I don’t mean to argue against the undeniable wisdom of inserting a dispute resolution clause in a commercial contract at the drafting stage. Conventional wisdom says settle your disputes as early as possible – like bubbles off the ocean floor, conflict expands as it rises to the surface and finally explodes into the air. What’s not…
Not so long ago I was a claiming party as part of a group of plaintiffs in the stead of my elderly parents in a multiparty, multimillion dollar mediation. Now, I mediate around 120 mediations every year as a commercial mediator here in New Zealand so it was with a mix of personal apprehension and professional curiosity…
On 25th and 26th June, the ICC and FIDIC (International Federation of Consulting Engineers: http://fidic.org/) hosted their annual conference in Paris. While most of the discussion was, understandably, concerned with either arbitration or adjudication – the latter involving primarily Disputes Boards (http://www.dbfederation.org/) acting under FIDIC contracts – mediation made an appearance at a number of…
Since 2010, when the Brazilian National Council of Justice (CNJ), the agency that controls and manages the quality of civil services rendered by the Brazilian Judiciary Power, issued Resolution no. 125 , the mediation market in Brazil became considerably more active. This new Public Policy provided instructions on the proper handling of conflicts within the…
Despite the beautiful summer sunshine outside the window, the end of holidays always bring us back to the unavoidable reality of the new year: hard work. January is time to go through the large number of data and information that is published every year end, picturing not only the previous year (in this case, 2012),…
The relationship between growth and the combination of knowledge and human capital is no surprise. The economic environment is fast changing and technology driven. The global economy is already what the economists call a knowledge economy, where value increasingly comes from innovation and intellectual property management. No country, region or organization can ignore the challenges…
Mediators often talk about the power of framing their own language and reframing the language of parties and others in mediation settings. For example, mediators may frame their comments in neutral, constructive and future-focused language. They may reframe party statements to detoxify offensive or destructive language or to create a shift from the negative to…
Since I was invited to contribute to Kluwer´s Mediation Blog I decided to follow the line of writing about all the possibilities of mediation in the corporate Brazilian market. This month would not be different. I invested a lot of time chasing data and information about the uses of mediation in the Intellectual Property sector….
Lack of flexibility is probably one of the most difficult obstacles to resolve any dispute. The absence of flexibility, limits the ability to reach agreements and ultimately makes the courts the only place where the dispute can find any kind of resolution. It is weird, therefore, that countries like Brazil have, in their legal systems,…
Looking beyond the short term, the fun, and the parties, large international sports events are an opportunity for the host country to improve the life of its citizens on a permanent basis. Large sport events may serve as a catalyst for political support around the solution of issues that otherwise might be unaddressed and, therefore,…
