Is this yet another case in which New York is setting global trends? By the end of the year, the state courts in New York are due to have a system in place requiring that civil and commercial disputes be resolved through presumptive mediation. “Presumptive mediation” means an “automatic”, pre-trial, statewide program of court-sponsored ADR….

On 2 August 2019 the “3rd Asia Pacific Conference, Singapore Convention on Mediation: Strategies of China, Japan, Korea and Russia” was held in Seoul, Republic of Korea (Korea). The Conference centred on the Singapore Convention on Mediation [1] United Nations Convention on International Setlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation 2019 (UN, New York) (Singapore Convention), with…

I have been looking into matters of self-care and personal improvement for mediators recently and was surprised to find that, even though there has been some writing on this, there isn’t a lot. So, I would like to focus my next section of blog entries in the “Neuro-Linguist’s Toolbox” series. For readers who are new,…

I am very happy to share with all of you that on October 28 – 30 I will take part on the 2019 International ODR Forum, in Williamsburg, Virginia, USA, with some of the most outstanding ODR’s thought leaders as Colin Rule, Paul Embley, Daniel Rainey, Ethan Katsh and Orna Rabinovich-Einy, among others. I will…

“What’s the point?” asked the preacher, rhetorically. “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity” was his text, taken from Ecclesiastes, an Old Testament book apparently attributed to Solomon, whose wisdom we have all heard about over the years. The child and two women each laying claim to being the mother – and all that. What profit…

A couple of weeks ago I came across a poem by the Native American writer Joy Harjo, entitled “Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings.” The title made me curious, as might be expected for a mediator. You can find the whole poem online on the Poetry Foundation website, or you can buy the book of poems…

Photo credit: Christof Häuser, via Nathalie Birli We mediators are accustomed to recognising empathy as an important part of our mediation repertoire which is consistently reinforced in our training and professional development. It is front of mind for many of us as we plan for and conduct our mediations. This blog has seen its fair…

Two weeks before the Singapore signing ceremony of the UN Convention on International Mediated Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation, the Romanian Parliament adopted modifications to the Romanian Mediation Law according to which, among many other new provisions, the mediation agreement will be enforceable title in Romania if signed by parties’ lawyers. With this modification, it…