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Argentina, Argument, Clients, Commercial Mediation, Conflict, Corporate Counsel's View, Dispute Resolution, Lawyers, Mediation Lawyering, South America, Success in mediation, Uncategorized

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Young Mediators Initiative (YMI)

In Buenos Aires, the city where I currently practice mediation, mediation is mandatory before suing the other party. Thanks to this system, I was able to start mediating my first cases right after I was certified. After a few cases, however, I began to realize just how overwhelming it can be when parties’ advocates are…

Communication, Conflict, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Future of mediation, International Mediation, Mediation Outcomes, Mediation Practice, Negotiation, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Public Policy, Reform, Scotland, Skills, Transformation, Uncategorized

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This week, I have had the genuine privilege of contributing one of the key note addresses at the Annual Conference of the Arbitrators and Mediators Institute of New Zealand (AMINZ) in Wellington. It has been a terrific conference, superbly organized by the indefatigable Deborah Hart. The standard of the many and diverse sessions has been…

ADR, Cognitive Bias, Conventional wisdom, Court Procedure and Litigation, Developing the Field, Efficiency, Fear, Future of mediation, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), Humorous Pieces, Intuition, Lawyers, Mediation Lawyering, Mediation Users/Clients, Scotland, Uncategorized

(University of Strathclyde)/ /3 Comments

We have just reached the end of the annual marking season (grading for North Americans). The verbal joust of examinations is almost over. Students get their blows in first; teachers’ strike back with marks and comments. It’s a familiar ritual with its own rhythm and reasoning. It can be viewed as arduous by both sides…

Causes of Conflict, Commercial Mediation, Communication, Conflict, Decision making, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Future of mediation, General, Governments/Public Sector, Impasse, Interests, Mediation Practice, Negotiation, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Public Policy, Scotland, Transformation, Uncategorized

(Core Solutions Group)/ /1 Comment

John Nash died this week, in a tragic car accident. John Nash was the Nobel-prize winning mathematician whose theory of non-cooperative games published in 1950 has been described as one of the top ten ideas in economics in the 20th century. His theory introduced and explored the concept of what is known as Nash equilibrium….

Arbitration, Dispute Resolution, International Mediation, Litigation, Uncategorized

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In April 1976, an event now known as the Pound Conference ignited modern ADR in the USA, launching discussion of what may have become the “greatest reform in the history of the country’s judicial system”.1 Forty years later, all stakeholders in the dispute prevention and resolution fields around the world are being invited to participate…

Court Procedure and Litigation, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Domestic Courts, Due Process, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), Legal Issues, Mediation Reforms (Legislation, etc.), Online Dispute Resolution (ODR), Opt-Out, Public Policy, Reform, Technology, Uncategorized

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‘Justice’, an “all-party law reform and human rights organisation working to strengthen the justice system” launched a new report on April 23rd entitled ‘DELIVERING JUSTICE IN AN AGE OF AUSTERITY’. The report could be described as a plan to deliver justice despite the cuts. It proposes a transformation of the court system in England and…

ADR, Book Review, Business, Causes of Conflict, Clients, Cognitive Bias, Commercial Mediation, Communication, Conflict, Conventional wisdom, Creativity, Decision making, Developing the Field, Future of mediation, General, Improvisation, Language, Mediation Practice, Mediation Users/Clients, Neuroscience, Policy, Scotland, Skills, Stories, Success in mediation, Tips, Training, Uncategorized

(Core Solutions Group)/ /1 Comment

It’s funny how one thing leads to another. Regular Kluwer blogger Ian Macduff posted a great blog earlier this week on the importance of asking questions. That reminded me that I had intended to get hold of a book by Edgar Schein entitled “Humble Inquiry: The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling”. So, I…

Future of mediation, International Mediation, Scotland, Uncategorized

(Core Solutions Group)/ /1 Comment

This follows my blog last month about mediation and sustainability. In the run up to the vital COP meeting in Paris in December, what role for mediators and other third siders? What should we say? I started this piece a few weeks ago with these words: “From my balcony at nearly 2,000 metres, I can…

Causes of Conflict, Conflict, Developing the Field, Instinct, mediation as a career, Mediation Practice, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Scotland, Skills, Tips, Uncategorized, Understanding mediation

(University of Strathclyde)/ /Leave a comment

(This is the final part of a keynote address to the YMCA Conference “From Reactions to Relations” in Burton on Trent on 20 November 2014.) Having considered what we can’t help noticing about our clients and about conflict I now turn to the tricky business of self-knowledge: what has our unique perspective at the heart…