The International Bar Association has published this month an "e-book" on Mediation Techniques, edited by Patricia Barclay and including practical and pointed insights for professionals and end-users alike....
A sobering -- even frightening -- panel at the IBA's Vancouver conference addressed negotiation in volatile, politically charged and dangerous circumstances -- pushing the boundaries of mediation past the purely commercial, into a world where lives may depend on the skill and success of the negotiator or mediator. Maritime pirates off...
Hans Peter Frick, General Counsel of Nestlé, once offered this guidance for business mediators: You can either make what you think is a good candy bar and convince people that they "ought to" buy it, or you could go out and ask people what kind of candy bar they want, and...
The annual Conference of the International Bar Association in Vancouver presented several panels of unusual distinction and interest. This first report covers a group of speakers posing the questions: "What does it take to persuade? How does a lawyer cause an arbitrator, judge, businessperson or other lawyer, to willingly reach the...
Don't make me swear to it, but I believe it was Karl Slaikeu who first presented to me the four stages -- or, better, "declensions" -- of ending a conflict. If it was somebody else, my apology. Which, by the way, is the first stage....
Of the many skilled mediators I have been privileged to know, few are more insightful and articulate than Robert Creo. Bob recently shared a terrific perspective over a tasty lunch: That three discussions, or dances, inform a negotiated settlement discussion, and only one of them is acknowledged by the parties. ...
At the ABA Annual Meeting, in the course of a panel on arbitration developments, veteran arbitrator Deborah Rothman tee-ed up a fascinating challenge. Clients regularly engage consultants in litigation. Why not in arbitration? Indeed, isn't the value of a consultant in arbitration much more evident? Arbitration has special challenges, different legal...