Conventional wisdom, Creativity, Improvisation, Instinct, Intuition, Mediation Practice, Negotiation, Teamwork

(First Mediation Corporation)/ /Leave a comment

The Problem with Conventional Wisdom in Negotiation  Conventional wisdom in negotiation provides specific responses to stimuli that are categorized as competitive or cooperative behavior. Depending on the identity of the behavior, the negotiator is taught to distribute a set value through a series of moves and concessions, or create value through ideas and transformative behavior….

General, Mediation Practice, Skills

(National University of Singapore, Faculty of Law)/ /Leave a comment

I was fortunate to have been in Belfast, Northern Ireland for the International Negotiation Competition for Law Students hosted by Queen’s University. This is a competition that is run every year where students from law schools all over the world meet to negotiate simulations where they represent clients in deal-making or dispute-resolving contexts. As part…

Conventional wisdom, Developing the Field, Ethics, Impasse, mediation as a career, Mediation Institutions and Rules, Mediation Outcomes, Mediation Practice, Mediators’ Conduct, Mentoring, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Stories, Success in mediation, Training, Uncategorized

(University of Strathclyde)/ /6 Comments

Professions (and hence professionals) are both blessed and cursed with high expectations. The upside is clear: the public expects high standards, expertise and care, and in return is prepared to pay handsomely. The downside typically involves disciplinary sanctions against those not measuring up to those standards, although issues of probity rather than competence tend to…

EU Directive on Mediation, EU Mediation Directive, harmonisation of mediation law, Judges as mediators, Legislation, Mediation Act, National Mediation Laws

(CMS)/ /Leave a comment

Finally, after a long parliamentary struggle, the German Mediation Act (Gesetz zur Förderung der Mediation und anderer Verfahren der außergerichtlichen Konfliktbeilegung) was signed into law by the President of the Federal Republic (Bundespräsident) on July 21, 2012. Four days later it was published in the Federal Gazette (Bundesgesetzblatt) BGBl. I, 2012, S. 1577, and came…

Clients, Commercial Mediation, Lawyers, Switzerland

(Esprit d’entente)/ /1 Comment

What is the possible role of the lawyer in a commercial mediation? How the lawyer should interact with his client in the mediation process? Here are some thoughts for using the lawyer as a positive element in the mediation involving a commercial dispute. Before mediation The lawyer should, as far as possible, facilitate transactional solutions…

General, Humorous Pieces, mediation as a career, Mediation Practice, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Skills

(Sabine Walsh Mediation)/ /Leave a comment

This time of year in Ireland (August) is referred to by many as “the silly season”. Courts, legal offices and many other public services close for holidays, children get bored having been on holidays for 6 weeks already, people flock to last minute sun holiday destinations as they realise that, yet again, it is going…

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(ADR Center Romania)/ /Leave a comment

According to the latest development in the mediation legislation in Romania approved by the Romanian Parliament and published in the Romanian Official Journal in July 2012 under Law no. 115, in litigations that can form, pursuant to the law, the object of mediation or of another alternative form of conflicts settlement, parties and/or the concerned…

ADR, Business, Court Procedure and Litigation, Efficiency, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.)

(Mediar360 - Dispute Resolution )/ /Leave a comment

Lack of flexibility is probably one of the most difficult obstacles to resolve any dispute. The absence of flexibility, limits the ability to reach agreements and ultimately makes the courts the only place where the dispute can find any kind of resolution. It is weird, therefore, that countries like Brazil have, in their legal systems,…

Commercial Mediation, Conflict, Impasse, Mediation Outcomes, Playbook, Skills, Success in mediation

(Weiler ADR Inc.)/ /3 Comments

Often when I’m mediating a difficult case; the parties, running hot, miles apart and showing no sign of movement, an inner voice whispers softly to me, “it’s just not ripe for settlement.” It’s an attractive concept because it lets me off the hook. Nothing to be done here until the case ripens. I might as…

Decision making, Litigation, Mediation Practice, Negotiation, Neuroscience, Social intelligence

(First Mediation Corporation)/ /Leave a comment

How many times have you confronted the mediator before the session begins with this question: “You’re not going to do a joint session are you? I don’t l think it will be productive.” The conventional wisdom in such a request is to avoid a moot court debate in which counsel are forced to advocate strong…