People have very good reasons not to want to enter into dialogue with each other over conflict (with or without mediation). By this, I am not considering the rational choice that a dispute or conflict is “not suited” to mediation since the chances of a better outcome without amicable resolution are deemed higher. It is…
Online mediators are increasingly in demand in the first online state courts. However, with the inevitable emergence of artificial intelligence-aided online courts, what will the future role of these mediators be? What is the difference between online dispute resolution (“ODR”) and state online courts? The short answer is none. Only a few years ago ODR…
Photo credit: Creative Commons Jean M.Mas 2/2007 Although my mediation training made no mention of it, 32 years of mediating have taught me that mediations generally unfold over two stages: Stage 1: “Who Did What to Whom”? Here parties (or their lawyers) follow the ritual of naming, blaming and claiming – recounting facts, providing evidence…
I have recently been approached to enrol myself in an investor-state mediation training programme and also to speak at one of the sessions. That triggers off my deeper thoughts on the topic of investor-state mediation and related issues. This blog is an attempt to share my thoughts so that fellow mediation practitioners may consider whether…
Law of Georgia on Mediation was adopted by the Parliament of Georgia on September 18, 2019 with 93 votes in favor and 0 against. A little over a month before adoption of the Law, on August 7, Georgia signed the Singapore Mediation Convention, being one of few countries from the region, or even the continent,…
Mediation is certainly featuring in the international news right now. This week Giuseppe De Palo posted an enthusiastic message about workplace conflict resolution. He congratulated the Office of the Ombudsman for UN Funds and Programmes as it prepares to establish a world-wide panel of mediators to make mediation “the first, natural step to take in…
Is this yet another case in which New York is setting global trends? By the end of the year, the state courts in New York are due to have a system in place requiring that civil and commercial disputes be resolved through presumptive mediation. “Presumptive mediation” means an “automatic”, pre-trial, statewide program of court-sponsored ADR….
On 2 August 2019 the “3rd Asia Pacific Conference, Singapore Convention on Mediation: Strategies of China, Japan, Korea and Russia” was held in Seoul, Republic of Korea (Korea). The Conference centred on the Singapore Convention on Mediation [1] United Nations Convention on International Setlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation 2019 (UN, New York) (Singapore Convention), with…
I am very happy to share with all of you that on October 28 – 30 I will take part on the 2019 International ODR Forum, in Williamsburg, Virginia, USA, with some of the most outstanding ODR’s thought leaders as Colin Rule, Paul Embley, Daniel Rainey, Ethan Katsh and Orna Rabinovich-Einy, among others. I will…
In Part I, I introduced and responded to concerns relating to China’s legal and judicial system if China signs the Singapore Mediation Convention. This part will focus on other concerns relating to the interests of various bodies of China. 1. Concern over possible harm to the interest of Chinese companies In recent years, the number…
