ADR : An essential competency for lawyers

ADR : An essential competency for lawyersAlternative Dispute Resolution : An Essential Competency for Lawyers by Mark Partridge has been reviewed by Colm Brannigan on the Web Journal of Current Legal Issues. I know because Colm was kind enough to let me know he had quoted from this blog in his review.

Colm is a Canadian mediator, at the moment his site is being re-developed but it is normally at www.mediate.ca.

The book’s price tag may be a disincentive for many but Colm’s review is well worth a read and will help you decide if you can justify the outlay.

Turfed out for 3 inches

Neighbour dispute mediation can be exhausting. You are trying to deal with years of acrimonious wrangling over a dispute which, viewed dispassionately, seems to be completely out of proportion. I’ve been involved in cases where neighbours have filmed each other’s alleged transgressions resulting in the police being called out and further escalation. I have listened to litigants bemoaning their neighbour’s behaviour and sounding in the process like kids in a primary school playground. There is a passage in a land law text book that I like to show litigants; to paraphrase it says that getting involved in a legal dispute over neighbouring property is the easiest way to spend thousands on legal fees (this is no criticism of the lawyers by the way, who, contrary to a commonly held misapprehension, just want to help their clients find a swift, long term solution to the problem).

Emotive headlines

Well in this recently reported case it was a 3 inch strip of land that caused the original problem. The newspapers have lead their articles with emotive headlines like this from the Mirror website

Evicted over 3 inches of land: Milica, 79, forced out despite winning case

You start on Milica’s side of course but when you read the “reported facts” and you may well temper, if not completely change, your view. I saw the headline and thought it’s probably another good example of a case where both parties could have saved themselves a lot of money, stress and aggravation had they attempted an early mediation of the dispute. But do you know what, I think in this case it might just have been a waste of time and added to the already enormous legal costs. I haven’t seen the latest Court of Appeal ruling but a quick search showed the case has already been in that Court twice in 2002 and 2007!

When should you mediate?

There are three simple questions to ask to determine if it is the right time to mediate a case. Sometimes people do not want to settle. Well they have that right but they have to take responsibility for the consequences however severe.

New lawyers to have advantage in mediation

Mediation training should become an integral part of the education of new lawyers in the UK. Lord Neuberger calls for a change in attitude and understanding in University Law Departments and Law Schools.

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Position Statements made easy

Mediation position statements often do no more than repeat the pleadings – setting the parties up for a legal argument and not an interests based examination of the best solution. I have created a simple pro forma with guidance for creating more effective statements.

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UK Mediation Forum launched

The UK Mediation Forum is now up and running. I have had the idea of trying to get as much web based information about mediation presented in one place for a long time now - ...

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5 Senior Judges who support Mediation

Lord Jackson said most judges are making strenuous efforts to commend mediation. Here are a few examples form the senior judiciary.

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Jackson’s mediation proposals

Is Sir Rupert Jackson right when he says “Most lawyers and judges already make strenuous efforts to commend mediation.”? Is producing a mediation handbook the best way to promote mediation?

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Gender bias in ADR

Link to articles posted in celebration if Women’s History Month

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Indemnity costs for failing to mediate

High Court Judge punishes the RSPCA for failing to mediate or use other forms of ADR in dispute over a will.

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The mediation archive

A review of posts on this website from a year ago, February 2009. Featuring a look at autistic hostility and the challenge of lawyers and mediators regarding each other as partners in dispute resolution.

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