Despite half the country being under water, the first few weeks of 2014 have brought with them some new developments in mediation and related areas. While not all of these developments are welcome, one gets a sense that the need for change in many areas, including the legal system, is being acknowledged and acted upon…

So, dear Readers, This time last year I was telling you about new mediation initiatives in Hong Kong. Well, this year I hope to send you into the festive season with some very exciting news from Singapore. On 3 December 2013, Singapore’s Ministry of Law unveiled key initiatives to transform and develop its international commercial…

From the Samoan Observer 28 August 2013 Chief Justice, His Honour Patu Tiava’asue Falefatu Sapolu yesterday launched Samoa’s Mediation Rules 2013 during a gathering at the Samoa Tourism Authority (STA) fale. Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi was among Cabinet Ministers and senior government officials present. Also present was the Speaker of the House, La’auli Leuatea…

The Law No. 29/2013, which entered into force on 20 May 2013, lays down the general principles applicable to mediation in Portugal. There are many reasons to believe that mediation could develop faster than before on the Europe’s West Coast. Fans of fado (a distinctly Portuguese music genre, well known for its artistic refinement and…

In what I hope readers of this blog will consider a deft segue, I want to shift from the successful judicial mediation that I highlighted last month to one that didn’t proceed quite so smoothly. Deals negotiated in mediation tend to hold or, at least, that’s been the conventional wisdom. The theory is that because…

If I look back 10 years ago I can notice that mediation has had an evolution which at that time, we could but hope for. From the random pilot projects and the search “laboratories” of this activity, in the year 2013, mediation has become a freestanding profession and even a social and professional phenomenon. Mediation…

In a previous posting I looked at Hong Kong’s new Mediation Ordinance, which came into force on 1 January 2013. This legislative activity comes hot on the heels of a major revision of the Hong Kong Arbitration Ordinance which came into effect in 2011. Given the increasing interest in multi-tiered dispute resolution (MDR) processes such…

Armed with coloured paper, crayons and scissors, myself and nine other mediators spent a good portion of last Friday designing our “ideal” family conflict resolution service. While the background to this was, in part, recent and pending legislative change in the UK, some of which looks likely to impact negatively on families in conflict, these…

Well, the New Year is a time for reflections, making new resolutions and fresh starts. In Hong Kong the 1st of January 2013 saw a fresh start for the mediation regulatory regime with the coming into force of the Mediation Ordinance (MO), which I wrote about last month. But it’s not just the MO, which…

In previous posts I had pointed out how difficult it is in my area to make mediation taking off and despite the fact that Switzerland has been known as a “neutral” country with a long standing practice of promoting peace in the settlement of dispute, at least viewed from an international perspective. A figurehead of…