As the year comes to an end, I am expanding upon a story to which I referred in a previous blog, in the hope that it may provide a couple of useful reminders of what we do as mediators. I had eaten a chicken curry rather hastily at the hotel where I had been mediating…
I was in a busy urban train on my way home, when I was approached by a woman asking me where the Christmas market was. I answered. Then she asked if she could use my phone, she had to go a store where she had lost hers. It was 9 pm, I was tired after…
Christmas Spirit in Air It is hard to miss that the Christmas is coming, especially if you live in this part of the world. The streets of both major cities and smallest villages are decorated, the trees’ candles lit up and everybody is carrying lots of presents in public transport. If you are lucky enough,…
The Singapore Mediation Act entered into force on 1 November 2017. As noted in an earlier post by Joel Lee, it is the product of painstaking study since 2013 by the Ministry of Law’s International Commercial Mediation Working Group, the Chief Justice, mediators, counsel, consultants, students, funders, international practitioners and dispute resolution institutions including the…
[Writer’s Note: The video in this post was filmed at the Singapore International Dispute Resolution Academy Symposium “Rethinking Diversity in Conflict” (16-17 October 2017). You will need to turn on your sound. Apologies for the less than perfect sound quality.] December is always a special time of the year for me. Christmas is around the…
One could be forgiven for assuming that the EU has bigger things to worry about these days than whether the EU Mediation Directive has had its desired impact, and therefore the most recent European Parliament Resolution on this area has passed under the radar – at least my radar – until now. Drawing on various…
James Robertson’s novel ‘To be continued…’ introduces us to a character who goes by the name of Mungo Forth Mungo. Mungo is somewhat far fetched, not least because he is a talking toad. In this capacity he engages in many thoughtful and reflective conversations with the main character in the book – Murray Findhorn Elder…
This is the second in a short series of blogs interviewing regular users of mediation about what they really want from mediators and from mediation. We kicked off last month with Rebecca Clark. This month, I have the pleasure of interviewing Michael McIlwrath, who has been the head of litigation for GE Oil & Gas…
A whole day of mediation without a “joint meeting”. The only time the lawyers met was to begin drafting the settlement agreement. The experts played no part. The day before, the principals had exchanged correspondence deprecating perceived personal insults directed at professional advisers which, it was felt, had damaged reputations. This was a long-running commercial…
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…
