mediation

Brazil, Dispute Resolution, Future of mediation, lawyers in mediation, Mediation Practice, Mediation Reforms (Legislation, etc.), National Mediation Laws

(Independent Mediator, Author and Teacher)/ /Leave a comment

In 1999, I had just returned to Brazil from the United States with a Ph.D. thesis on ADR when a mediator colleague invited me to attend and appraise a mediation session. I was eager to do that and observed, minute by minute, the rich communication interaction between him and the parties. At the end my…

Decision making, Developing the Field, Future of mediation, Mediation Practice, Public Policy, Reflective Practice, Scotland, The role of the mediator

(Core Solutions Group)/ /Leave a comment

My last blog reflected on an excellent mediation conference in Frankfurt on the Oder where the strength which comes from working together was clear. I started this present blog on the day that the EU agreed the terms of the UK’s departure from the organisation that has been such a significant part of Europe’s post-second…

ADR, Appointment of Mediators, Bias, Decision making, Disclosure, Due Process, Ethics, Mediation Practice, Mentoring, Neutrality, Stories, Trust

(FORARB/Charles University)/ /4 Comments

In one of my recent cases, the question of impartiality appeared in quite an irregular way. It happened when I entered the mediation room where both parties were seated together with their lawyers. They were drinking coffee and making small talk. To my surprise, one of the lawyers looked quite familiar. Just for a moment,…

Confidentiality, Confidentiality and Transparency, Disclosure, EU Directive on Mediation, EU Mediation Directive, Legal Issues, Legislation, Mediation Act, National Mediation Laws, Regulation, regulatory robustness rating for mediation, United States

(CMS)/ /Leave a comment

Confidentiality of mediation encourages parties to speak freely and openly. This is because they do not need to fear (or much less fear; ex natura confidentiality protections are never ironclad) that their words could be used against them when revealed to an outsider to the mediation process, such as a judge in a court or…

Developing the Field, Future of mediation, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.)

(Weiler ADR Inc.)/ /2 Comments

On Thursday, August 30, 2018 the Canadian Federal Court of Appeal did the unthinkable. Its Judgement in Tsleil-Waututh Nation v. Canada (Attorney General), 2018 FCA 153 (CanLII) quashed approval of the $9.3-billion (CAN) Trans Mountain oil pipeline. The Canadian government announced last spring that it would purchase the Trans Mountain pipeline from Kinder Morgan Ltd….

Creativity, Developing the Field, Dialogue, Future of mediation, Neuroscience, peace negotiations, Public Policy, Scotland, UN and International Organizations, Uncategorized

(Core Solutions Group)/ /1 Comment

My colleague and fellow Kluwer author Charlie Woods has likened my scatter-gun approach to starting new projects and coming up with new ideas to “guerrilla gardening”. I am sure he means it as a compliment. Some ideas take seed…. So, here is another seed. Just a week or two ago, I was reading a (UK)…

Community Mediation, Conventional wisdom, Court Procedure and Litigation, Developing the Field, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), mediation models, Mediation Practice, mediation traditions, Mediation Users/Clients, Neutrality, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Scotland, The role of the mediator, Uncategorized, user perspectives

(University of Strathclyde)/ /1 Comment

(This post is being republished because of technical problems when it was first published.) One of the key debates among mediators centres on the word ‘evaluation’. I’ve written about this before – see Has the evaluative label outlived its usefulness? I’m sure many readers are familiar, even bored, with the claimed polarity between facilitative and…

ADR, Business, Commercial Mediation, Dispute Resolution, Enforcement, mediated settlement agreement, Uncategorized

(Singapore International Dispute Resolution Academy)/ /Leave a comment

In the first few months of this year I found myself returning to Vietnam a number of times thanks to Vietnamese initiatives in commercial mediation. Most recently I was involved in workshops hosted by the Vietnam Business Lawyer’s Club, the Judicial Academy and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Given the mediation activity in Vietnam and…

ADR, Commercial Mediation, cross-border mediation, Dispute Resolution, Enforcement, International Mediation, mediated settlement agreement, Settlement Agreements, Uncategorized, UNCITRAL, UNCITRAL Model Law

(Singapore International Dispute Resolution Academy)/ /3 Comments

The forthcoming Singapore Convention on Mediation will be the first UN Treaty named after Singapore. At the 51st Session of the United Nations (UN) Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) on 26 June 2018, the final drafts of the Convention on the Enforcement of International Settlement Agreements and corresponding Model Law were approved. A resolution…

ADR, ADR Agreements, Arbitration, Art, Commercial Mediation, cross-border mediation, Employment, Family Mediation, Language, United States

(FORARB/Charles University)/ /18 Comments

James Bond enters a casino where a beautiful girl is sitting at the bar. He approaches her, buys her a drink and makes his obligatory introduction: “Bond, James Bond…” After brief chatting, she asks him about his profession. Then, the usually reckless hero comes up with a cover story: “I am a mediator… Traveling to…