A recent U.S. District Court opinion has tested the ethical rules barring mediators from representing a party in a subsequent matter that is "identical" or "substantially related" to the mediated matter. It found that, at least in the case before the court, that test had not been satisfied and the...
Tag Archives: Mediation
The irrepresible Michael Leathes is a collector of quotes. Little does he know that one of the early walks I had with him produced a quote of his own that I have always kept pinned on the corkboard of my mind: "It costs no more to think big than to...
In New Jersey, the Superior Court Appellate Division recently approved for publication a decision in which a party to a mediation successfully sought to enforce a settlement agreement reached orally but not commited to writing during the mediation. The objecting party had claimed that (a) the New Jersey Rule pursuant...
If nothing is ever as simple as it looks, then the seemingly simple rules of mediation confidentiality are particularly complex. A group of colleagues was discussing the following hypothetical and could reach no clear conclusion: A mediation session concludes with defendant's counsel agreeing to revert to his (governmental) client to determine if...
There has been an uncharacteristic spate of impasses lately in my practice. Sitting back and examining why, the conclusion might be that one or more of the parties didn't come to the mediation to move ahead to the next stage in their business. They came to it to re-affirm the past, to...
The film concerning the use of mediation to resolve generations-old disputes between communities and corporations in Luzon, Philippines, has been completed and released. It is available for free viewing at...
Over the transom from our good friends at the International Mediation Institute comes this announcement: The Inter-Cultural Taskforce of the IMI Independent Standards Commission (ISC), after a year of meetings and consultation, is publishing for comment Draft Criteria for the planned IMI Inter-Cultural Competency Certification of Mediators. Organisations approved by the ISC as an...