Reflective Practice

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…

Developing the Field, Dialogue, Mediation and Society, Personal Development, Promoting Mediation, Reflective Practice, Skills, Training, Workplace

(Bond & Bond Mediation / University of Wildau )/ /Leave a comment

Last week I was reading an essay by the American novelist Jonathan Franzen, and was struck by the following thought: “The essay’s roots are in literature, and literature at its best […] invites you to ask whether you might be somewhat wrong, maybe even entirely wrong, and to imagine why someone else might hate you.”…

China, Commercial Mediation, Mediators’ Conduct, Reflective Practice, Stories

(Weiler ADR Inc.)/ /Leave a comment

Recently, as I sat in a mediation room awaiting the arrival of lawyers and clients I did something I have often done for more than 20 years. I performed an ancient divination ritual. I cast the I Ching. The I Ching is an ancient Chinese oracle dating back about 3,000 years. It has provided insight…

Developing the Field, Dialogue, Future of mediation, ICC Mediation Competition, Promoting Mediation, Reflective Practice, Skills, Training, Transformation

(Bond & Bond Mediation / University of Wildau )/ /3 Comments

I was again privileged to be at the ICC International Commercial Mediation Competition in early February, which this time included a new event – an intergenerational round table, workshops for student and professional participants together. It began with an hour of dialogue around one table, where participants were asked to generate and discuss questions for…

Developing the Field, Future of mediation, Mediation Practice, Promoting Mediation, Reflective Practice, Research

(Weiler ADR Inc.)/ /3 Comments

Michael Leathes in his recent  thought provoking post argues for the need for more “field-based” mediation research by which he means actual observations of the live action by skilled researchers.  He poses the questions: “Has the mediation world spent too long developing lab-based facts to suit its theories? Might it start to hone new theories…

Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Future of mediation, Mediation Practice, Negotiation, Reflective Practice, Research

(Corporate counsel & author)/ /15 Comments

Early in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1891 short story A Scandal in Bohemia, Sherlock Holmes gives Watson a lecture on the difference between seeing and observing. To test how well Watson understood, Holmes hands him an unaddressed, undated, anonymous letter that had just arrived on the doormat. It announced that an unnamed visitor would shortly…

Clients, Developing the Field, Experience, International commercial mediation, mediation as a career, Reflective Practice, The role of the mediator, Understanding mediation, Young Mediators

(Brick Court Chambers / Clifton Chambers)/ /2 Comments

As the global mediation community anxiously awaits the annual ICC mediation competition to be held in Paris next week, many students from universities around the world will be putting the finishing touches to newly acquired mediation skills and all-important competition strategies. For my part, coming to Paris as a member of the competition faculty is…

ADR, Feedback, mediation as a career, Memory and Illusions, Negotiation, Preparation, Reflective Practice, Training

(FORARB/Charles University)/ /Leave a comment

The old guy smiled. His old Corsican eyes showed some understanding…: “How much do you have?” -“I have a ten euro bill and we are leaving tomorrow…” – “OK, boy, deal…but no receipt, right?” Not understanding the shadow economy at the time, I accepted without knowing why is he not willing to give me a…

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…

Communication, Dialogue, Dispute Resolution, Instinct, Mediation Practice, Reflective Practice, Skills

(Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London)/ /7 Comments

“As they sometimes say around Kyoto, ‘Don’t just do something. Sit there.’” The Art of Stillness, Pico Iyer Recently I had the good fortune of watching fellow blogger, John Sturrock QC, mediate. In the days which have followed, I’ve been reflecting on what I learnt from observing the mediation. What helped the parties in this…