For the past 2 weeks I have been teaching an intensive postgraduate class on interest-based negotiation. Most of the group were international students who, until now, had been undertaking their studies online and in their own countries. Despite this country’s reputation as a safe place many were finding Australia and Australian ways difficult…
Ongoing debates about the introduction of mandatory mediation (UK and Bulgaria) or widening the scope of mandatory mediation (Italy, Turkey, and India) prove the relevance of this topic across the EU and beyond. Mandatory mediation is no longer solely a categorical statutory referral to mediation but is rather evolving into an increasingly diverse range of…
This article was prepared by Mahmoud Arif and Constantin-Adi Gavrilă. Picture any school in any community in the world, and you are sure to imagine a group of children learning and playing. Whenever there is interaction, there will always be room for conflict. How do children manage conflict? This question is difficult to answer, as…
In 2017, I wrote one of my most read articles on Kluwer: Elementary my dear Watson! At that time, artificial intelligence (AI) had already invaded our lives and much was being discussed about its potential to replace human beings. In my article, I wondered about the possibility of AI replacing the mediator. And the answer,…
Introduction If you find yourself in the midst of a legal dispute, you might feel confident that taking the matter to court is the best option, especially when you have a strong case. After all, who wouldn’t want to see justice served swiftly and decisively? And why show any vulnerability when holding all the cards?…
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players” In his ‘untold history’ – “The Earth Transformed” Peter Frankopan charts the way in which the natural environment has shaped human history and more recently how humankind has in turn begun to influence the natural environment. In his conclusion he builds on…
What is Cab Rank Rule? The Four Bars (namely, England and Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland) have recently issued a joint statement on the cab rank rule. According to the statement, the cab rank rule mandates barristers not to discriminate between clients, and that they must take on any case provided that it is…
Insomnia drove me to a late-night television binge recently and I watched a rerun of Pretty Woman, the 1990 movie starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. For those of you yet to see this movie, its great strength is that it offers lines that are useful for almost every moment of your life. ‘You must…
The inspiration for this month’s post came from the recently released news on social media, which attracted a lot of attention because it involved the mediation carried on during the divorce process of a famous couple. This mediation procedure has been questioned and has generated a lot of debate in the mediation community. My comments…
