The UIA World Mediation Forum in Houston has generated the usual mixture of stimulation and camaraderie. The first panel concerned "Mediation: The Judicial Perspective Here and Abroad." Aleš Zalar, former Minister of Justice of Slovenia and currently President of the European Centre for Dispute Resolution of Ljubljana, moderated the panel, and...
The next few weeks are more than usually packed with high-quality convenings. The World Mediation Forum will meet in Houston on March 21-22; the ABA Dispute Resolution Section will meet in Miami April 2-5; and the Business Law Section of the ABA (and its Dispute Resolution Committee) will hold its...
A young, vibrant and alive mentor once taught me that it costs no more to dream big than to dream little. And Michael Leathes is dreaming big. With IMI Chair Deborah Masucci, Michael has recently proposed a "Global Pound Conference." Referring to the 1976 conference at which Prof. Frank Sander shared...
The International Bar Association has been responsible for several definitive guidelines to assist practitioners in international arbitration. These include the 2010 Guide for Drafting International Arbitration Agreements, the 2010 Rules for Taking of Evidence, and the 2004 Guide on Conflicts of Interest. To this we now add the IBA Guidelines on...
Notice has recently gone out of a report and recommendations of a Working Group appointed to review the practicality of an International Mediation Center in Singapore. The news release, available here, explains that the recommendations include the establishment of a new service provider limited to mediation of cross-border disputes; the...
Our Italian correspondent, Avv. Giorgio Grasso, has prepared a useful report on the reintroduction of mandatory civil and commercial mediation in Italy. The new legislation -- replacing a 2010 version that prompted a lawyers' strike and was declared unconstitutional in 2012 -- amends the scope of the original scheme and is...
An interesting presentation on dispute prevention was featured at the recent UIA World Mediation Forum in Prague. The presenters demonstrated that project managers, not lawyers, may be the best equipped to save time and money by avoiding disputes. ...