Appointment of Mediators, Conflict, Conventional wisdom, Cross-cultural, General, insider and outsider mediators, Instinct, International Mediation, Mediation Practice, mediation traditions, Mediation Users/Clients, Neutrality, peace negotiations, UN and International Organizations, Understanding mediation, War Stories

(Bill Marsh Mediator)/ /3 Comments

Recently my good friend Canon Andrew White (aka “the Vicar of Baghdad”, as he is the Anglican priest at St George’s Church, Baghdad) convened a meeting of religious certain leaders from Iraq and Israel, bringing together senior Iraqi Muslim and Israeli Jewish figures in Cyprus for several days of talks about peace. It was by…

Communication, Conflict, General, Governments/Public Sector, Mediation Outcomes, Mediation Practice, Mediators’ Conduct, Negotiation, peace negotiations, Stages of mediation, Stories, Success in mediation, Switzerland, Transformation

(Bill Marsh Mediator)/ /10 Comments

Like many of us, I listened with rapt attention to the reporting from Geneva of the Syrian peace talks last week. So much is at stake. And so much of it feels very familiar to me as a mediator. One particularly interesting item was a radio interview last Saturday with a Syrian media officer who…

Availability of Mediators, Causes of Conflict, Civil rights, Conflict, Conventional wisdom, General, History of mediation, Impasse, Instinct, Mediation Practice, mediation traditions

(Bill Marsh Mediator)/ /7 Comments

My December blog was centred around a 15th Century occurrence. This month, I am in the final two years of the 14th Century. Last night, I went to see Shakespeare’s Richard II at the Barbican Theatre in London. The title role was played (quite brilliantly) by David Tennant – a piece of trivia for all…

Appointment of Mediators, Conflict, Costs in Mediation, Court Procedure and Litigation, Decision making, History of mediation, Humorous Pieces, Impasse, Improvisation, Litigation, mediation traditions, War Stories

(Bill Marsh Mediator)/ /4 Comments

I am indebted to my friend and fellow mediator Mark Lomas QC for sending me the following email recently: ‘I have come across what I think may be one of the earliest recorded mediations in England, and conducted at the highest level. An Italian called Tito Livio dei Frulovisi wrote an account of the life…

Appointment of Mediators, Below the line, Bias, Clients, Commercial Mediation, Conflict, Conventional wisdom, Creativity, Evaluative Mediation, General, Language, mediation models, Mediation Practice, mediation traditions, Mediation Users/Clients, Mediators’ Conduct, Training, Transformation, Understanding mediation

(Bill Marsh Mediator)/ /7 Comments

Mediators deal in words – not exclusively, but a great deal (and perhaps sometimes too much, but that’s another blog). So it pays for us to think carefully about what words really mean. A couple of years ago, I came across an article entitled “US facilitation yes, mediation no: Omar”. It detailed how Pakistan, through…

Commercial Mediation, Due Process, General, Instinct, mediation models, Mediation Practice, Mediators’ Conduct, Negotiation, Stages of mediation

(Bill Marsh Mediator)/ /3 Comments

Here is a confession. I have a theory (in the best traditions of Monty Python). It is totally untested. I am pretty certain that it would not survive rigorous, double-blind trials. It may, however, contain some seeds of insight. My theory – wait for it – is that mediations where one or more of the…

Appointment of Mediators, Availability of Mediators, Clients, Commercial Mediation, Developing the Field, Future of mediation, General, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), International Mediation, mediation as a career, Mentoring

(Bill Marsh Mediator)/ /7 Comments

A few years ago, the mediation world was alight with gossip about the proposed launch of IMI, the International Mediation Institute (see www.IMImediation.org if you have never heard of it). Proponents and opponents in equal measure gathered either to welcome a fresh initiative, or to man the barricades against an attack on cherished turf. The…

Commercial Mediation, Communication, conlfict coaching, Creativity, Future of mediation, General, Impasse, Improvisation, Instinct, Mediation Lawyering, Mediation Practice, Mentoring, Tactics, Understanding mediation

(Bill Marsh Mediator)/ /6 Comments

Sometimes, I look around at mediation events at a sea of grey hair (mine included!). Where, I wonder, are those to whom we are handing this torch? And more importantly, what do they think? So as the dust settled on last month’s ICC mediation competition in Paris, I took the chance to capture some of…

Below the line, Causes of Conflict, Clients, Commercial Mediation, Conflict, Efficiency, General, Mediation Practice, Mediation Users/Clients, Mistakes, Uncategorized, Understanding mediation

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Many of you will have read of the tragedy this week in Arizona, where a mediation ended in the death of one party, and the serious wounding of their lawyer. Details are still sketchy, but it seems that a mediation of a commercial dispute was taking place in an office in downtown Phoenix, between a…

ADR, Appointment of Mediators, Availability of Mediators, Clients, Commercial Mediation, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), Lawyers, Mediation Schemes (In Courts, etc.), Surveys

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It’s never easy to get a grasp on national statistics for mediation. The closest we come in the UK is a biennial (that’s once every two years, not twice a year!) survey carried out by CEDR, for which I for one am very grateful. The latest survey results have recently been released and these are…