ADR, Business, Clients, Commercial Mediation, Corporate Counsel's View, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Ethics, Lawyers, Legal Practice, Uncategorized, War Stories

(First Mediation Corporation)/ /Leave a comment

The Situation: Your adversary is attacking your case in the mediation in such a manner that good faith negotiations seem like a distant cousin to all out war. You are looking for a way to recover. You don’t want to walk out of the room, but you are running out of options and the negotiation…

ADR, Costs in Mediation, Court Procedure and Litigation, Developing the Field, Domestic Courts, Legislation, Mediation Reforms (Legislation, etc.), Mediation Schemes (In Courts, etc.), National Mediation Laws

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

The modern mediation movement was established in Singapore in the mid-1990s. I say modern because historically, the population of Singapore (both indigenous and migrant) practiced their own forms of mediation. With colonization came the English common law and court system that unfortunately saw the reduction, if not demise, of these local forms of mediation. When…

ADR, Clients, Commercial Mediation, Costs in Mediation, Court Procedure and Litigation, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Domestic Courts, Efficiency, Enforcement, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), Mediation Institutions and Rules, Mediation Practice, Mediation Schemes (In Courts, etc.), Mediation Users/Clients, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Standards

(University of Strathclyde)/ /1 Comment

One of the privileges and perils of working as a mediator in Scotland is that we get a close-up view of developments in England and Wales. In an ideal world this should allow us (pop. 5 million) to learn from them (pop. 55 million): to pick the best innovations and avoid the failures. As I…

ADR, Arbitration, Bias, Clients, Combined Clauses, Commercial Mediation, Cross-cultural, Dispute Resolution, Evaluative Mediation, General, Hong Kong, Humorous Pieces, International Courts, International Mediation, Jurisdiction, Legal Issues, Legal Practice, Med-Arb Clauses, Mediation Outcomes, Mediators’ Conduct, Pre-arbitration Dispute Settlement Procedures, Public Policy, Uncategorized

(Singapore International Dispute Resolution Academy)/ /Leave a comment

Hong Kong is the global city of designer ‘labels’ as even the most reluctant of shoppers cannot fail to observe. It is also the city of fakes – fakes with labels and fakes without labels – and the place where the ‘No Fake’ label and the ‘No Label’ label thrive! Confused? Well don’t worry, Hong…

ADR, Book Review, Business, Court Procedure and Litigation, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Domestic Courts, Legal Practice, UN and International Organizations

(CMS)/ /Leave a comment

While the world becomes ever faster-paced, litigating business disputes are unchangeably slow. The recently published World Bank’s “Doing Business 2012: Doing Business in a More Transparent World” report shows that state court procedures in most countries remain lengthy, costly and complicated. Although this is not good news for anyone, as a side effect, the flaws…

ADR, Dispute Resolution, Lawyers, Mediation Schemes (In Courts, etc.), Negotiation

(Esprit d’entente)/ /Leave a comment

What is Collaborative Law and Practice? Collaborative Law is a mode of dispute settlement, mainly used in family disputes (divorce, separation) and sometimes in civil matters (inheritance, commercial disputes), allowing the disputants to work as a team with trained professionals to resolve disputes respectfully without going to court. The Minnesota (USA) family lawyer Stu Webb…

Co-mediation, Cross-cultural, Developing the Field, EU Mediation Directive, Europe, European Law, Family Mediation, International Courts, International Law, International Mediation, Mediation Practice

(Sabine Walsh Mediation)/ /1 Comment

As globalisation progresses and migration increases, the number of bi-national and bi-cultural relationships and marriages is increasing. This brings a new richness and diversity to our society, but can also bring new challenges and difficulties when those relationships break down. One of the difficulties that can arise is international parental child abduction, where one parent…

Apologies, Clients, Commercial Mediation, Efficiency, Mediation Outcomes, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Training

(Pel Mediation)/ /1 Comment

Problems in group practices of medical group practices or commercial partnerships between lawyers, advisers, accountants, consultants are very common. My mediation practice consists for about 50% of group-mediations concerning cooperation-problems between partners in lawyer-firms, doctors-cooperations and other commercial partnerships. One of the major issues seems to be that clear communication about what is really the…

Clients, Due Process, Mediation Practice, Mediators’ Conduct

(Brick Court Chambers / Clifton Chambers)/ /1 Comment

1. Failing to get the right people at the table. 2. Failing to explain the mediator’s role as agent of reality. 3. Permitting settlement negotiations to begin prematurely – prior to permitting the parties to vent or prior to risk analysis and reality testing. 4. Failing to orchestrate the negotiations by discouraging out of the…

Clients, Developing the Field, General, War Stories

(Bill Marsh Mediator)/ /1 Comment

This week I came across an article in Forbes magazine (not my usual reading, I hasten to add!) which irritated and inspired me in equal measure. Under the title “The Ten Most Peaceful Countries Don’t Include US” it highlighted the world’s ten most peaceful countries as measured by the “Negative Peace” and “Positive Peace” criteria…