ADR, Creativity, Dialogue, Dispute Resolution, Interests, Mediation and Society, mediation process, Negotiation

(Kwok, Ng & Chan, Solicitors & Notaries)/ /Leave a comment

Readers who are experts on the wartime British Prime Minister or have recently watched “The Darkest Hour” may find the above caption familiar. Yes, it has been inspired by Winston Churchill’s famous quote “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” If you like the caption, feel…

ADR, Dispute Resolution, Future of mediation, Lawyers, Legal Practice, Litigation, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Mediation Users/Clients, Negotiation, Understanding mediation

(Jeff Trueman Mediator)/ /2 Comments

As Chip and Dan Heath describe in their book Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, we are rational beings with a “Rider” that logically analyzes our surroundings. Our Rider tries to direct our emotional side, “the Elephant.” Although we like to think our Rider is in control at all times, in truth,…

Clients, Conflict, Developing the Field, mediation models, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Research, Uncategorized, Understanding mediation

(University of Strathclyde) and (Mediation Hertfordshire)/ /Leave a comment

Try this thought experiment: imagine a mediator without empathy. How and what would they do? Would there be drawbacks? Benefits? The response to these questions probably depends on our own experience of empathy. This simple yet often misunderstood term masks a complex and fascinating set of ideas about human connection. Because we believe empathy is…

Communication, General, Skills

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

This entry is an ongoing series focused on using Neuro-Linguistic Programming in our practice of amicable dispute resolution. For ease of reference and the convenience of readers, I will list in this and subsequent entries the series and links to it. 1. A Neuro-Linguist’s Toolbox – A Starting Point and Building Rapport In this, the…

Bias, Conflict, Creativity, Decision making, Dispute Resolution, Mediation Practice, mediation process, memory, Perception

(Core Solutions Group / Scottish Universities Insight Institute)/ /Leave a comment

In 1933 Alfred Korzybski wrote: “A map is not the territory it represents, but, if correct, it has a similar structure to the territory, which accounts for its usefulness.” More recently (2006), James Robertson wrote (to reference him once again, this time from ‘The Testament of Gideon Mack’): “We trust in maps because when we…

Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Future of mediation, ICC Mediation Competition, Legal Practice, Mediation Lawyering, Training, Young Mediators

(Sabine Walsh Mediation)/ /Leave a comment

While I am watching hailstones the size of peas fall in the West of Ireland, a good number of my colleagues are celebrating the culmination of the ICC’s Mediation Competition in Paris, where in excess of 60 teams of mediators and negotiators compete to resolve disputes through mediation. The relevance of this to today’s blog…

Commercial Mediation, cross-border mediation, Dispute Resolution, Future of mediation, International commercial mediation, International Mediation, Japan, Promoting Mediation, UNCITRAL

(Waseda University) and (University of Sydney & Williams Trade Law)/ /1 Comment

More than 1,400 years ago, Japan codified Confucian and Buddhist approaches to governing in Prince Shotoku’s Constitution, whose first article provides that “[h]armony should be valued, and quarrels should be avoided.” The underlying principle, wa (harmony), was promoted and reflected in the fabric of Japanese society and may have contributed to a persistent preference for…

Dialogue, Dispute Resolution, Mediation and Society, Mediation Practice

(Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine )/ /2 Comments

This post is based on the research of two professional communities – mediators and dialogue facilitators – in Ukraine (see the research article) and poses a few preliminary questions that require deeper thinking and more research. Although the fieldwork for my article was done in Ukraine, I was told that similar developments are also noticeable…

Commercial Mediation, Dispute Resolution, Lawyers, Legal Practice, mediation as a career, Mediation Practice, Reflective practise

(Core Solutions Group)/ /1 Comment

At the start of another year, it can be useful to conduct a bit of a personal stock-take. What holds us back from achieving all we could this year? How many of us suffer from silent self-doubt? How many of us would admit to feelings of inadequacy, anxiety and uncertainty about what we do? Far…

Argument, Brexit, Communication, Dialogue, General, Mediation Practice

(NZ Centre for ICT Law & School of Law, Auckland University)/ /Leave a comment

“It was impossible to get a good conversation going; everybody was talking too much. ” Yogi Berra I use the word “odd” here in two of its meanings in English: odd as in occasional or sporadic; and odd as in strange, worthy of comment. This blog is a reflection on recent conversations observed or engaged…