mediation process

caucus, Commercial Mediation, Developing the Field, Experts, General, Joint Sessions, Lawyers, lawyers in mediation, Mediation Lawyering, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Mediation Users/Clients, Reflective practise, Scotland, Stages of mediation, The role of the mediator, Understanding mediation

(Core Solutions Group)/ /Leave a comment

Much has been said and written about the demise of the joint meeting in mediation. In my experience, such a view is premature and, I fear, is potentially wasteful of the power that mediation brings for creative problem-solving. I am also aware of how much the clients and others appreciate a creative approach to the…

Below the line, Clients, Commercial Mediation, Communication, Community Mediation, Conflict, Conventional wisdom, Creativity, Dialogue, Dispute Resolution, Due Process, General, Instinct, Intuition, mediation as a career, Mediation Outcomes, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Mediation Users/Clients, Mediators’ Conduct, Perception, Playbook, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Reflective practise, Skills, Tips, Transformation, Understanding mediation

(Bill Marsh Mediator)/ /11 Comments

It’s not easy to blog once a month, even on a subject I love. Often I sit down to write with no real ideas or inspiration. Sometimes I end up that way too (as you may have noticed!). It becomes easy to dread the approach of my monthly publication date. Often the pressure lies in…

Commercial Mediation, Conflict, Dispute Resolution, Improvisation, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Reflective practise, Scotland, Skills

(Core Solutions Group)/ /5 Comments

Recently, I was ruminating about analogies between cricket and mediation. Cricket is a much-loved sport in Scotland. Sadly, nowadays, changes in the climate mean that cricket in my home country is more often affected by summer rain and damp conditions than a generation ago. Its future is less certain as a result. I have always…

ADR, Creativity, Dialogue, Dispute Resolution, Interests, Mediation and Society, mediation process, Negotiation

(Kwok, Ng & Chan, Solicitors & Notaries)/ /Leave a comment

Readers who are experts on the wartime British Prime Minister or have recently watched “The Darkest Hour” may find the above caption familiar. Yes, it has been inspired by Winston Churchill’s famous quote “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” If you like the caption, feel…

ADR, Dispute Resolution, Future of mediation, Lawyers, Legal Practice, Litigation, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Mediation Users/Clients, Negotiation, Understanding mediation

(Jeff Trueman Mediator)/ /2 Comments

As Chip and Dan Heath describe in their book Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, we are rational beings with a “Rider” that logically analyzes our surroundings. Our Rider tries to direct our emotional side, “the Elephant.” Although we like to think our Rider is in control at all times, in truth,…

Clients, Conflict, Developing the Field, mediation models, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Research, Uncategorized, Understanding mediation

(University of Strathclyde) and (Mediation Hertfordshire)/ /Leave a comment

Try this thought experiment: imagine a mediator without empathy. How and what would they do? Would there be drawbacks? Benefits? The response to these questions probably depends on our own experience of empathy. This simple yet often misunderstood term masks a complex and fascinating set of ideas about human connection. Because we believe empathy is…

Bias, Conflict, Creativity, Decision making, Dispute Resolution, Mediation Practice, mediation process, memory, Perception

(Core Solutions Group)/ /Leave a comment

In 1933 Alfred Korzybski wrote: “A map is not the territory it represents, but, if correct, it has a similar structure to the territory, which accounts for its usefulness.” More recently (2006), James Robertson wrote (to reference him once again, this time from ‘The Testament of Gideon Mack’): “We trust in maps because when we…

Dispute Resolution, Future of mediation, Legislation, Mediation Practice, mediation process, mediation traditions, Middle East, Policy, Promoting Mediation, Reform, Regulation, The role of the mediator

(Georgetown University Law Center)/ /Leave a comment

Mediation existed in the Middle East hundreds of years ago. In fact, the notion of deferring to a neutral and objective third-party for a decision towards the resolution of a dispute is well steeped in Arabic/Islamic traditions. For example, one of the most famous stories of Prophet Muhammad’s early life is that of him being…

Dispute Resolution, mediation as a career, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Understanding mediation

(Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London)/ /Leave a comment

It was a comment made a few months ago and it has stayed with me: “But Anna, mediators are all tree-huggers.” There have been many variants of this type in response to my answer to the very English question: “So, what do you do?” These comments continue to irk me. Finally, as this year draws…

Decision making, Dispute Resolution, lawyers in mediation, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Mediators’ Conduct, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Scotland, Stories

(Core Solutions Group)/ /1 Comment

As the year comes to an end, I am expanding upon a story to which I referred in a previous blog, in the hope that it may provide a couple of useful reminders of what we do as mediators. I had eaten a chicken curry rather hastily at the hotel where I had been mediating…