Northwest Mediation
Commercial Mediation and Individual Dispute Resolution

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

I think it’s well known I’m no fan of the Commander of Cheese so it won’t take you as a shock that I find his approach to immigration nothing short of inhuman, the recent photograph of the father and daughter Oscar Alberto Martinez and Angie Valeria bringing home to many the desperation of those trying to gain access to the US. And although it’s difficult to say I’m pleased to report the move by District Judge Dolly M. Gee to order the federal government into mediation over t

Spoilers ahead for Game of Thrones:- In the much anticipated (by some) final episode of the HBO series (which received mixed reviews) Bran (now titled “the Broken”) doesn’t want to be king and appoints a reluctant Tyrion as his Hand. You don’t need to have read any of the books or seen the series to recognise that in this situation it feels like everybody loses (except HBO) and that is the antithesis of what mediation aims for, both parties unhappy with the outcome. Now I’m n

I was all ready to get on my high horse and start shouting when I read the title of this article, however the second paragraph took the wind out of the sails of the SS Righteous Indignation as Conna A Weiner says “I posit that requiring business parties on the brink of litigation to hit a controlled mediation pause button with the help of a business-oriented mediator and the right process and participants almost always makes sense”. Thank goodness for that I can now read thi

In the far east Vietnam’s the Supreme People’s Court is drafting a law to strengthen the use of mediation and dialogue at court. The draft order will include all civil cases, family as expected but also (as Northwest Mediation deals) business, trade, industrial relations and administrative cases. The law will require the parties to engage in mediation before allowing proceedings to move forward to a court hearing and then only if the parties agree. Which makes it sounds like

A quick roundup of the pre-Easter mediation news including some eggcellent steps to deal with a landlord and tenant crisis from which the UK government could take lessons. A report conducted by the Grad Valley State University College of Community and Public Service (!) and School of Criminal Justice in association with Michigan mediation centres and courts has confirmed that the outcome in child protection cases produce is improved by use of mediation. The high court in Mich

The proposed changes to no fault divorce have been doing the rounds for long before I began my legal training (back before Woolf in the days of green books and stage 1 costs), but this time does there seem to be more of an impetus for the government to actually get something on the statute books? We are now only nominally a Christian country, we are far more a progressive inclusive society, does marriage need the “protection” of making an unhappy couple wait two years (at bes

I spotted the headline using the phrases “ESP” and “mediation” and thought “yeah you’re right you do sometimes feel like you need a sixth sense to work things out in a mediation”. Whether it’s an awareness of body language, the inflexion in a response or the look in a client’s eye that tells you something needs more comment or investigation to find a way forward these are all signs an experienced mediator like ours at Northwest Mediation are trained to spot and can work with,

There are hundreds of missed opportunities for mediation in the UK, set out below are some instances where the acceptance of the benefits of the process is clear to people and businesses around the world. Time and costs savings are at the forefront of the drive towards mediation in Singapore. To answer the increased demand the Singapore Contractors Association (SCAL) has established the Singapore Construction Mediation Centre (SCMC). 24 senior construction officers and CEOs a

Whilst Northwest Mediation can’t calm Storm Gareth (named after my brother) which currently rages outside and hasn’t been asked to help Parliament with its struggles with what next for Brexit we can help pour oil on troubled waters in many other ways. Northwest Mediation has been helping business and individual clients for four years reach settlements they can live with and move forward. As with Brexit many disputes that arrive at our door start with an examination of what’s

Road traffic personal injury claims were where I cut my teeth as a young lawyer, in the years since I’ve often wondered why mediation is so little used in all forms of personal injury claims, I’d used round tables and informal mediation on numerous occasions leading up to the final decision to change role and become a mediator. So it’s no surprise that in New Delhi that a quorum led by Justice A.K. Sikri (who also stepped down from the Supreme Court this week) has asked law m

Land and property mediation takes up a lot of time and effort, if you look on the Case Studies page you’ll see one case I was tangentially involved in where the plot involved was about the size of a shed but the costs ended up being in excess of 40,000 because the parties did not go to mediation, and still had to live next door to each other. And so in New Delhi where the Supreme Court has ordered the parties in the Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case attend mediat

The union Unite (the US one not the one over here) and Prospect are going into mediation with State of Jersey’s employment board to resolve their long standing pay dispute. There have been protests by nurses and teachers last week (on Saturday so as not to interrupt school) over the below inflation pay settlement thus far offered. As with many employment issues it often takes drastic action for people to take notice of problems which may have been simmering away for many year

Mental health used to be something we didn’t talk about for fear of prejudice, humiliation and rejection. It is undeniable there is still a stigma attached to illnesses which have no visible or medically identifiable physical cause, I know from my own experience that people, including very senior professionals who should know better, are prepared to refer to your “alleged illness” or are willing to dismiss such illnesses with a perfunctory nod and a (sometimes well intention