Uncategorized

Court Procedure and Litigation, Developing the Field, Future of mediation, Legal Issues, Mandatory mediation, Mediation Outcomes, Mediation Practice, Mediation Schemes (In Courts, etc.), Mediation Users/Clients, Policy, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Public Policy, Uncategorized, Understanding mediation

(University of Strathclyde)/ /13 Comments
Graffiti commenting on truth and its usefulness today

I started mediating in my early 30s, surely old enough to know the difference between truth and fiction. Yet after a couple of years I began to say, first to myself then to my friends, that the concept of truth was ‘no longer useful’ in my work. What did I mean and how did I…

Dispute Resolution, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Non-violent communication, Reflective Practice, Scotland, The role of the mediator, Uncategorized, Zoom

(Core Solutions Group)/ /6 Comments

“It’s hard to beat Dark Side of the Moon” he said. “What a piece of music.” I agreed: “Did you ever see Pink Floyd play Dark Side live? I recall being at Earls Court in 1994.” “I was there too!” he exclaimed. For a moment or two, we reflected on the album’s seemingly relevant song…

ADR, Australia, Commercial Mediation, Conflict, Creativity, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Interests, International commercial mediation, lawyers in mediation, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Reflective practise, Skills, Training, Uncategorized

(University of New South Wales)/ /12 Comments

  The International Commercial Mediation Competition made a brave online appearance this year – the 16th year in which the ICC has delivered the most important competition of its kind in the world. For 15 of these 16 years it has been my privilege to be part of this experience as the coach for my…

Developing the Field, Future of mediation, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), mediation as a career, Mediation Practice, Mediation Schemes (In Courts, etc.), Mentoring, Reflective Practice, Reflective practise, Scotland, Training, Uncategorized

(University of Strathclyde)/ /Leave a comment
University of Strathclyde, host to Learning by Doing, mediation clinic conference

By the everyday miracle of Zoom, Carrie Menkel-Meadow spoke from her LA office to a Glasgow conference with a worldwide audience. Wrapping up ‘Learning by Doing,’ the UK’s first conference devoted to mediation clinics, her keynote described the inspiration for a whole career: a colleague in her legal aid office in the 1970s. While Carrie…

ADR, Intellectual Property, mediated settlement agreement, Mediation and Society, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Mediation Users/Clients, Uncategorized

(Hoffmann Eitle ) and (Bayer Intellectual Property GmbH)/ /3 Comments

In this interview, Dr. Frank Gerhards shares his experience in using mediation proceedings to successfully resolve an active ingredient patent dispute between two major crop protection companies. Dr. Frank Gerhards is a qualified German patent attorney and representative before the European Patent Office, employed with Bayer Intellectual Property (BIP) since 2006 and group leader since…

Book Review, Commercial Mediation, Conventional wisdom, cross-border mediation, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Enforcement, EU Directive on Mediation, Europe, Fear, Framing, Future of mediation, International Mediation, mediated settlement agreement, Mediation Practice, Mediation Reforms (Legislation, etc.), Neuroscience, Promoting Mediation, Public Policy, Role of Mediator, Settlement Agreements, Singapore Convention on Mediation, Uncategorized, Understanding mediation

(Core Solutions Group)/ /7 Comments

Anna Howard’s first book, ‘EU Cross-Border Commercial Mediation: Listening to Disputants – Changing the Frame; Framing the Changes’ (published by Kluwer), is an important contribution to the literature about the practice and promotion of mediation. It deserves a wide readership among academics and practitioners alike and I hope that potential readers will not be deflected…

ADR, Brazil, Online Dispute Resolution (ODR), Online Mediation, Uncategorized

(Mediar360 - Dispute Resolution )/ /Leave a comment

Writing this first 2021 post is a task that leads me to make an inevitable retrospective of the past year – 2020. A year to be remembered and whose events have been unrivalled by any others in recent humankind history. The past year was indeed a challenging one, a time when negotiation and mediation skills…

Brexit, Causes of Conflict, Conflict, Europe, Negotiation, Tips, Uncategorized

(University of Strathclyde)/ /4 Comments

“I think the EU will need to move significantly on both those key points because they’re points of principle.” (Dominic Raab, UK Foreign Secretary, speaking on the BBC this morning) The Brexit negotiation, despite its dizzying stakes, has triggered a fair amount of wry humour. I’ve poked gentle fun at the protagonists myself: Brexit Irritators:…

ADR, Commercial Mediation, Cooperation, Court Procedure and Litigation, Decision making, Dialogue, Dispute Resolution, Future of mediation, Litigation, Mediation and Society, Mediation Outcomes, Policy, Scotland, Uncategorized

(Core Solutions Group)/ /4 Comments

I write this in the aftermath of yet another mediation in which the protagonists exhibited symptoms of having been seriously traumatised by the litigation process to which they had been exposed. Depression, suicidal thoughts, anger, loathing, destroyed relationships, large amounts of money spent with no discernible value. And this was a commercial situation, not a…