Practical Challenges for Mediators

ADR, ADR Agreements, Cross-cultural, Deal Mediation, Developing the Field, Disclosure, Dispute Resolution, Dispute Resolution Clause, EU Directive on Mediation, EU Mediation Directive, General, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), harmonisation of mediation law, International Law, International Legal Theory and Teaching, International Mediation, Lawyers, Mediation Practice, Mediation Reforms (Legislation, etc.), Not-for-Profit Organizations (NGO), Practical Challenges for Mediators, Public Policy, Reform, Regulation, Samoa, UNCITRAL Model Law, War Stories

(Singapore International Dispute Resolution Academy)/ /2 Comments

As I write these lines, I am working on a commercial mediation project in the Pacific nation of Samoa – yes the one that has just jumped across the international dateline. My blog post today is a reflection on an aspect of this work that is relevant, not just to me, but to any of…

Causes of Conflict, Commercial Mediation, Efficiency, Ethics, Mediation Outcomes, Mediators’ Conduct, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Time Pressure

(Pel Mediation)/ /Leave a comment

We live in an age when we all seem to try to get more out of our time. We try to expand time by doing things more quickly and more efficiently than we could before we had airplanes, computers, and all our other electronic devices. We have, however, also created more and more time pressure…

Commercial Mediation, Mediation Practice, Mediators’ Conduct, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Uncategorized

(Weiler ADR Inc.)/ /Leave a comment

As I open each mediation session I remind everyone that the mediation is “confidential”, “without prejudice”, “off the record”.  I acknowledged that these three concepts don’t mean precisely the same thing at law but that for practical purposes it is our common intention and agreement that “what’s said here, stays here.” I know there’s more…

Commercial Mediation, Developing the Field, Efficiency, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), Mediation Outcomes, Practical Challenges for Mediators

(Pel Mediation)/ /Leave a comment

As we all know mediation is an interest-based method to resolve conflicts. Nevertheless it is not always easy to know: • which interests drive parties into a conflict • which interests make them want to resolve conflicts and • which interests have to be met in the solution. The first question I ask in the…

ADR, Clients, Commercial Mediation, Costs in Mediation, Court Procedure and Litigation, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Domestic Courts, Efficiency, Enforcement, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), Mediation Institutions and Rules, Mediation Practice, Mediation Schemes (In Courts, etc.), Mediation Users/Clients, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Standards

(University of Strathclyde)/ /1 Comment

One of the privileges and perils of working as a mediator in Scotland is that we get a close-up view of developments in England and Wales. In an ideal world this should allow us (pop. 5 million) to learn from them (pop. 55 million): to pick the best innovations and avoid the failures. As I…

Apologies, Clients, Commercial Mediation, Efficiency, Mediation Outcomes, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Training

(Pel Mediation)/ /1 Comment

Problems in group practices of medical group practices or commercial partnerships between lawyers, advisers, accountants, consultants are very common. My mediation practice consists for about 50% of group-mediations concerning cooperation-problems between partners in lawyer-firms, doctors-cooperations and other commercial partnerships. One of the major issues seems to be that clear communication about what is really the…

ADR, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), Practical Challenges for Mediators, Reform, Responsibility of States

(Mediare)/ /1 Comment

The importance of the multidisciplinary approach and the leading role of the parts. Modernity brought about the fragmentation of knowledge and the emergence of different disciplines as well as diversified specializations in several subject areas. This fragmentation enabled people to deepen their knowledge concerning specific issues and made them feel that they could master their…

'Money-only' Cases, Commercial Mediation, Mediation Practice, Practical Challenges for Mediators, War Stories

(Weiler ADR Inc.)/ /1 Comment

This morning I was greeted with the news that Julian Barnes’ The Sense of An Ending had been named this year’s winner of the Man Booker Prize. A wonderful read, in part about how our memory deceives us, it struck me as an appropriate point of departure for this blog post. Like Barnses’ narrator, “I…

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…