justice

ADR, Arbitration, Court Procedure and Litigation, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Future of mediation, Mandatory mediation, Mediation Act, Mediation Institutions and Rules, mediation process, Mediation Schemes (In Courts, etc.), Policy, Scotland, Uncategorized

(University of Strathclyde)/ /11 Comments
Shows forms of dispute resolution and the thick line between mediation and arbitration

Law students are probably familiar with a diagram like the one above. It arranges different ways of resolving disputes according to how much say parties have in the outcome. Much as Felstiner and colleagues (1) famously described disputes being transformed into court cases through ‘naming, blaming and claiming,’ this graphic illustrates a parallel transformation in…

Court Procedure and Litigation, Developing the Field, Future of mediation, Legal Issues, Mandatory mediation, Mediation Outcomes, Mediation Practice, Mediation Schemes (In Courts, etc.), Mediation Users/Clients, Policy, Practical Challenges for Mediators, Public Policy, Uncategorized, Understanding mediation

(University of Strathclyde)/ /13 Comments
Graffiti commenting on truth and its usefulness today

I started mediating in my early 30s, surely old enough to know the difference between truth and fiction. Yet after a couple of years I began to say, first to myself then to my friends, that the concept of truth was ‘no longer useful’ in my work. What did I mean and how did I…

Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Future of mediation, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), History of mediation, Legal Issues, Mediation Outcomes, mediation process, Promoting Mediation, Research, Scotland, Uncategorized, Understanding mediation

(University of Strathclyde)/ /2 Comments
Stop apologising

(This blog is adapted from a longer version published by Prof John Lande as part of Theories of Change for the Dispute Resolution Movement: Actionable Ideas to Revitalize Our Movement. The Theory of Change symposium asked mediators and scholars to think big about their dreams and visions for the future, and was recently published on…

ADR, Court Procedure and Litigation, Domestic Courts, Future of mediation, International Mediation, Legal Practice, Mandatory mediation, Mediation Schemes (In Courts, etc.), Opt-Out, Particular Sectors (e.g. Construction, Banking, etc.), Promoting Mediation, Reform, United States

(CMS)/ /Leave a comment

Is this yet another case in which New York is setting global trends? By the end of the year, the state courts in New York are due to have a system in place requiring that civil and commercial disputes be resolved through presumptive mediation. “Presumptive mediation” means an “automatic”, pre-trial, statewide program of court-sponsored ADR….

Australia, Developing the Field, Ethics, Future of mediation, lawyers in mediation, mediation models, Mediation Outcomes, Mediation Practice, mediation process, Neutrality, Uncategorized, Understanding mediation, Workplace Mediation

(University of Strathclyde)/ /4 Comments

Have you ever wondered who mediators are helping? The parties, obviously! Well, not so obvious to our critics. In this blog I consider worries about mediation’s approach to manifest injustice before making the case for understanding the mediator as co-creator, with the parties, of outcomes. I argue that co-creation enhances the prospects for justice. Stories…

ADR, Commercial Mediation, Court Procedure and Litigation, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Legal Issues, Litigation, Mediation Agreement, Mediation Outcomes, Scotland, Settlement Agreements, Uncategorized, Understanding mediation

(University of Strathclyde)/ /7 Comments

Regular readers of this blog will know that I am exercised by the question of justice in mediation. I test the concept on people I meet; responses range from “that’s an interesting idea” to “it has nothing whatever to do with it”. At a conference earlier this year a senior lawyer claimed he could count…

ADR, Cognitive Bias, Conventional wisdom, Court Procedure and Litigation, Developing the Field, Efficiency, Fear, Future of mediation, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), Humorous Pieces, Intuition, Lawyers, Mediation Lawyering, Mediation Users/Clients, Scotland, Uncategorized

(University of Strathclyde)/ /3 Comments

We have just reached the end of the annual marking season (grading for North Americans). The verbal joust of examinations is almost over. Students get their blows in first; teachers’ strike back with marks and comments. It’s a familiar ritual with its own rhythm and reasoning. It can be viewed as arduous by both sides…

Court Procedure and Litigation, Developing the Field, Dispute Resolution, Domestic Courts, Due Process, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), Legal Issues, Mediation Reforms (Legislation, etc.), Online Dispute Resolution (ODR), Opt-Out, Public Policy, Reform, Technology, Uncategorized

(University of Strathclyde)/ /Leave a comment

‘Justice’, an “all-party law reform and human rights organisation working to strengthen the justice system” launched a new report on April 23rd entitled ‘DELIVERING JUSTICE IN AN AGE OF AUSTERITY’. The report could be described as a plan to deliver justice despite the cuts. It proposes a transformation of the court system in England and…

Civil rights, Community Mediation, Cross-cultural, International Mediation, Success in mediation, UN and International Organizations

(FORARB/Charles University)/ /Leave a comment

Once I was informed by Nan Waller Burnett that her colleagues from the organization Mediators Beyond Borders International (MBB) were heading for Prague and that we might organize a meeting with them I did not hesitate a minute. For the work of this NGO is simply admirable. How to build more peace “able” world The…

Conflict, Developing the Field, Family Mediation, Growth of the Field (Challenges, New Sectors, etc.), Mediation Practice, Skills, Stories, Tips, Uncategorized, Understanding mediation

(University of Strathclyde)/ /Leave a comment

(This is the first of three parts of a keynote address to the YMCA Conference “From Reactions to Relations” in Burton on Trent on 20 November 2014) Here’s an interesting phenomenon. When asked to play the part of an adversarial lawyer students have no difficulty. It’s as if the script for this activity is carved…