In the forty years since new visions and challenges for the administration of American justice were offered at the 1976 Pound Conference, a Quiet Revolution has altered the landscape of public and private dispute resolution around the world. (See Living the Dream of ADR). Recently, a series of day-long meetings styled as the Global Pound…

This blog was written in response to several recent meetings with different audiences, which illustrated for me the diverse perceptions of and responses to the role of digital technologies across the practices of dispute resolution. On the one hand, I hear of a cautious judicial recognition that the courts need to develop (and develop soon)…

Over recent years the number of (mainly law) student mediation moots around the world has increased at a remarkable rate. In addition to well-known venues in Paris, Vienna, and Goa, I have heard of events in Bangalore, Bhopal, Chicago, Hanover, São Paulo, Sydney … and Hamburg. There will be more. This is a bug that…

During the last twenty years, mediation has spread around the world with an amazing speed, resulting in what was called a ‘global ADR revolution’. Furthermore, mediation has become a conventional part of the court reform projects supported by international donor organizations within democracy aid programmes in developing and transitional countries all over the world. However,…

Writer’s note: I was interviewed by the Singapore International Dispute Resolution Academy (SIDRA) for my perspectives on Dispute Resolution. This was published as a blog entry on 2 October 2017 on the SIDRA website. For my entry this month, I would like to reproduce that interview here. I would like to thank SIDRA for giving…

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is unquestionable one of the hottest topics at the moment. At the 2017 International Bar Association Annual Congress, that has just ended in Australia, one of the most recurrent and discussed question was: Will Artificial Intelligence ever be able to replace lawyers or the Law practice as we currently know ? Before…

Finally, after many twists and turns, lobbying, and a not insignificant amount of blogging on my part, Ireland’s new Mediation Act, 2017 was signed into law by the President on 2nd October 2017. For those unfamiliar with my rantings and ravings (other than the learned discussions of my colleagues) over the years, a little background:…

Like all businesses, mediation ultimately depends upon (and needs to reflect) what the users want from it. That doesn’t of course mean that theirs in the only relevant perspective – mediators also have views on what the process can and should offer. But at the very least it’s a vital part of the equation (I…

So much to blog about this month. We had a really great time in Edinburgh with Ken Cloke recently. Ken kindly agreed to be our first Patron for Collaborative Scotland.  We held an event in the Scottish Parliament for leaders of civic Scotland and a number of members of the Scottish Parliament, many of whom,…

Readers might have seen media reports that New Zealand has a new government. In New Zealand this is a slightly delayed conclusion to the general election at the end of September, the delay being the result of our proportional representation system, which left neither of the two major parties, Labour and National, with a sufficient…