Commercial Mediation

Commercial Mediation, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), Lawyers, Legal Practice, Mediation Practice, Training, Uncategorized

(University of Strathclyde)/ /1 Comment

I was pleased to read that this year’s ICC Competition went so well. Having hosted the UK Law Student Mediation Competition in Glasgow in November I was first-hand witness to the wholehearted, thoughtful way young mediators throw themselves into this work. They appear unaffected by the scepticism of older lawyers. All of this is very…

Commercial Mediation, Confidentiality, Costs in Mediation, International Mediation, Mediation Act, Mediation Agreement, Mediation Practice, Mediation Reforms (Legislation, etc.), National Mediation Laws, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Uncategorized, UNCITRAL Model Law

(Weiler ADR Inc.)/ /Leave a comment

Picking up where I left off last post, I want to discuss what I consider to be a major problem with the Ontario Commercial Mediation Act, 2010 (OCMA) relating to the admissibility of evidence of what occurred during a mediation. Generally (with some exceptions) at Common Law anything said or done in mediation is inadmissible…

Causes of Conflict, Commercial Mediation, Efficiency, Ethics, Mediation Outcomes, Mediators’ Conduct, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Time Pressure

(Pel Mediation)/ /Leave a comment

We live in an age when we all seem to try to get more out of our time. We try to expand time by doing things more quickly and more efficiently than we could before we had airplanes, computers, and all our other electronic devices. We have, however, also created more and more time pressure…

Commercial Mediation, Mediation Practice, Mediators’ Conduct, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Uncategorized

(Weiler ADR Inc.)/ /Leave a comment

As I open each mediation session I remind everyone that the mediation is “confidential”, “without prejudice”, “off the record”.  I acknowledged that these three concepts don’t mean precisely the same thing at law but that for practical purposes it is our common intention and agreement that “what’s said here, stays here.” I know there’s more…

Commercial Mediation, Developing the Field, Efficiency, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), Mediation Outcomes, Practical Challenges for Mediators

(Pel Mediation)/ /Leave a comment

As we all know mediation is an interest-based method to resolve conflicts. Nevertheless it is not always easy to know: • which interests drive parties into a conflict • which interests make them want to resolve conflicts and • which interests have to be met in the solution. The first question I ask in the…

ADR, Business, Commercial Mediation, Dispute Resolution, Europe, General, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), Success in mediation

(Herbert Smith LLP)/ /2 Comments

One of the things that has been exercising me for some time is the question of what constitutes success in commercial mediation. I ask the question because the experience of the London office of my international law firm – which has attempted to gather data on mediations in which we have participated for nearly 15…

Clients, Commercial Mediation, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Due Process, Efficiency, Ethics, General, International Mediation, Mediation Outcomes, Mediation Users/Clients, Mediators’ Conduct, Settlement Agreements, Uncategorized, War Stories

(Brick Court Chambers / Clifton Chambers)/ /Leave a comment

Yep, it’s been an up-and-down month.  More down than up if I’m honest. But hey! I’ve done enough of these things to know that my old Dad was right all those years ago when we’d stand at the top of a black run and he’d say “Laddie, if you’re not falling down, you aren’t skiing…

ADR, Business, Clients, Commercial Mediation, Corporate Counsel's View, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Ethics, Lawyers, Legal Practice, Uncategorized, War Stories

(First Mediation Corporation)/ /Leave a comment

The Situation: Your adversary is attacking your case in the mediation in such a manner that good faith negotiations seem like a distant cousin to all out war. You are looking for a way to recover. You don’t want to walk out of the room, but you are running out of options and the negotiation…

ADR, Clients, Commercial Mediation, Costs in Mediation, Court Procedure and Litigation, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Domestic Courts, Efficiency, Enforcement, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), Mediation Institutions and Rules, Mediation Practice, Mediation Schemes (In Courts, etc.), Mediation Users/Clients, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Standards

(University of Strathclyde)/ /1 Comment

One of the privileges and perils of working as a mediator in Scotland is that we get a close-up view of developments in England and Wales. In an ideal world this should allow us (pop. 5 million) to learn from them (pop. 55 million): to pick the best innovations and avoid the failures. As I…