The role of the mediator

Community Mediation, Conventional wisdom, Court Procedure and Litigation, Developing the Field, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), mediation models, Mediation Practice, mediation traditions, Mediation Users/Clients, Neutrality, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Scotland, The role of the mediator, Uncategorized, user perspectives

(University of Strathclyde)/ /1 Comment

(This post is being republished because of technical problems when it was first published.) One of the key debates among mediators centres on the word ‘evaluation’. I’ve written about this before – see Has the evaluative label outlived its usefulness? I’m sure many readers are familiar, even bored, with the claimed polarity between facilitative and…

ADR, Argument, Below the line, Brexit, caucus, Clients, Commercial Mediation, Communication, Conflict, Conventional wisdom, Creativity, cross-border mediation, Decision making, Dialogue, Fear, Impasse, Instinct, Intuition, Joint Sessions, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Middle East, Negotiation, peace negotiations, Perception, Practical Challenges for Mediators, shuttle mediation, Stories, Success in mediation, The role of the mediator, Trust, Violence

(Bill Marsh Mediator)/ /2 Comments

Bloomberg (not my usual reading fodder, I confess) carried an interesting piece a couple of months ago, entitled “Meet the Real Force Behind the Brexit Talks”. Yes, it was about Brexit (yawn) but it was about an unseen side of the negotiations. Opening with the line “In every negotiation the most important work is done…

Bias, Cognitive Bias, Commercial Mediation, Decision making, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Future of mediation, Mediation and Society, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Mediators’ Conduct, Neuroscience, peace negotiations, Personal Development, Policy, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Promoting Mediation, Public Policy, Reflective Practice, Scotland, shuttle mediation, Skills, Social intelligence, Success in mediation, The role of the mediator, Tips, Transformation, Trust, Uncategorized, Understanding mediation

(Core Solutions Group)/ /Leave a comment

“I’ve been trying to tell you, but you didn’t listen. You’ve got to go down more deeply and take more time, you’re rushing it and it’s too superficial. You’re hardly disturbing the surface. You’ll make no progress that way. And you are using so much effort. Relax. When you get into difficulty, you are expending…

ADR, Decision making, Dispute Resolution, Mediation Practice, National Mediation Laws, The role of the mediator, Vietnam

(Vietnam International Arbitration Centre) and (University of Economics and Law, Vietnam National University)/ /Leave a comment

In recent years, Vietnam has boosted its legal framework for commercial mediation. The story began with the promulgation of the new Civil Procedure Code 2015 whose Chapter 33 serves as the legal basis for the recognition of out-of-court mediated settlement agreements. Then, the Government issued Decree no. 22/2017/ND-CP on Commercial Mediation (“Decree 22”) detailing and…

Arbitration, Australia, Commercial Mediation, Dispute Resolution, Due Process, Hong Kong, Legal Issues, Legislation, Med-Arb Clauses, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Mediation Reforms (Legislation, etc.), Mediators’ Conduct, The role of the mediator

(Strategic Resolution)/ /Leave a comment

(This post is being republished because of technical problems when it was first published) The recently reported Australian case of Ku-ring-gai Council v Ichor Constructions Pty Ltd [2018] NSWSC 610 (8 May 2018) provides a useful lesson in how not to conduct the hybrid Arb-Med-Arb process, from which (I hope) we might learn how to…

Dispute Resolution, Mediation Practice, Mediators’ Conduct, Scotland, The role of the mediator, Training

(Core Solutions Group)/ /6 Comments

We finished module 2 of our flagship training course last week. One of our participants emailed me the next day: “I was driving up the road yesterday and mulling over one aspect of the mediation exercise we did. I get that we are facilitating adults to make fully informed autonomous decisions and that they need…

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…

Communication, Conflict, Dialogue, General, Mediation Practice, Neutrality, Practical Challenges for Mediators, The role of the mediator

(NZ Centre for ICT Law & School of Law, Auckland University)/ /Leave a comment

Many of my fellow bloggers on these pages, and perhaps many of the readers, will have found themselves in the position in which friends, colleagues, workmates or others call on your/our mediation experience at short notice, and in circumstances that are perhaps not ideal in terms of planning and preparation. One of the strategies I…

The role of the mediator

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

During Lex Infinitum, the international commercial mediation competition for students at V.M. Salgaocar College of Law in Goa, India, there was a lively and entertaining debate, in the best debating-society tradition. The motion was: “The Role of the Mediator Is Overrated.” Arguing this in front of a hundred and fifty students, mediators, lawyers and academics…

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…