Arbitration & Mediation

The role of the law in settlement

Posted on February 16, 2009
Today's mediation was novel.Today a lawyer's analysis of the law made a difference. It doesn't usually.It's often not the done thing to labor the law in mediation, because it's all about interests, isn't it? Not positions and certainly not legal ones...

Maintaining ADR Integrity

Posted on February 14, 2009
Just up at SSRN last Thursday - Maintaining ADR Integrity - by Carrie Menkel-Meadow of Georgetown University Law Center and self professed "member of the ADR founding generation".Modern ADR was born 30 years ago in response to the failings and abuses of the then prevailing dispute resolution mechanisms, especially litigation...

Confidentially Breached in Mediation

Posted on February 13, 2009
We used to trumpet litigation wins in firm advertising, now we do the same with mediation??The mediation; Facebook Reportedly Near Accord Over OriginA federal judge in California ordered the parties into mediation last year. The person briefed on the settlement negotiations, who declined to be identified because the deal was not yet completed, said motions to dismiss the case against Facebook were expected ?within weeks?...

Benjamin's on fire

Posted on February 10, 2009
I make it a practise to alert you to all new Robert Benjamin articles.I mean, I sometimes don't get the whole dirty guerrilla war theme that runs through many of Robert's articles but I always find them thought provoking.Here's another one just up today; The Joy Of Impasse: The Neuroscience Of ?Insight? And Creative Problem Solving...

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A cool new app for the travelling mediator

Posted on February 10, 2009
If you like to use your laptop on planes and buses this free little application is for you.Wysigot Light allows you to capture whole websites (or just part) for viewing when you are away from the Internet, like when you are in the air, on a train or mediation training without a connection...

ADR Bloggers to meet at the Spring ABA Conference in NYC

Posted on February 09, 2009
Calling all ADR Bloggers: Come out, come out from behind your blog banners and meet face-to-face at the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution's Spring Conference April 15 - 18, Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers, New York.There is a rumour that Diane Levin will be there...

Enjoy Mediation with Jeff Thompson

Posted on February 04, 2009
Jeff Thompson is a mediator with New York's Finest and he has found his calling practising his craft right there on the mean streets of the Big Apple and I was lucky enough to catch up with him when I was at Bond University late in 08.He also blogs about mediation so click on the Coke sign to get to his great new and informative addition to our ADR blogosphere...

Judges as mediators

Posted on February 03, 2009
I know nothing about the New Minnesota Judicial Code except that it has been recently changed to allow part-time judges to serve as private mediators, effective July 1, 2009. So that means a judge can privately mediate one week and publicly sit on the bench the next...

Recent Robert Benjamin articles

Posted on January 30, 2009
From Robert Benjamin's Newsletter, which he describes as including a few street smart practical suggestions and miscellaneous musings from the shadow side of negotiation practice;Cloaked Negotiation: Necessary Back-Channel, Under the Table and Surreptitious Strategies and Techniques to Make Deals Work, Jan 2009 Cloaked and surreptitious negotiation strategies are commonly used but seldom openly discussed by conflict management practitioners...

Mediators have no interest in justice and fairness; Charlie Irvine bites back!

Posted on January 30, 2009
Well, I'm not sure of the politics behind this exchange.But read Charlie Irvine's response to senior academic and Honorary Queen?s Counsel Dame Hazel Genn's lecture in December 2008 ADR and Civil Justice: What?s justice got to do with it? Hazel (can I call you Hazel?) suggests that mediation ?is not about just settlement? but rather ?it is just about settlement' and helpfully suggest that ?perhaps everything can be mediated and the courts can all become pubs and restaurants'...

Eleven Australian Research Papers up on the web

Posted on January 29, 2009
The Australian National Alternative Dispute Resolution Advisory Council's Compendium of Research Papers (full text) presented at the 2007 National ADR Research Forum in Melbourne just up on the web;1. THE CHILDREN AND FAMILIES IN TRANSITION PROJECT2. TRANSFORMING MEDIATION IN THE ASIA PACIFIC REGION3...

Family mediators will want to get hold of the latest Family Court Review

Posted on January 26, 2009
... because the January Family Court Review (Vol. 47, Iss. 1) includes all these mediation articles;REFLECTIONS ON THE STATE OF CONSENSUS-BASED DECISION MAKING IN CHILD WELFARE Bernie Mayer. AbstractA GUIDE TO EFFECTIVE CHILD PROTECTION MEDIATION: LESSONS FROM 25 YEARS OF PRACTICE Marilou Giovannucci, Karen Largent...

Sneak Preview of Ken Cloke's new book

Posted on January 25, 2009
Excerpt from Ken Cloke's upcoming book: Conflict Revolution: Mediating Evil, War, Injustice, and Terrorism by Janis Publications"While listening to news about the latest disasters from wars to terrorist attacks around the world, I sometimes fantasize about what would happen if, instead of dropping bombs on civilian populations, mediators by the tens of thousands were parachuted into war zones...

Who the hell is Brother Mat and where can we report him?

Posted on January 23, 2009
In response to a call for outlandish mediation techniques by the good folks over at ADR Prof Blog this week, they got this;Posted by Brother Mat // Jan 21, 2009 at 5:28 pmReality testing is an essential tool in mediation. Conceptually, a mediator invokes a sort-of reducio ad absurdum* argument with the unrealistic party...

Mediation Advocacy

Posted on January 22, 2009
Want something to go out to client lawyers with in the hope of getting some of their mediation work in 2009?Try this easy to read 8 page think-piece from In Place of Strife mediator Charles Middleton-Smith: The Art of Advocacy in Mediation: exploring the role of legal advisers in mediation...

New ABA National Clearinghouse for Mediator Ethics Opinions

Posted on January 22, 2009
Whether you are looking for mediation ethics opinions in a specific jurisdiction or analysis of an ethical standard, ABA's new online resource provides advisory opinions from 43 states to help mediators make smart choices in their practice.The database contains a short summary of each opinion with a hyperlink to the original opinion or document issued by the state or national body...

When will you start making money in 2009?

Posted on January 21, 2009
As I recall it, my old law firm split used to be 1/3 for overhead like rent etc, 1/3 for salary and then, and only then, 1/3 for profit.That is; P=R-E (profit equals revenue less expenses)Going into a new year, this meant partners only started making money around June or later! I suspect any firm still on these metrics is struggling...

CPR Annual Awards

Posted on January 20, 2009
This blog is proud to be mentioned in dispatches at The International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR Institute) Annual Awards Dinner in New York this week.The award is all the sweeter given posts here over the years have not always been flattering of some of the larger players who lead our industry...

Teaching On-Line Negotiation to Law Students

Posted on January 20, 2009
Recently up at SSRN - for the teachers amongst us - Deal or No Deal: Teaching On-Line Negotiation to Law Students by Australian academics, Sam Hardy and David Spencer."This article discusses and evaluates a teaching initiative conducted by the authors and their students in 2006...

This is not everyday stuff. Does all this signal a new culture of collaborative excellence?

Posted on January 19, 2009
A reflective piece by Mediate.com's Jim Melamed as the US turns a page tomorrow - Obama, Miracle on the Hudson and a Society of Collaborative Excellence"What are the odds of Barack Obama becoming President? And what are the odds of 155 passengers surviving a plane crash into the Hudson River?As this pilot landed the plane without a life lost...

Mediation: Principles, Process, Practice to be launched next week

Posted on January 15, 2009
Breaking News; In a rare show of trans-Tasman collaboration, Prof Laurence Boulle of Bond University in Queensland, Australia has combined with Wellington barrister and founding president of the Arbitrators & Mediators Institute of New Zealand, Phillip Green together with Virginia Goldblatt, director of the Dispute Resolution Centre at NZ's Massey University, to write the NZ edition of Mediation: Principles, Process, Practice...

Take the poll - are you intending to certify with IMI in 2009?

Posted on January 14, 2009
Take the pollFree Poll by Blog FluxRead the latest on IMI Certification hereCan you grandparent in via IMI's Experience Qualification Path ? Find out here IMI's website here[click on the title of this post to read more...]

Video resources for family mediators

Posted on January 13, 2009
A nice set of quality videos on all aspects of family mediation from mediator John Speigel of Rockville, MD (John uses instructional video site monkeysee.com to present these client resources and does a great job with it)Videos in the series:What is divorce mediation?What is the goal of divorce mediation?Is mediation only for people who can get along?What are the benefits of divorce mediation?How can I begin the mediation process?What happens if we cannot agree during mediation?[click on the title of this post to read more...

Should you keep your mediator notes?

Posted on January 12, 2009
I don't and I even say that in my engagement information.But Australian attorney mediator, Michael Creelman, has had concerns about this and sees it as a professional indemnity issue in his piece Mediators? notes of the mediation - a mediator's protective device"A practice appears to have been built up, at least from anecdotal evidence, of mediators destroying their notes following mediation...

Bad economy a boon for pre-suit mediation?

Posted on January 12, 2009
Last year I asked whether more litigation = more mediation? (and at the risk of being an I told you so, pointed out in January 2008 that the light you could see at the end of that annual tunnel was a train, stupid)Here's one take for January 2009; Bad economy a boon for pre-suit mediation?"With the economy crimping corporate legal spending, Allen Smith, a partner with the law firm SettlePou in Dallas, has noticed that clients are more receptive to early mediations of commercial disputes"[click on the title of this post to read more...

How to salvage a summer holiday

Posted on January 09, 2009
Given my last post you are forgiven for expecting this entry to come from a remote Andean valley or beamed out from atop Machu Picchu which, btw, is rumoured to have gone wireless.But no, this post comes to you from my kitchen table in New Zealand, having aborted the summer expedition to South America and Easter Island after 5 days of wait and see as sickness ravaged our family ranks...

Adiós

Posted on December 29, 2008
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year all.Consistent with previous years, this blog will go quiet over January but as with past summer family expeditions, I hope to report to you, my dear reader, on matters mediation from exotic points along our route...

Your New Year's Resolution - IMI Certification

Posted on December 29, 2008
IMI is open for business and the Experience Qualification Path to Certification is available only for the first half of 2009! Until June 30th experienced commercial mediators may certify via EQP without undertaking any test. You can grandparent in by belonging to any of these organisations: 1...

A stocking filler from LEADR

Posted on December 12, 2008
Leadr's Christmas edition of Update came out yesterday and it's full of goodies for the festive season - like a podcast interview with the grandfather of mediation DownUnder, an article from this Kiwi on the 5 things I have learnt this year and a great piece on my favourite hobby horse, whether judges should mediate or not...

so can i?

Posted on December 11, 2008
My present mediator's lifestyle certainly beats the old biglaw days of long hours and young mouths to feed both at home and at the office - but it still takes its toll, travel mainly.When I arrived back in Wellington this morning from a 4 day road trip mediating back to back in different centres around New Zealand - and having finally finished up around 11...

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