With the continued backlog of cases mediation is even more so now than ever the best choice to find a resolution for your dispute. Get your dispute resolved now while you can’t go anywhere you can really concentrate on what’s important and what deserves your time and energy.
Northwest Mediation continues to use Zoom, Skype and FaceTime as well as the phone and emails to resolve disputes should we add we also do live in person mediation too! So please do not feel that you cannot contact us if you would like to mediate but wish to do so remotely.
Did I really start last blog with “every set back is an opportunity”? Well I guess I wasn’t expecting the visit from Covid to be my set back, can’t say it has given me much opportunity other than to lose all sense of taste and smell and have eye infections. Hopefully these won’t last and become what my mother has encouragingly predicted “sounds like you’re stuck with long covid”!
Anyway, that’s why you missed a blog last week, I didn’t want to sweat into the keyboard.
So what did I miss in the world of mediation?
Well first off success in alternative dispute in Nigeria where the government has settled it’s long running dispute with foreign investors (Global Steel) via the international court of arbitration.
Special Assistant (Media and Public Relations) in the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation, Umar Gwandu said “Nigeria succeeded in reducing the claim in mediation brought by the international firm of King and Spalding, legal representatives of the Global group, by 91 per cent. A claim for over $10 billion was threatened in arbitration before the International Chamber of Commerce, International Court of Arbitration, Paris, in respect of five major contracts of 2004-2007 – covering steel, iron ore, and rail”
There had been a previous settlement in 2013 but the then administration failed to deliver on the agreed terms and so Global Steel had to take them back to court.
Sometimes you reach agreement and then the person at the top changes and decides not to honour a deal, in a mediation settlement in civil cases I always ensure the agreement is a contract enforceable at law so the party seeking remedy can simply issue for breach (or of course come back to mediation provided the breach has been due to a genuine reason and not bad faith).
Hardly a shock to anyone who reads this regularly (other than me who are you?) but in Oz the growth of mediator as profession and career is now being recognised as the use of a nationally applied accreditation scheme has been rolled out from 2020.
I have some belief we will eventually go down this route (it will come up in next week’s webcasts with the CMC no doubt) so that all civil mediators have the same training process. Part of me is resistant variation of style is necessary in mediation it should be different from legal practice in that it needs to be flexible both in how it is done but also who it is done by.
I was speaking to some clergy a few weeks ago and it is clear they do good work in mediation but they’re not going to be getting accredited and they shouldn’t be stopped.
Having a badge was for me important I like being FMC/CMC recognised it gives clients some idea of who I am but I began mediating long before I trained and got badged.
Speaking of enforcing breaches in Delhi it has been confirmed that whichever court approved a mediation settlement you can enforce in another court if the matter comes before a recognised judicial authority then the court can make a determination.
That’s a fairly broad interpretation of this case so take a chance to read it as well.
Of course here an agreement in mediation if reached in proceedings will normally be in the terms of a Tomlin order and the court where the matter was to be heard is where you would go to enforce but not necessarily.
The three pillars of mediation remain it’s voluntary (except apparently when it won’t be anymore), it’s confidential, the mediator is independent, by using those pillars to support your work the parties keep control, save costs, save time and energy and reduce stress. Finally this one is mediation, mediator jointly appointed, areas of discussion agreed and intention to be bound by the outcome.
In person or via electronic media as we’ve said before choose to mediate early and resolve your issues effectively, timeously, and with less stress and costs than going to your solicitor so you can get out choose a different path, not quite the road less travelled but perhaps the path less adversarial. You have an interest in the outcome the sooner you get round the mediation table the quicker you can move forward and avoid the grilling a cross examination in court would put you through.
By having a deep and meaningful discussions with parties the mediator elicits what the true “red-lines” are and where there is the potential for compromise, it is with this structured period of reflection that the parties are then able to reach an accord.
The flexible nature of mediation and the possible outcomes make it an ideal way to resolve disputes in an ever-changing world and the open nature of discussions in mediation whilst remaining confidential allows all sides to engage fully in the process and understand the needs of all involved allowing parties to reach a conclusion which both sides can live with and move on.
There are so many situations which could have been resolved by early intervention of mediation it continues to surprise me the lengths the public will go to avoid referral.
Whether you need a mediator to help out with a construction matter in the Northwest, or council’s plans in Cheshire, a civil mediator in London, a commercial mediator in Manchester, a dispute resolution for your family in Liverpool, a neighbourhood mediation in Stockport, then our mediators at Northwest Mediation can help.
Mediation is cheaper, quicker and less stressful than running any case to court, it can help with any dispute whether it's an employment issue or the sale at an under value of a property, a fight with a neighbour, family issues, commercial disputes, civil mediation or inheritance, wills and probate arguments contact me at Northwest Mediation on 07931318347 or via email at ed.johnson@northwestmediation.co.uk
neighbour mediation; commercial dispute resolution; civil mediation; commercial dispute; corporate dispute; commercial mediator; family mediation; inheritance wills probate mediation; property mediator; civil mediator; civil litigation; fast track mediation; injury mediation
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