Northwest Mediation
Commercial Mediation and Individual Dispute Resolution

After last week’s reference to Guinness we start this week in Ireland with Angela Kerins former head of the Rehab Group in Ireland who is appealing to the Irish government to enter mediation to deal with her claim for damages. Her claim arises out of her treatment by the Dáil Public Accounts Committee. She alleges the questioning over her own expenses, pay and that of other Rehab members was little more than a with-hunt to oust her from office. She is claiming for loss of e

Few people enjoy waiting, justice delayed (they say) is justice defeated. There was a discussion on BBC's Woman's Hour this week about how no one regards the delay or waiting time at court as a problem. I beg to differ, everyone I’ve ever worked with who has a court case cannot stand the delays they face, whether in between hearings or at court itself. The pain caused by simply not being able to move forward is agony. In some mediations the delay by one side has added to t

Why go to mediation? Yes it’s cheaper and quicker and more likely to resolve all your issues than the ones listed on your claim form, but the real reason to go? It works. Director of Legal affairs at Air France Frank Raimbault started mediation as an internal process to reduce the problems with staff, for the quite simple reason “our staff are in contact with passengers when they buy their tickets, as they board their planes and during their flight, etc. We cannot allow a me

On a previous blog we talked about the Ayodhya mediation regarding the title dispute over Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid the building of a Ram Temple at the Ayodhya site). Having managed to steer some of the parties to settlement and presented the settlement to the court the court acknowledged the hard work of the mediators but noted that as there were conditions attached to the “deal” the settlement could not be regarded as final. The Sunni Central Waqf Board had agreed to dro

It’s helpful to have some basic guidance on any type of workplace mediation, and here Forbes suggests 12 things to do (and some not to do) when dealing with disputes as a manager, my favourite being “don’t mediate” by which they mean try to help the people sort it out themselves. Mediation is ideal when you either don’t want to or can’t ”sort it out” yourself. At Northwest Mediation we have a high level of success in dealing with many types of dispute where parties have come

I had a one party in a mediation this week say that they felt like the pig in eggs and bacon (or ham and eggs if you prefer your metaphors more American) whereas the other party were the chicken, the first party was absolutely invested in the situation and had to deal with it whereas the other party had an interest but not an investment. It was an interesting metaphor which said more about how they viewed themselves and the other party than about the actual situation, I have

The results of intercultural mediators in action are reviewed in this World Health Organisation report from is Health Evidence Network. It may seem obvious that having intercultural mediators (that is mediators with cultural knowledge of all the cultures involved in a mediation) involved in any dispute will help, and certainly I’ve always found that having a connection and understanding with people involved in disputes is always important. But this report has examined the ro

The news this week starts in the middle east with Prime Minister Khan of Pakistan (and yes I still think "Really? He was a cricketer". But then look who we’ve got, perhaps Stokes or Flintoff would make a better job - but not Boycott) travelling to Iran to open mediation talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Hassan Rohani, the Iranian president welcomed Suaid’s new push for peace and at the same conference Prime Minister Khan said "We are friends with both Iran and Saudi Arabi

It’s mediation awareness week and whilst I applaud the intent, I harbour doubts about the effectiveness, outside of our own industry and anywhere north of London you’ll struggle to know that this week occurs. All the events are London-centric, something which the CMC has bemoaned previously (just before having all conferences in London) and the list of all the events on the MAG website doesn’t help dispel the feeling that it’s an elite group. For the record we, mediators, are

I spent a couple of days in training this week (with the excellent Lesley Allport) and one of my favourite images we used was the attached. You’ll have gathered mediators need empathy, we care and hep out without getting involved in your dispute or trying to accept as ours the issues you may have, that’s sympathy, drowning alongside you, whereas apathy is up there on the beech not caring at all. Think of mediators as throwing you a lifeline but keeping their own position safe

I’ve been thinking a lot about the uniforms we wear whether actual or simply dress code in different situations, how we put on a different “uniform” depending on where we are and with whom we are dealing. My mother (the Revd J) always tells me how people react differently to her when she has her dog collar on as they recognise the “uniform” of a vicar, likewise when I’m in court or advising on legal matters I tend to wear suit and tie as a mark of respect for the client but

I will be singing Blame Canada for the rest of today as we start this week with an article from Canada dealing with why advanced mediation (by which we mean before issuing proceedings as opposed to some extra special high tech evolution of the process) is absolutely the way forward. Canada has a slightly different legal system to ours but the points made are all valid, in civil mediation and commercial mediation it is imperative to avoid lawyers. Doing so and going straight

So many songs about gold none about platinum, however we start with mediation news regarding the mining of the precious metal in South Africa. Mediation is being sought by employers to deal with the biggest mining union in SA who have declared strike action over pay. Anglo American Platinum Limited and Sibanye Gold Limited have said they want to try internal resolution first (always a good idea) but if that doesn’t work they will be able to turn to the country’s Commission fo

As the home based mediation this morning revolved around the question “why do you feel your wish for a lift to school with your friends takes precedence over your brother’s wish?” is ended by the win-win of “you can all walk” it’s good for their health, the planet in general and me, we have a quick jaunt further afield than Manchester to look at current mediation stories. Lots of US stories seem to start with “the county” taking issue with the “city”, I know it’s a convenient

Last week I talked about the three pillars of mediation Voluntary, Independent and Private (VIP) quite often you’ll also see me refer to cases where mediation has been “ordered” so that the voluntary element has been removed. That’s not quite true, it’s still a voluntary process, you don’t need to reach agreement through mediation (you should if you want to save time costs and stress but you don’t have to) the obligation in these circumstances is to attend. In this case the

There are said to be three pillars in mediation, sometimes shorthand refers to them as VIP, voluntary (at least theoretically), impartiality (of the mediator) and private (everything said and one is confidential off the record and without prejudice). Now a case in California (which has previously applied confidentiality in mediation as widely as possible even to the detriment of possible claims in negligence against legal advisers for advice given in mediation) says that even

I’ve been out and about the last few weeks working with employers and also having a short break in the Forest Of Dean (yes Cinderford, you should have mediated and not killed the bears). During my time off I’ve been considering the strengths of a mediator and today I was listening to Radio 4 discussing an interesting book by Mark O'Connell name called the “Courage of Ambivalence”. In a world which is increasingly bi-partisan it was good to hear Mark talking about the strength

It’s all international mediation news this week. The big two (China and the US) and fifty two other countries are prepared to sign a treaty which will make enforcing mediation settlements across borders easier. As we are forced by a minority government to move towards little Britain mentality it is good to see that other countries recognise that making sure mediation works across borders is incredibly important. “These are large economies. They have very big investments overs

I couldn’t resist referencing the Commander Of Cheese’s latest attempt to proclaim himself the great mediator, and causing more damage in the process. As a mediator you quickly learn that what and how you say anything to any prospective party is important, but suggesting you’ve been appointed by one party who then has to publish a denial is pretty much the worst I’ve seen. The Chief Cheeto made the comments while sat next to Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan. India has re

Independence from all parties, perceived or real, is a key element for the successful mediator, there are lots of tools like a Swiss Army Knife but let's have a look at neutrality and trust today. Neutrality is why I don’t mediate for clients of firms I work for because there is an obvious chance of bias, and if one party feels there is an unbalance in the neutrality of the mediator the mediation will fail. And whilst we are on Swiss Army Knives let's take a look at a case in