Communication

Book Review, Business, Clients, Communication, Conflict, Conventional wisdom, Dispute Resolution, Efficiency, Future of mediation, General, Lawyers, Lawyers and Psychologists, Legal Practice, Litigation, Mediation Lawyering, Mediation Practice, mediation traditions, Mediators’ Conduct, Negotiation, Neuroscience, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Scotland, Skills, Social intelligence, Status, Transformation, Uncategorized, Understanding mediation

(Core Solutions Group)/ /2 Comments

I have been reflecting recently on the individual and collective professional journeys we all undertake – and on the different stages we reach. My reading has taken me to a thought-provoking book by theologian Richard Rohr, entitled Falling Upward. Rohr’s thesis, put very simply, is that there are two stages to life. The first, necessary,…

Commercial Mediation, Communication, Cross-cultural

(Mediar360 - Dispute Resolution )/ /Leave a comment

It is not an April Fool´s Day hoax. On April first 2014, Brazil will effectively become the 79th country to adopt the United Nations’ Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (also known as CISG(*)). Although Brazil already adopts several principles of the Convention, this is, no doubt, a great step forward, as…

Communication, Cross-cultural, mediation models, Mediation Practice, Practical Challenges for Mediators

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In the early days of personal computing, the development of the “graphical user interface” was accompanied by the acronym, WYSIWYG: “What you see is what you get”. While frustrated computer users know that this was never entirely true, or might only have been true for the computer boffins who designed the interface, the idea was…

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…

Below the line, Commercial Mediation, Communication, Confidentiality, Confidentiality and Transparency, conlfict coaching, Conventional wisdom, Creativity, Developing the Field, Ethics, Future of mediation, General, Instinct, Interests, Language, Lawyers, Mediation Lawyering, mediation models, Mediation Practice, Mistakes, Skills, Stages of mediation, Uncategorized, Understanding mediation, War Stories

(Brick Court Chambers / Clifton Chambers)/ /5 Comments

This is where I did my best work in Christmas week – in the twilight zone between the joint session room to the right of the water cooler and the private caucus room off to the left by the green bins. Corridors can be furtive and risky spaces on mediation days – ‘don’t ask me…

Communication, Mediation Practice, Mediators’ Conduct

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In my last post (http://kluwermediationblog.com/2013/11/27/space-pace-grace-and-face-steps-to-an-ecology-of-mediation/) I started to think out loud about the elements that might contribute to the “ecology” of mediation – that is, the sense of location, context, or genius loci, that might also serve the substantive ends of mediation. My sub-text there was that there is an ineffable “something” about location and…

'Money-only' Cases, Apologies, Apology, Causes of Conflict, Commercial Mediation, Communication, General, Interests, mediation models, Mediation Practice, Mediation Users/Clients, Settlement Agreements, Skills

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

This week I spoke to a group of young legal practitioners here in New Zealand. I aimed low and went back to source. I suspect I got more of a kick out of it than anyone at the session. So, mediators, look away. There is nothing new here. But users, occasional or repeat, I hope these three…

Communication, General, Language, Neuroscience, Skills

(National University of Singapore, Faculty of Law)/ /Leave a comment

Much has been written about the impact of body language on communication. I have in a previous entry addressed the connection between non-verbal communication and the building of rapport. While body language is the commonly used term, I prefer the term non-verbal communication for two reasons. First, the term “body language” is a metaphor that…