Practical Challenges for Mediators

ADR, Commercial Mediation, Communication, Creativity, Dispute Resolution, Experience, Interests, lawyers in mediation, Mediation Outcomes, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Mediation Users/Clients, Mediators’ Conduct, Negotiation, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Stages of mediation, Success in mediation, The role of the mediator

(Strategic Resolution)/ /1 Comment

Photo credit: Creative Commons Jean M.Mas 2/2007 Although my mediation training made no mention of it, 32 years of mediating have taught me that mediations generally unfold over two stages: Stage 1: “Who Did What to Whom”? Here parties (or their lawyers) follow the ritual of naming, blaming and claiming – recounting facts, providing evidence…

Cognitive Bias, Creativity, Decision making, Efficiency, History of mediation, Mistakes, Philosophy, Planning, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Reflective Practice, Settlement Agreements, Stories, The role of the mediator, Understanding mediation, War Stories

(FORARB/Charles University)/ /Leave a comment

At a certain point, when another offer was denied, one of the managers showed a real disappointment with the hard negotiation approach presented by the other party: “You know what?! I lost my patience. I will not sit here any further… I will ask my lawyer to finish the formalities and let’s see each other…

Communication, Cross-cultural, Dialogue, Negotiation, Practical Challenges for Mediators

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“Across the great divide, Just grab your hat and take that ride” – The Band, 1969 (written by Robbie Robertson) We have all had those conversations or exchanges after which we’ve wished we had thought of a further point to make, a rebuttal of the other’s claim we only later thought of, a way of…

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(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…

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(Strategic Resolution)/ /Leave a comment

  Court cases are an important source of guidance for mediators, disputants and their lawyers. They remind us that the law casts a long shadow even when a mediation appears to have resolved successfully. They can rescue us – helping us identify and avoid previously unforeseen difficulties. Here’s an example Mr. and Mrs. Studer moved…

Appointment of Mediators, Creativity, Developing the Field, Ethics, Evaluative Mediation, Fear, insider and outsider mediators, Intuition, mediation models, Mediation Outcomes, Mediators’ Conduct, omnipartiality in mediation, Online Dispute Resolution (ODR), Online Mediation, Perception, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Research, Skills, Success in mediation, Tactics, The role of the mediator, Tips, user perspectives

(Weiler ADR Inc.)/ /4 Comments

“Hi, I’m Rick. I’m your mediator for today. I can’t decide what happens in this dumb dispute or how you resolve issues. My job is just to help people who are incapable of resolving conflict, like yourselves, find areas that you can agree on. That means I get to control what appears in the messages,…

Cognitive Bias, Communication, Cross-cultural, Dialogue, Language, Practical Challenges for Mediators

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“Within a multicultural democracy, debate within our own groups and communities must always be balanced by constructive engagement with members of other groups and communities. Citizens of a multicultural democracy must learn how to speak and be heard across difference . . . “ Alison Jaggar, “Multicultural Democracy,” Jnl of Political Philosophy, 7, No. 3,…

Commercial Mediation, Confidentiality, Confidentiality and Transparency, Creativity, Disclosure, Efficiency, Improvisation, Interests, lawyers in mediation, Mediation Agreement, Mediation Outcomes, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Mediators’ Conduct, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Reflective Practice, Stages of mediation, The role of the mediator, Uncategorized

(Core Solutions Group)/ /1 Comment

The Dilemma: At an initial private meeting with a lawyer and his lay client in a mediation, it became obvious to the mediator that he had previously mediated in a matter which was related to the present dispute, the outcome of which was not known to the present parties. In the mediator’s view, it had…

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(Bill Marsh Mediator)/ /4 Comments

One of the privileges of mediating is to watch leaders at work. Every party, every team, has its leader(s). And as any mediator will tell you, the way in which they choose to lead during a mediation – and more widely during the conflict or dispute itself – has a significant impact on the outcome;…

ADR, Artificial Intelligene, Developing the Field, Gender, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), Mediation Users/Clients, Online Dispute Resolution (ODR), Online Mediation, Practical Challenges for Mediators

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This blog entry has its origins in two threads of conversation. First, as I write, we are just three weeks out from the 2018 Forum on Online Dispute Resolution, to be hosted by the NZ Centre for ICT Law and Auckland Law School. What has been an annual – even flagship – Forum is now…