Shortly after the neighbourhood mediation started, one of the parties turned to me her eyes flashed with anger: “Everything that he is telling is false, do not listen to him…” The other party got het up: “Indeed, Mr. mediator, everything I have ever said was a lie…Do not listen to me…” Without even knowing this,…
1. Introduction Although private commercial mediation has been offered in Vietnam for around ten years,[1] Some arbitration centres in Vietnam introduced and offered private commercial mediation since 2007 the Vietnamese Government’s enactment of Decree 22/2017/NĐ-CP on 24 February 2017 on Commercial Mediation (hereinafter Decree 22) has been significantly meaningful. Firstly, the Decree 22 has steadily…
I was reflecting the other day that in the 25 years that I have been conducting workshops in Negotiation, Mediation and other related areas, most conflict resolution workshops don’t seem to pay a lot of attention to personality preferences and how these can contribute towards conflict. I recently ran a workshop for the Law Society…
Negotiation teachers often scratch their heads looking for scenarios to engage students – something realistic, complex and with high enough stakes to motivate participants. Recently it came to me that we in the UK are sitting on a negotiation goldmine. The Brexit negotiations are certainly real, arguably the most complex we’ve ever undertaken and have…
What a different a month makes! A new EU Recommendation on Mediation, the launch of this year’s Mediation Awareness Week and a brand shiny new Mediation Act, 2017. Yes, the long awaited legislation that I have been blogging about for years now was finally signed into law by the President this week. This development fits…
The story of the blindfolded men who each approach an elephant from different angles (at the tusk it’s described as a spear, at the tail a rope, at the leg a tree etc.) is a good example of how multiple truths can exist depending on the perspective you take. Different views can often be the…
Greg Bond: Tell me about your organisation. Edgar Isermann: The Conciliation Body for Public Transport (söp) was founded in 2009, as a result of EU regulations on passenger rights, and also a general need to strengthen ADR provisions. The public transportation companies gradually realised that they would have to join the scheme. Travelers whose complaints…
The Apology Bill was passed on 13 July 2017 by the Hong Kong Legislative Council and it was gazetted as “Apology Ordinance (Cap.631)” on 20 July 2017. The Ordinance will come into operation on 1 December 2017, a date appointed by the Secretary for Justice. It is the first piece of apology legislation enacted in…
Every year hundreds, if not thousands, of seats are sold on mediation training courses in Ireland and the UK alone. Most of these courses end with motivated, excited and passionate new mediators going out into the world looking to do their bit to change how conflict is dealt with. What they have usually not been…
Greg Bond’s recent post on mediation cultures reminded me of an encounter I had with a group of mediators several years ago. Allow me to share with you my recollection of what happened. I was conducting a workshop on international and intercultural approaches to mediation for 15 freshly-minted mediators from a European country — all…
