УмомРоссиюнепонять, Аршиномобщимнеизмерить. У нейособеннаястать, В Россиюможнотольковерить! Fyodor Tyutchev, Russian poet, 1803–1873 You will not grasp her with your mind Or cover with a common label, For Russia is one of a kind — Believe in her, if you are able… translated by Anatoly Liberman This well-known quatrain was written 150 years ago by Russian poet…
As I write this, I am looking across the Gulf of Aqaba at the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, near the place where the Egyptian border abuts Israel, south of the Israeli Red Sea port of Eilat. This morning’s BBC news tells us that Israel is on alert for IS attacks in the Sinai. The accompanying…
In this blog, I’ll follow up on Deborah Masucci’s overview, and in doing so I’ll offer a three observations about technology and one about a very non-technological aspect of mediation. First, on the technology: as those who were there will know only too well, and those who have followed at arm’s length will appreciate, the…
Over the past months, indeed years, I have been blogging about Ireland’s proposed new regulatory regime for mediation contained in the draft Mediation Bill 2012. 2012 2016 It was stalled and delayed and, despite promises which started in the Programme for Government back in 2011, and were made as recently as last summer, has not…
Three recent mediations in three jurisdictions raised some interesting issues. Each mediation was different. One involved a claim for professional negligence against a firm of solicitors for (allegedly) incorrectly including an occupied building in the sale of a large piece of land. The sellers were unhappy that many years had elapsed since the transaction, a number of them passing while…
It’s the first week of February and therefore ICC International Mediation Week, including the International Commercial Mediation Competition. Those, like myself, who can’t be there, and are following the proceedings on social media, will have also noticed the save the date notice issued for the 2nd International Mediation and Negotiation Competition at the CDRC in…
It is perhaps rare for a piece of legislation to receive enthusiastic cross-party support in any legislature. However, that is just what has happened in Scotland with the very recently passed Apologies (Scotland) Act 2015. Over more than two years, Margaret Mitchell MSP has piloted this legislation through the Scottish Parliament with skill and tact….
Last week I spent some time with a European mediation organisation looking to review its mediator accreditation and practice standards. Somehow I expected a discussion about various accreditation initiatives around the world with perhaps some exploration of “mediation models” and how they fit into national regulatory frameworks. I was pleasantly surprised. What ensued was a…
11 January 2016 saw the opening of the Singapore Legal Year. As is tradition, the Chief Justice of Singapore, Mr. Sundaresh Menon delivered his address to the legal fraternity. In his address, there were a number of initiatives relating to mediation which the writer would like to provide readers an update on. The Chief Justice…
First of all a very happy New Year to all our readers! May 2016 bring you peace, happiness and many, many hours of successful mediation. Here in Ireland, all we would really like is for it to stop raining, even for an hour or two. With the last month having been the wettest on record,…
