“Impasse” – a situation in which no progress is possible, especially because of disagreement; a deadlock. Last time I focused on impasse in mediation, I noted that in my experience as a commercial mediator, impasse most often flows from a combination of cognitive biases and flawed risk assessments. This post suggests ways mediators can…
We would like to announce an opening for the position of Assistant Editor for the Kluwer Mediation Blog. The Assistant Editor will report directly to the editors, Bill Marsh and Nadja Alexander, and will work closely with the Kluwer team. The essential duties of the Assistant Editor are: (1) reviewing and editing proposed posts; (2)…
“You’ve done what?” It took just a moment. The red mist descended. The words were out before I could haul them back in. “You’ve just gone behind my back and undermined what I set out, and we had agreed, we would do….you might at least have had the courtesy…..” The lawyer had just told me…
The United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation, known as the Singapore Convention on Mediation (the “Singapore Convention”), was opened for signature on 7 August 2019. The Singapore Convention, hailed as the “missing piece” in the international dispute resolution enforcement framework, establishes a framework for the cross-border recognition and enforcement of settlement…
Many years ago, a group of friends were driving in the south of England in a rental car and, in need of directions (pre-Google maps and GPS), we pulled over to the side of the road to ask a gentleman the way. I leapt out, approached him and asked for the directions, to which he…
Mediators should speak up confidently for mediation. In this post I will consider some reasons why this might be difficult, and others why it is so necessary. It is not only that mediation is not sufficiently known. It can also be intimidating, and it is our job to explain it. Shortly after I had finished…
Photo credit: Creative Commons Jean M.Mas 2/2007 Although my mediation training made no mention of it, 32 years of mediating have taught me that mediations generally unfold over two stages: Stage 1: “Who Did What to Whom”? Here parties (or their lawyers) follow the ritual of naming, blaming and claiming – recounting facts, providing evidence…
At a certain point, when another offer was denied, one of the managers showed a real disappointment with the hard negotiation approach presented by the other party: “You know what?! I lost my patience. I will not sit here any further… I will ask my lawyer to finish the formalities and let’s see each other…
I have recently been approached to enrol myself in an investor-state mediation training programme and also to speak at one of the sessions. That triggers off my deeper thoughts on the topic of investor-state mediation and related issues. This blog is an attempt to share my thoughts so that fellow mediation practitioners may consider whether…
This post written by Greg Wood and Constantin Adi Gavrilă. Is about the values of shadowing based on our shadowing experience that allowed reflections and lessons learned, we’d like to share. Greg, a Los Angeles based mediator with special expertise in resolving intellectual property disputes, received a letter of thanks from a US. District Court…
