On the day when the finals of the world’s largest ADR student competition starts, I could not think of any better topic for my blog posting. I have been teaching and coaching students for the last eleven years, and it has become an important part of my life and a highly rewarding experience. Consequently, I…
Have you ever wondered why the construction industry is still saddled with its culture of adversity, contractual conflict and a “who’s to blame” attitude? Or what causes job disputes to quickly escalate into full-blown claims despite the well intentioned calming efforts of the site managers? The seeds of construction disputes are planted during the formation…
This story is for you if: one of the parties to your multi-party case is irrational and an obstacle to settlement; the irrational party is making the case fall apart; walking away could result in a much worse deal for your client. There are several strategies you can deploy to deal with the difficult and…
Mediation of wage and hour matters, particularly class action cases, has developed dramatically over the past 10-12 both on a process and legal basis. New cases seem to come out weekly dealing with class certification, and companies have had to adjust their workforce management to make sure they comply with the highly technical laws that…
I have written before in this blog about Scotland’s slow pace of change (http://kluwermediationblog.com/2012/05/12/mediation-in-scotland-some-practical-questions-and-a-nudge-in-the-right-direction/). A naturally cautious nation, our ‘old world’ response to new ideas has generally been ‘what’s wrong with the old ones?’ I was comforted by Constantin-Adi Gavrila’s recent post on this blog which underlined that Scotland is not the only European nation…
This article was prepared by Christian-Radu Chereji and Constantin-Adi Gavrilă. Presenting recently the results of the study on ‘Rebooting’ the Mediation Directive, Giuseppe de Palo talked about the “European Union mediation paradox” – the existence of a “highly acclaimed, efficient, effective process that very few people use”, in his own words – and the need…
The annual ICC Commercial Mediation Competition is about to kick off in Paris, France on 7 February 2014 and as I write this 500 students from over 40 countries will be making their way to The City of Light by trains, planes and bus. Teams are drawn from law and business schools across the globe and…
This story is for you if: you voted for Obama; you are a Grateful Dead fan; you want to maximize your client’s settlement while addressing the party’s personal concerns; you are looking for clear choices to balancing the importance of being client centered yet aggressive when it comes to obtaining top dollars on the case….
This article was prepared by Christian-Radu Chereji and Constantin-Adi Gavrilă. Recently, talking to a very experienced mediator, we started to describe a particular practice of an attorney-mediator during one of his cases. At the end, we asked: was that mediation? Our friend told us that no, it wasn’t mediation. We asked why and a long…
This is where I did my best work in Christmas week – in the twilight zone between the joint session room to the right of the water cooler and the private caucus room off to the left by the green bins. Corridors can be furtive and risky spaces on mediation days – ‘don’t ask me…
