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…

Communication, COVID-19, Online Mediation, Training

(Bond & Bond Mediation / University of Wildau )/ /4 Comments

The question recently occurred to me whether we would have reached the kinds of online worlds of work we now have in many fields without the need to do so due to Covid-19. Would it have happened anyway, just more slowly and perhaps with different nuances? Would we be spending so much time in home…

ADR, Causes of Conflict, Conflict, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Framing, Mediation Practice, mediation process

(University of New South Wales)/ /14 Comments

Covid is the gift that keeps on giving. It has provided a wonderful focus for blame that has let us off the hook for a lot of things. It has coincided with significant changes in our mediation experiences and again has been seized on as the culprit when mediation sessions go ‘off piste’. The new…

Cognitive Bias, Communication, Dialogue, Experience, Mediation Skills, Negotiation, Skills

(FORARB/Charles University)/ /Leave a comment

In theory, we expect the parties’ opening statements to be swift, persuasive and forceful. At least, this is what I teach my students in ADR classes. In my mediation room, sadly, this occurs rather sporadically. The communication at the table is, unfortunately, not faultless. I guess every mediator has witnessed long, ambiguous monologue instead of…

Communication, Decision making, Developing the Field, Dialogue, Language, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Philosophy, Skills, The role of the mediator, Uncategorized

(University of Strathclyde)/ /3 Comments
What mediators do with words

‘The world is made, not found’ (W. Barnett Pearce) (1) I just spent an intensive weekend on Zoom with my students, helping them navigate their early steps into mediation practice. So much has changed. I have never met most of them face to face; we sit at home on our screens; there are no coffee…

ADR, Brazil, Commercial Mediation, Consumer conciliation, crisis negotiatons, Dispute Resolution, South America, Technology, Uncategorized

(Mediar360 - Dispute Resolution ) and (FGV Mediacao)/ /1 Comment

Just recently (November 4th), hackers attacked Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice (Superior Tribunal de Justiça – STJ). Not only they had access to the Court’s system and encrypted its entire database but also demanded ransom money to restore it. In other words, they succeeded in hacking one of the most centralized courts in the Brazilian…

Appointment of Mediators, Below the line, Clients, Cognitive Bias, Conflict, Fear, General, Mediation Practice, Mediation Users/Clients, Mistakes, Patience, Perception, Reflective Practice, Skills

(Bill Marsh Mediator)/ /4 Comments

I blogged recently on the importance in mediation of not forgetting what is happening in the other room. It’s an easy mistake to make. Here’s another one that is easy to make. “Assumed motivation”. A lot of stuff happens both in conflicts and the process of their resolution. Things are said and done by each…

Cooperation, COVID-19, History of mediation, International Mediation, Mediation and Society

(Resolve / New Vision University)/ /3 Comments

Last week I was interviewed by the communications specialist whose role is to develop a communications strategy for Mediators Association of Georgia. By interviewing mediators, he wanted to get a feel and inspiration which would help him work out an efficient strategy of communication on mediation. One of the first questions he asked was something…

Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Language, mediation traditions, Negotiation, Reform, Research

(University of Missouri Center for the Study of Dispute Resolution)/ /1 Comment

In 2015, I retired as an American law professor. For most of my career, I used some of the basic concepts of our field such as negotiation, BATNA, positional vs. interest-based negotiation, and facilitative vs. evaluative mediation. I wasn’t always comfortable with these terms, but I used them because I couldn’t imagine shifting to alternatives….