation is well suited to resolving family disputes due to their personal nature and emotional context, as well as their complexity and the inability, or even futility, of deciding who is ‘right’ and who is ‘wrong’. Mediation is also recognized as an effective tool for solving family conflicts by improving communication between parties and lowering…
