For many student mediators across the globe, the start of the new year will bring the final stages of their preparation for two mediation competitions. Next week, the Lex Infinitum competition will be held at V. M. Salgaocar College of Law, Goa, followed, in February, by the ICC Mediation Week in Paris. Now in its…
Over the Christmas break, I had the pleasure of reading Ken Newell’s memoirs, “Captured by a Vision”. Ken was (until his retirement some years ago) a Presbyterian Church minister in Northern Ireland who, out of deeply held conviction arising out of his Christian faith, played a central role in bringing together representatives of both sides…
One could be forgiven for assuming that the EU has bigger things to worry about these days than whether the EU Mediation Directive has had its desired impact, and therefore the most recent European Parliament Resolution on this area has passed under the radar – at least my radar – until now. Drawing on various…
This is the second in a short series of blogs interviewing regular users of mediation about what they really want from mediators and from mediation. We kicked off last month with Rebecca Clark. This month, I have the pleasure of interviewing Michael McIlwrath, who has been the head of litigation for GE Oil & Gas…
A whole day of mediation without a “joint meeting”. The only time the lawyers met was to begin drafting the settlement agreement. The experts played no part. The day before, the principals had exchanged correspondence deprecating perceived personal insults directed at professional advisers which, it was felt, had damaged reputations. This was a long-running commercial…
In the forty years since new visions and challenges for the administration of American justice were offered at the 1976 Pound Conference, a Quiet Revolution has altered the landscape of public and private dispute resolution around the world. (See Living the Dream of ADR). Recently, a series of day-long meetings styled as the Global Pound…
Over recent years the number of (mainly law) student mediation moots around the world has increased at a remarkable rate. In addition to well-known venues in Paris, Vienna, and Goa, I have heard of events in Bangalore, Bhopal, Chicago, Hanover, São Paulo, Sydney … and Hamburg. There will be more. This is a bug that…
Writer’s note: I was interviewed by the Singapore International Dispute Resolution Academy (SIDRA) for my perspectives on Dispute Resolution. This was published as a blog entry on 2 October 2017 on the SIDRA website. For my entry this month, I would like to reproduce that interview here. I would like to thank SIDRA for giving…
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is unquestionable one of the hottest topics at the moment. At the 2017 International Bar Association Annual Congress, that has just ended in Australia, one of the most recurrent and discussed question was: Will Artificial Intelligence ever be able to replace lawyers or the Law practice as we currently know ? Before…
Finally, after many twists and turns, lobbying, and a not insignificant amount of blogging on my part, Ireland’s new Mediation Act, 2017 was signed into law by the President on 2nd October 2017. For those unfamiliar with my rantings and ravings (other than the learned discussions of my colleagues) over the years, a little background:…
