Hong Kong has recently passed a piece of legislation with the good intention of protecting children from serious abuse and protecting the specified professionals for making the mandatory reports. Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse Ordinance (Cap. 650) (“the Ordinance”) was gazetted on 19 July 2024 and it is understood that the legislation will come into…

While dust settles on the passing of the Mediation Act, 2023 (“Mediation Act”), many have already written about the different dimensions of mediation under it. India’s mediation regime is unique for not only promoting indigenous modes of mediation, but also for championing mandatory statutory mediation. This includes the obligation to mandatorily utilise the pre-institution mediation…

Culture shapes how we see the world. It affects perceptions, behaviours, and expectations even within the context of mediation. In a world characterized by diversity, understanding the nuances of cultural influence is important for effective mediation as culture can significantly impact the process. A panel entitled “Cultural Context in Mediation”, hosted by the Thailand Arbitration…

In a previous post, I explored how the Disney movie “Inside Out” cleverly illustrated the complexity of human emotions through the story of a young girl named Riley and her anthropomorphized feelings. Today, I want to analyze the newly released second part of the film, which follows Riley’s journey as she steps into adolescence. A…

Mediation has been universally praised as an effective tool in resolving family disputes and lowering the social and economic costs of separation and divorce. This is why many jurisdictions in the recent past have adopted various measures to encourage parties to a family breakdown to try mediation, including through mandating them into the procedure. A…

Efficient and robust dispute resolution mechanisms are imperative to promote foreign investments in a State; with Sri Lanka steadily recovering from an economic crisis, this is vital in creating an investor-friendly environment. Investor-State Mediation (ISM) is an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism that provides host states and foreign investors with a high degree of autonomy,…

A recent Scottish Universities Insight Institute project looking at regional innovation strategies featured a presentation by Peter Wostner from the Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development in Slovenia. He framed the development of innovation ecosystems as a collective action problem. This type of problem has been defined as “a situation in which all individuals would be…

On April 25th, 2024, I had the privilege to speak at the V SIFRA Seminar on Innovations and Tools for Revenue Recovery and Alternative Revenues (SIFRA). The event, acronym for Fiscal Innovations Seminar, is a renowned gathering that brings together bright minds to discuss ideas, research, and innovative solutions, always with a focus on municipal…

  I’ve just been in London presenting at the terrific UIA Mediation Forum  and my daily train travels constantly exposed me to this image. As the conference themes developed, the image took on an even more significant meaning for me. Let me explain. An early speaker, Kimberlee Kovach (Founding Officer and Past Chair of the…

Daniel Kahneman, the psychologist who won the Nobel prize for economics, died in March. He described himself as the grandfather of behavioural economics, which provides so many insights into how people perceive the world and take decisions in practice, rather than in the more theoretical, rational world of homo economicus. His book ‘Thinking Fast and…