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What Am I Trying To Achieve?
In a phrase - discussion and debate. That is what I am after. I want to encourage arbitrators and mediators to express an attitude, to contribute a point of view, to help advance knowledge and understanding of the day to day issues that arise in the course of...
What my websites are about.
I have two websites. One of Arbitration/Mediation and one on China. With China I draw on my accumulated experience following my first 8 week visit to China in 1965 and my 120+ visits. There are no experts on China as such. Many do posture and give vent to a prejudice...
The purpose of my website!
I want to make it a Forum for views and opinions on arbitration and mediation and, remember, I focus on practice - on what we do as mediators and arbitrators. I was an active football referee and used to attend monthly meetings of referees. The best part of the...
Change a Bad Habit!
Some may think this is just stating the obvious - after all as an arbitrator you are handling documents, submissions, draft awards, draft directions and exchanges with fellow arbitrators. If you start messy and untidy, you never change. You just get by. Nothing bad...
Is a Face to Face Meeting Essential
There is no set procedure for the conduct of the mediation. It depends on what is agreed by the mediator + the parties. The mediator does not have a veto + the parties can, therefore, impose a procedure on the mediator. But the point today is whether all mediators...
Do you need to have a personality for an arbitrator?
You have to have Character but do you also need to have Personality? Temperament, charm, likeability - these are the words associated with Personality as distinct from Character which is knowing the difference between right and wrong. Personality is not being "Jack...
Mediation – Positions and Interests
You are mediating a dispute. You have asked the parties to set out their positions but things are not going well. There is no movement. Heels are being dug in. Now is the time to start thinking about anti-logjam. How to get some activity? How to move matters to a new...
Can You Teach Discretion?
An interesting contradiction exists between the exercise of discretion on the one hand AND the need for Tribunal consistency on the other hand. Discretion means you are free to make up your own mind. There are constraints. You need to be fair + reasonable + objective...
Unconscious Bias
Unconscious bias is a big issue. How do Mediators and Arbitrators deal with this problem? The difficulty is that the bias is not always recognised or detected and that is because the bias is nearly always unconscious. Our problem has been that we could only deal with...
Standards Of Behaviour
Yesterday morning I wrote about dispute resolvers need for integrity and character. Today I focus on standards of behaviour - an essential part of a dispute resolver's make up. Ego is the danger here. We all need some ego because ego and self-confidence go together...
I Want To Be A Dispute Resolver
There are not many people who, at a young age, inform their parents that “I want to be a Dispute Resolver when I grow up”. You start somewhere else and then changes in your life lead you to consider a switch into arbitration or mediation. Something happens – you hear...
ARBITRATORS AND A DUTY OF DISCLOSURE
Following the Supreme Court Judgment in Haliburton v Chubb there has been much discussion about an arbitrator’s duty of disclosure of matters that might affect his/her ability to impartially carry out his duties. This is an absolute duty and the arbitrator needs to be...
FAMILY SEPARATION – TWO CHILDREN OR THREE?
A marriage has broken up. There are three children aged – 7, 4 and four months. There are assets but not large. The husband is a self-employed accountant with average means. The wife took in part-time work until the birth of the baby. You have accepted the appointment...
BIAS IN OPERATION DO YOU ACT OR DO YOU GO MUTE?
Bias in arbitration comes in many guises – sometimes it is apparent and sometimes it is unconscious and when it comes what do you, as Chair of the Tribunal does? Actually, it is a big question and, if you leave it because it makes you feel “awkward”, you are not doing...
PARTIES THAT WONT PARTICIPATE
You have accepted an appointment as a mediator in a dispute between directors who have fallen out. There are three directors – two on one side and one on the other. The dispute is proceeding to court. There is a requirement to mediate. Your terms of appointment have...
‘COSTS FOLLOW THE EVENT’- WHAT IS THE ‘EVENT’?
A very topical topic. You are a winger party-appointed arbitrator. You have decided who wins and who loses and now comes costs. These are the costs of the arbitration, not the parties’ own costs. You are just looking at the fees and expenses of the three arbitrators –...
HOW CONFIDENTIAL IS A MEDIATION AGREEMENT?
You were appointed as Mediator in an accountant’s partnership dispute. There is a Mediation Agreement signed by the two parties, being the Partnership and the Departing Partner, and by yourself. The Mediation Agreement contains a confidentiality clause. Things go well...
PRACTICE PROBLEMS
ARBITRATION You are chairing an arbitration tribunal of three arbitrators. You become aware that the two winger arbitrators – both party-appointed – have a bad history. They have allowed their past tensions to enter into the conduct of the current dispute. It is...
ARBITRATION OR MEDIATION PART 2
THE ARBITRATOR The Arbitrator has authority and power. He/She listens to the parties. He makes a decision His decision is final subject to rights of appeal. His position in the Dispute Resolution process is quite different from that of the Mediator. The arbitrator...
ARBITRATION OR MEDIATION
Graham Perry; When you consider Dispute Resolution, there are two main options; Arbitration or Mediation. Both are excellent – really top-notch. Tested, Track Record, Good Outcomes Not always guaranteed – sometimes a mediation fails or an arbitration increases...
Episode
- AN ANXIOUS NEW ARBITRATOR
- AN ARBITRATOR STUMBLES
- ANGER MANAGEMENT
- ARBITRATION – FEES OF ARBITRATORS
- ARBITRATOR/MEDIATOR
- ARBITRATORS FEES AGAIN
- AWKWARD QUESTIONS
- BACK TO BASICS – A MATRIMONIAL MEDIATION
- DETERMINED NEUTRALITY
- DISCRETION
- DISPUTE RESOLUTION
- FAMILY TENSIONS
- FATHER’S LATE WILL
- FRAUDULENT DOCUMENTS
- GENDER ISSUES AT SCHOOL
- HOUSING AFGHANISTAN REFUGEES
- LATE APPLICATION TO SUBMIT NEW EVIDENCE
- LENGTHY ORAL SUBMISSIONS
- MEDIATION - ANGER MANAGEMENT
- MEDIATION – DENTISTS DISAGREE
- NEIGHBOUR DISPUTES + SECOND HOMES
- NEW WORLD – NEW WORDS
- POST HEARING EVALUATION
- THE ARBITRATOR BECOMES A MEDIATOR
- THE BACKGROUND
- THE BIGGEST SOURCE OF MEDIATION
- THE CORE QUALITY
- THE DOMINATING SOLICITOR
- THE EXPERT WITNESS
- THE FAMILY PROPERTY DISPUTE
- THE FLEXIBILITY OF MEDIATION
- THE MEDIATORS’ SKILLS
- THE OVER-ACTIVE PARTY LAWYER
- THE STORY SO FAR
- TO INTERVENE OR NOT TO INTERVENE
- TRADE ARBITRATORS + LAWYER ARBITRATORS
- UKRAINIAN REFUGEES
- WORDS MATTER
- WRITERS’ BLOCK