Looking back over my previous blog posts it strikes me that I’ve been throwing the term integration around a fair bit in the context of dispute resolution and mediation, in particular. The term “alternative dispute resolution” has always sat somewhat uneasily with me. While it is of course a correct description, as the procedures it…
In this post I want to talk about an important thread that is emerging in the science of the twenty-first century. It is the finding that we are all interconnected, that we are porous beings with the ability to influence not only ourselves but one another in ways not previously contemplated. What we previously knew…
This month I want to share with you a little gem of a mediation book, published late last year by the Irish state-funded Family Mediation Service (FMS). I wanted to review this book for two reasons – first of all, because it is an excellent publication which, though written in the context of the 25th…
As you would expect, judges are appointed for their ability to adjudicate, often untested at the time of elevation to the Bench. Once appointed, many jurisdictions around the world then ask their judges to suspend their adjudication skills in favour of mediating controversies coming before the court, often in an effort to reduce backlogs. And it seems…
There is much discussion in Ireland at the moment on a proposed new piece of legislation on Mental Capacity. A 740-page Report on submissions to the relevant legislative committee was published yesterday , and though I have yet to even get through the introduction, I find myself wondering whether it might prove to be of…
Well, 143,000 if you believe Mr. Google – but only one could have posted this must view for all mediators and mediation advocates. See this world class mediator in action at; http://billwoodmediation.com/video (and be sure to watch videos 2 & 3) P.S Bill if you need help here is one of the world’s only pet mediators,…
I recall in the early days of mediation practice it seemed like one of the hardest interventions to make – to be standing in front of a room full of people and have to create a coherent whiteboard out of their discussion. The humble whiteboard has been used for every conceivable task in the mediation room –…
ADR in Brazil is a hot issue. The number of courses, events, discussions and debates over the present and future status of mediation is already significant and growing at high rates. For the people who are involved in the field, it looks like mediation booming.
There are reasons for this enthusiasm. The Brazilian Court System may have become an economic bottleneck. Given the slowness of the Brazilian Court System, in theory, there is a demand for quicker, more agile and informal ways of resolving disputes.
The adversarial process built into the Brazilian court system can no longer be the sole or even the preferred way to address disputes. It is expensive, slow and unpredictable. This situation calls (or screams) for the application of ADR. Mediation would seem to be the natural solution to be adopted in most cases.
Additionally, Brazil has already produced a significant number of well-trained mediators, a Code of Ethics following international standards and judges and court staff adequately trained and prepared to identify cases which could be referred to mediation. Despite the theoretically favorable environment, in practice, mediation is still not the preferred way to resolve disputes in Brazil. In fact, mediation in Brazil is adopted in a very small number of cases. Brazil has the need and the means to adopt mediation as a main stream form of dispute resolution, but somehow it has not happened so far.
Some disputes are more suitable for mediation than others. Counsel and their clients contemplating whether or not to mediate a particular dispute can sometimes benefit from a more structured approach to analyzing that question. It was with this in mind that many years ago my then partner and I designed the Mediation Suitability Checklist. The…
We were pleased to see the recent launch of the Commercial Mediation Group covered by the Editor’s blogpost last month. So why set up the Group, what are we doing and where is this headed? As for the thinking behind the initiative, the Editor hit the nail on the head. For many years the ‘mediation…
