From next Monday, 9th September, the brand new Insolvency Service of Ireland (ISI) (www.isi.gov.ie) will begin accepting applications for recourse to new debt resolution mechanisms which have been created by the Personal Insolvency Act, 2012 which became law on 26th December 2012. This long overdue response to the increasing levels of personal and property-related debt…

“Conflict resolution governs. From international dialogues and problem-solving workshops to training programs, community mediations, and local restorative justice initiatives, conflict resolution (re-)instals order. It does so by encouraging parties in conflict to reconfigure their orientation to their selves and their institutions, to others, and to the conflict in which they are involved.” (Morgan Brigg, The…

This is the fourth and final posting in a series written by Tina Monberg, Irena Vanenkova, Michael Leathes and Nadja Alexander. In the last posting we discussed two factors that we think are critical to changing mindsets and increasing the systematic use of mediation in intractable, politically-charged and violent conflict. They are: 1. Bringing more…

This is the third in a series of four postings written by Irena Vanenkova, Tina Monberg, Nadja Alexander and Michael Leathes. The previous posts appeared on the 17th and 20th August on the Kluwer Mediation Blog. Previously we noted that the UN and world political leaders increasingly perceive mediation as vital for avoiding and resolving…

This is the second in a series of postings written by Michael Leathes, Tina Monberg and Irena Vanenkova and Nadja Alexander. The first post appeared on the Kluwer Mediation Blog on 17 August. Yesterday we put forward our view that achieving the promise of mediation in conflicts that threaten the stability of societies and economies…

Recently I have noticed mediators using a label to describe other people’s practice. It is rarely a compliment. That label is “evaluative”; as in “she takes rather an evaluative approach” or “his background as a lawyer leads him to be evaluative.” More subtly, “We are firmly committed to the facilitative model” (and, by implication, not…

This note is a response to, and affirmation of the idea behind Bill Marsh’s provocative notion that the best mediators and negotiators smoke. Of course, in these non-smoking times, we couldn’t possibly agree with the apparent endorsement of smoking and yet the underlying idea Bill conveys is an important one – about the structure of…

Co-Author Lughaidh Kerin, NUI Galway The School of Law, National University of Ireland, Galway hosted in association the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre, NUIG and the Irish Centre for International Family Mediation a Conference on Mediation in Cases of International Family Conflict and Child Abduction on a typically damp Saturday in May in the…

Part 1 of this post touched on rumblings for more transparency in arbitration. But there is more than the distant sound of thunder, and it’s coming closer. As arbitration and mediation are both highly competitive and fragmented fields, it is hard for providers to act collectively. Yet they must. The only forums where arbitration organizations…

Another new mediation venture in Scotland: last week saw the launch of University of Strathclyde Mediation Clinic (http://www.strath.ac.uk/humanities/lawschool/mediationclinic/ ). While by no means a new idea, it’s the first in this jurisdiction. The response took us by surprise. We were graced with the presence of the University’s Principal, a judge, lawyers, sponsors, advice agencies, academics…