In what I hope readers of this blog will consider a deft segue, I want to shift from the successful judicial mediation that I highlighted last month to one that didn’t proceed quite so smoothly.
Deals negotiated in mediation tend to hold or, at least, that’s been the conventional wisdom. The theory is that because of the consensual nature of the process parties tend to abide by the agreements they’ve struck in mediation.
In Ontario we’ve just had a rare high profile example of a situation where that wasn’t the case. A news summary of the decision in Kidd v. The Canada Life Assurance Co. can be read here and the full decision of Justice Perrel can be seen here. Both the article and th [...]
Finally, after a long parliamentary struggle, the German Mediation Act (Gesetz zur Förderung der Mediation und anderer Verfahren der außergerichtlichen Konfliktbeilegung) was signed into law by the President of the Federal Republic (Bundespräsident) on July 21, 2012. Four days later it was published in the Federal Gazette (Bundesgesetzblatt) BGBl. I, 2012, S. 1577, and came into force on July 26, 2012.
When I reported in early January that the law was passed in Bundestag, it might have appeared that just a couple of weeks are needed to finalize the legislative process. However it soon turned out that the Mediation Act required the Mediation Committee (Vermittlungsausschuss) of the upper [...]
Two stories in the Canadian media caught my eye this past month.
New Rules for Bank Mediators – The Federal Minister of Finance has indicated that the Canadian federal government will not require banks to mediate their disputes with customers through mediation services offered by the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI). OSBI is an independent and impartial office founded in 1996 and funded by the banking industry. In recent years certain banks have abandon OBSI in favour of private, for profit, mediation firms. This move has drawn criticism from some quarter on the theory that the impartiality of ADR providers may be in doubt if the bank is paying the full cost for the medi [...]
On December 15, 2011, the Act for the Promotion of Mediation and other Procedures of Extrajudicial Conflict Settlement (Gesetz zur Förderung der Mediation und anderer Verfahren der außergerichtlichen Konfliktbeilegung) was passed in the “lower chamber” of the German parliament (Deutscher Bundestag).
The adoption of the Act was based on the recommendation of the Legal Committee (Beschlussempfehlung und Bericht des Rechtsausschusses), which – as stressed in the official release – was made unanimously by all five political factions in the Bundestag (i.e. in a truly mediation-like manner!). The Committee agreed on a number of amendments to the original draft presented in April 2011 (1 [...]
In his blog post on the 22nd of November, Kenny Aina referred to judges who mediate, commenting that many judges do not possess a mediator’s paradigm. To find out what that is, you will have to read Kenny’s blog. However, like it or not, many judges do mediate, both retired judges and active judges. In this blog, I am going to write about active judges, that is judges who are still on the bench, who mediate or engage in some type of mediative intervention. This is a relevant consideration for legal representatives who may find themselves in court before a judge who wants to mediate their case. But first, some background to the developing field of judicial dispute resolution or JDR.
Conte [...]
Years ago, I participated in a Richard Salem led mediation skills acquisition training for retired Judges and I will never forget the words of a just retired Chief Judge contemplating a career in mediation “ Kenny, you mean I will just listen without telling the parties what to do? Impossible! Not me!”. I have seen several highly intelligent professionals take up mediation accreditation examinations believing they are qualified mediators. However, they struggle during mediation sessions. Of particular note was a retired justice who after a sterling career at the bench decided to take up mediation actively since he still bubbled with ‘youth’. Alas! His first session was quite a frust [...]
