Hong Kong

Accreditation, ADR, ADR Agreements, Commercial Mediation, Confidentiality, Confidentiality and Transparency, Dispute Resolution, Future of mediation, General, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), Hong Kong, Legal Issues, Legal Practice, Legislation, Mediation Act, Mediation Practice, Mediation Reforms (Legislation, etc.), National Mediation Laws, Reform, Regulation, Standards

(Singapore International Dispute Resolution Academy)/ /Leave a comment

In June 2012 the Hong Kong Legislative Council passed the Mediation Ordinance (MO), the first piece of legislation on mediation in Hong Kong SAR. The MO was a much awaited and highly anticipated law and some mediation advocates have been disappointed in what they see as much ado about nothing. After all the MO appears…

Developing the Field, Hong Kong, Mediation Practice, Policy, Scotland

(University of Strathclyde, Law School)/ /1 Comment

It’s nice to be asked.  It means that someone somewhere is taking notice of your work.  Yes conference invitations are generally a good thing.  They are a bit like buses though.  You hang around for eons waiting on them and then suddenly two come at once.  Thus I find myself this May being invited to…

ADR, Appointment of Mediators, Availability of Mediators, Bias, Clients, Commercial Mediation, Conflict, Developing the Field, Due Process, Ethics, Future of mediation, Hong Kong, International Law, International Mediation, mediation as a career, Mediation Practice, Skills, Standards

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

I come from a Western mediation tradition that argues strenuously for neutrality and impartiality in a mediator. Indeed, one of the first questions lawyers will ask when hiring me is whether or not I have any conflict of interest – in other words, do I know those involved in the dispute, have I worked with…

ADR, ADR Agreements, ADR Clauses, Appointment of Mediators, Commercial Mediation, Corporate Counsel's View, Court Procedure and Litigation, Cross-cultural, Developing the Field, Domestic Courts, Due Process, Efficiency, Enforcement of an ADR Clause, EU Directive on Mediation, EU Mediation Directive, Europe, European Law, Future of mediation, General, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), harmonisation of mediation law, Hong Kong, International Courts, International Law, International Legal Theory and Teaching, International Mediation, Mediation Act, Mediation Agreement, Mediation Outcomes, Mediation Reforms (Legislation, etc.), Mediation Schemes (In Courts, etc.), National Mediation Laws, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Public Policy, Set Aside a Mediated Agreement, UN and International Organizations, UNCITRAL Model Law

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

Many have tried but all have failed to implement a definitive single enforcement mechanism for cross-border mediated settlement agreements. This lack of any coherent method of enforcement is widely seen as a major impediment to further globalisation of mediation, the argument being how can we expect parties involved in large international commercial disputes to embrace…

ADR, Arbitration, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, General, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), Hong Kong, International Mediation, Legal Issues, Legal Practice, Legislation, Med-Arb Clauses, Pre-arbitration Dispute Settlement Procedures

(Hong Kong Shue Yan University)/ /Leave a comment

The recent decision in Gao Hai Yan & Anor v Keeneye Holdings Ltd & Others [2011] HKEC 514, (the “wining and dining” mediation case) has generated a considerable amount of interest in the murky depths of the Arbitration-Mediation (“Arb-Med”) facility. Practitioners and academics are still engaged in deep discourse nearly two months after the case…

ADR, Arbitration, Bias, Clients, Combined Clauses, Commercial Mediation, Cross-cultural, Dispute Resolution, Evaluative Mediation, General, Hong Kong, Humorous Pieces, International Courts, International Mediation, Jurisdiction, Legal Issues, Legal Practice, Med-Arb Clauses, Mediation Outcomes, Mediators’ Conduct, Pre-arbitration Dispute Settlement Procedures, Public Policy, Uncategorized

(Singapore International Dispute Resolution Academy)/ /Leave a comment

Hong Kong is the global city of designer ‘labels’ as even the most reluctant of shoppers cannot fail to observe. It is also the city of fakes – fakes with labels and fakes without labels – and the place where the ‘No Fake’ label and the ‘No Label’ label thrive! Confused? Well don’t worry, Hong…

ADR, Australia, Cross-cultural, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, General, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), Hong Kong, Med-Arb Clauses, Mediation Practice, Mediators’ Conduct, Online Dispute Resolution (ODR), Practical Challenges for Mediators, Uncategorized

(Singapore International Dispute Resolution Academy)/ /Leave a comment

They say that you can take the girl out of Australia but that you can’t take Australia out of the girl. So as an Australian living in Hong Kong, let me leave the east-meets-west stories for another time and begin with the very Australian concept of BYO. It’s a long established tradition in Australia to…

Developing the Field, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), Hong Kong, Mediation Practice, Regulation

(Singapore International Dispute Resolution Academy)/ /Leave a comment

The other day my friend and fellow mediator, Jill Howieson, was showing me pictures of gaps in buildings. Now, these are neither accidental gaps nor defects in buildings. Rather these gaps are very deliberate; they form an essential element of construction design. They are the famous architectural gaps of architect Carlo Scarpa. Scarpa was well-known…