The 16th meeting of the World Mediation Forum of the UIA was held in Lisbon, Portugal, on January 27-28, 2012. It was very well attended, as the attached attendance sheet attests. Co-President Colin Wall noted that attendees came from 31 countries.
A panel on mandatory mediation brought out some interesting recent developments, including a game-changer in Italy. Read more »
Molly Klapper’s book Definitive Creative Impasse-Breaking Techniques in Mediation features an insightful and practical contribution by Dwight Golann about “insulting” opening offers or demands. He suggests why they are made, how they can be conveyed by a mediator, and how they can be converted to useful negotiations.
The second post on Molly Klapper’s book, Definitive Creative Impasse-Breaking Techniques in Mediation, focuses on a deceptively simple and profoundly wise short essay by Laura Kaster, Addressing Impasse by Helping the Parties Value the Case. She opens her piece with a “much overlooked but obvious” point: “Settling or mediating a case is, among other things, a process for agreeing to the value of the claim. … Impasse often occurs precisely because the parties do not agree on the value of the case.”
Just before Molly Klapper’s recent and much-mourned death, the New York State Bar Association released a wonderful book she had worked hard to edit: Definitive Creative Impasse-Breaking Techniques in Mediation. The volume contains many useful contributions from extraordinarily accomplished mediators and trainers. This and the following posts will highlight some of the best ones.
