ADR, cross-border mediation, Dispute Resolution, Enforcement, Enforcement of a Mediation Clause, EU Directive on Mediation, Future of mediation, International Mediation, Legal Issues, Legal Practice, Legislation, mediated settlement agreement, Mediation Act, Mediation Agreement, Mediation Contract Clause, Mediation Reforms (Legislation, etc.), Mediation Schemes (In Courts, etc.), Mediation Users/Clients, National Mediation Laws, New York Convention, Online Mediation, Public Policy, Reform, Regulation, Set Aside a Mediated Agreement, Settlement Agreements, Success in mediation, Training, UN and International Organizations, UNCITRAL, UNCITRAL Model Law, Understanding mediation, user perspectives

(International Mediation Institute)/ /Leave a comment

The next session of the UNCITRAL Working Group II that will continue to consider whether there should be a convention to enforce commercial cross-border mediation settlements will be in Vienna, Austria the week of September 19, 2016. On September 21, there will be a free evening program when 2 panels will answer questions relating to…

Apology, Bias, Clients, Cognitive Bias, Commercial Mediation, Confidentiality, Decision making, Dialogue, Dispute Resolution, Impasse, Interests, Joint Sessions, mediated settlement agreement, Mediation Agreement, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Mistakes, Neuroscience, Perception, Scotland, Stages of mediation, Stories, Uncategorized

(Core Solutions Group) and (Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London)/ /Leave a comment

“Caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar” “Traveller, there is no path, the path must be forged as you walk.” Antonio Machado, as quoted and translated in Daring Greatly, Brene Brown Those were two very long and eventful days. Though the prospect of reaching an agreement appeared remote – at best – at…

Cognitive Bias, Developing the Field, General, Humorous Pieces, Mentoring, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Young Mediators

(National University of Singapore, Faculty of Law)/ /Leave a comment

There is an Internet meme that goes “Somewhere, there is a 21 year old in a 50 year old’s body going ‘What the hell happened?’”. I try not to think about age generally; and more specifically, my age. In part because I can’t count that high. And if I wanted to count that high, I…

Clients, mediation as a career, Mediation Outcomes, Mediation Practice, Mediators’ Conduct, Mistakes, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Success in mediation

(Sabine Walsh Mediation)/ /1 Comment

Another teaching year has ended and the last session’s review and goal setting for the future has thrown up the same questions it does every year, or indeed as does the end of every mediation training course. Many of these start with what if? What if I…do something wrong…make a mess of it…go blank…say the…

cross-border mediation, Cross-cultural, Developing the Field, General, insider and outsider mediators, Practical Challenges for Mediators

(NZ Centre for ICT Law & School of Law, Auckland University)/ /2 Comments

I’ve just returned from a week in Vientiane, the capital of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and that week away gives me both a [slight] excuse for a late blog entry and a couple of reflections on the outsider/observer role of both mediator and tourist. I should say, too, at this outset, that this is…

ADR, Commercial Mediation, Conciliation, Court Procedure and Litigation, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Domestic Courts, Lawyers, Legal Practice, Litigation, Mediation Institutions and Rules, Mediation Lawyering, Mediation Practice, Mediation Reforms (Legislation, etc.), Singapore

(National University of Singapore, Faculty of Law)/ /Leave a comment

The year 2016 has so far been a significant one for Singapore in the area of ADR. The opening of the Singapore Legal Year saw the Chief Justice of Singapore, Mr. Sundaresh Menon introducing various ADR-related initiatives in family justice cases and medical malpractice matters. This has been explored in a previous blog entry here….

Communication, Community Mediation, Conciliation, Conflict, crisis negotiatons, cross-border mediation, Developing the Field, Dialogue, Dispute Resolution, European Law, Future of mediation, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), Not-for-Profit Organizations (NGO), peace negotiations, Ukraine, UN and International Organizations, Uncategorized

(Mediator & peace seeker)/ /3 Comments
Young Mediators Initiative (YMI)

Recap Last time I wrote as a young mediator about my mediation path, I had just arrived in Tbilisi, Georgia. It was February 2014, when people began being killed at the Euromaidan on Independence Square in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. I was trying to ‘break into the peacebuilding field‘ but did not have much…

ADR, Clients, Court Procedure and Litigation, Domestic Courts, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), mediation models, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Mediation Schemes (In Courts, etc.), Mediation Users/Clients, Scotland, Uncategorized

(University of Strathclyde)/

[A talk given at the recent “100 cases” event in Glasgow to celebrate two years of small claims mediation provided by Strathclyde Mediation Clinic. Judges in Scotland are known as “sheriffs”.] I’ve been rather enjoying my belated return to the small claims court. Like a kind of slow theatre, each Friday afternoon unfolds with impeccable…

ADR, Communication, Confidentiality and Transparency, Conventional wisdom, Decision making, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Due Process, Future of mediation, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), Online Dispute Resolution (ODR), Online Mediation, Technology

(NZ Centre for ICT Law & School of Law, Auckland University)/ /2 Comments

I begin with two poetic images. One is from an 8th century Taoist poem – I asked the boy beneath the pines. He said, “The master’s gone alone Herb-picking somewhere on the mount, Cloud-hidden, whereabouts unknown.” [Chia Tao (777-841)] And the other, more recent, from W H Auden’s poem “Law Like Love”: And always the…

India, Mediation Institutions and Rules, Mediation Practice, Mediation Schemes (In Courts, etc.), National Mediation Laws, Young Mediators

/ /Leave a comment

We have quite a heavy topic before us, but before we get into the weightiness of it, I’d like to begin with something more light-hearted. There is a TV commercial going around which begins with flashes of hard-hitting questions such as: what is the age of the universe? What is the meaning of life? Etc….