Scotland

Below the line, Business, Causes of Conflict, Commercial Mediation, Conflict, Developing the Field, Economics, Mediation Practice, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Reflective Practice, Scotland, Uncategorized

(University of Strathclyde)/ /Leave a comment
money

Twice today I’ve found myself responding to mediator reflections in these terms: the money’s not about the money. Both cases involved financial negotiation, even haggling, but that’s deceptive. The key to settlement lay not in the realm of calculation and rationality but in the more opaque social world of face, punishment, justice and emotion. In…

Dispute Resolution, Japan, lawyers in mediation, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Mediators’ Conduct, Negotiation, Neuroscience, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Reflective Practice, Scotland, Stories, The role of the mediator, Time Pressure, Uncategorized

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“You’ve done what?” It took just a moment. The red mist descended. The words were out before I could haul them back in. “You’ve just gone behind my back and undermined what I set out, and we had agreed, we would do….you might at least have had the courtesy…..” The lawyer had just told me…

mediation as a career, Mediation Practice, Philosophy, Scotland, Uncategorized

(Core Solutions Group)/ /1 Comment

“What’s the point?” asked the preacher, rhetorically. “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity” was his text, taken from Ecclesiastes, an Old Testament book apparently attributed to Solomon, whose wisdom we have all heard about over the years. The child and two women each laying claim to being the mother – and all that. What profit…

Developing the Field, Ethics, Future of mediation, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), Language, Mediation and Society, mediation as a career, mediation process, Philosophy, Reflective Practice, Scotland, Uncategorized, Understanding mediation

(University of Strathclyde)/ /4 Comments
Values drive practice

(I first wrote about mediation’s values 12 years ago at the tail end of a Masters in Conflict Resolution and Mediation Studies.(1) Two years of study had convinced me that it is our values, rather than the techniques we learn, that tell us what to do and say when when mediating. The intervening years haven’t…

Brexit, Mediation and Society, Negotiation, Policy, Scotland, Uncategorized

(Core Solutions Group)/ /6 Comments

“For nobody would understand, And you kill what you fear, And you fear what you don’t understand.” Powerful words. As a progressive rock music aficionado, these lyrics taken from the song “Duke’s Travels” by my favourite band, Genesis, have often brought me up short as I listen to the album from which they come, 1980’s…

Court Procedure and Litigation, Developing the Field, Domestic Courts, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), Mandatory mediation, Mediation Act, Mediation Institutions and Rules, Mediation Reforms (Legislation, etc.), Mediation Schemes (In Courts, etc.), National Mediation Laws, Opt-Out, Scotland, Uncategorized

(University of Strathclyde)/ /Leave a comment

To paraphrase a worldwide cliché, you wait decades for a Mediation Act and two come along at once. On this typically dreich Scottish summer afternoon I find myself in the surprising position of examining two distinct proposals for mediation legislation. Why surprising? This blog has carried news of a succession of mediation acts in countries…

Commercial Mediation, Community Mediation, Developing the Field, Domestic Courts, Europe, Future of mediation, Mediation Act, Mediation and Society, Mediation Practice, Mediation Reforms (Legislation, etc.), Mediation Schemes (In Courts, etc.), Mediation Users/Clients, Neuroscience, Opt-Out, Promoting Mediation, Public Policy, Reform, Regulation, Scotland, The role of the mediator, Uncategorized

(Core Solutions Group)/ /2 Comments

Being a mediator brings surprises along the way. For me, I was presented with what turned out to be the biggest challenge of my professional career last November when the Cabinet Secretary for Health in Scotland appointed me to conduct a review of allegations made by staff (through whistle-blowers) of bullying and harassment in Scotland’s…

ADR, Conventional wisdom, Court Procedure and Litigation, Developing the Field, Domestic Courts, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), Legal Issues, Litigation, Mediation and Society, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Mediation Schemes (In Courts, etc.), Practical Challenges for Mediators, Scotland, Stories, Uncategorized, Understanding mediation

(University of Strathclyde)/ /1 Comment
Formality and informality

Place matters It’s good to see authors on this blog referencing academic research – see Rick Weiler’s recent post on decision-making. Similarly, a new chapter by Singapore judicial mediator Dorcas Quek Anderson (1) has got me thinking about the old chestnut of formality and informality. Anderson considers the impact on people and processes of the…

Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Leadership, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Mediators’ Conduct, Reflective Practice, Scotland, Skills, The role of the mediator

(Core Solutions Group)/ /3 Comments

A number of recent mediations have reaffirmed some essentials which I share here in the hope that they might be helpful to others: It’s not all about the money. Mr A had a very substantial claim against a bank running into hundreds of thousands of pounds Sterling, most of his life savings. When I asked…

Decision making, Developing the Field, Future of mediation, Mediation Practice, Public Policy, Reflective Practice, Scotland, The role of the mediator

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My last blog reflected on an excellent mediation conference in Frankfurt on the Oder where the strength which comes from working together was clear. I started this present blog on the day that the EU agreed the terms of the UK’s departure from the organisation that has been such a significant part of Europe’s post-second…