De stelling in deze aflevering van TvCR luidt: ‘Kabinetsformaties moeten voortaan aan een maximumtermijn worden onderworpen.’ Simon van Oort pleit tegen de stelling. Om kabinetsformaties vlotter te laten verlopen, zou de Tweede Kamer actiever gestalte moeten geven aan de figuur van controversieel-verklaring.

Hence it is always interesting to look across the ocean to enrich our thinking and practice in ADR with some fresh insights and perspectives from the USA. As an add-on to my book on Constructive conflict and dispute management (Constructief omgaan met conflicten en geschillen. Inleiding in probleemoplossend onderhandelen en bemiddelen, A.-L. Verbeke & G. Vervaeke, Boomjuridisch Antwerpen 2022, 173 p.; also published in TMD 2021 (25) 2, 14-149), I have requested three American good friends and colleagues of eminent standing in the field, to give a brief reflection on video on a topic of each one of the three chapters of the book. You can watch these interesting perspectives via the QR codes in this article.

In the first clip, related to the first chapter on communication, Professor of Practice at Harvard Law School Sheila Heen comments on some aspects of "Difficult Conversations", the best-selling book of which she is a co-author. On the second chapter on negotiation, we focus on the complex question when to negotiate, when to fight when your opposing party feels like a demon. Professor Robert H. Mnookin, author of the best-selling book "Bargaining with the Devil", is our expert guide in the second clip. He is the Williston Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, Director of the Harvard Negotiation Research Project and Emeritus Chair of PON, the famous Program On Negotiation at Harvard Law School. We conclude with comments on the third chapter on mediation, in the third video clip presented by Professor Carrie Menkel-Meadow, who is the Distinguished and Chancellor's Professor of Law at UC Irvine and Emerita A.B. Chettle, Jr. Professor of Dispute Resolution and Civil Procedure at Georgetown University Law Center.

Research has been conducted by Leiden Law School into the efficacy of an instrument based on insolvency practice, ‘Harvard negotiation’ and ‘serious gaming’ aiming at better conflict management in case of (near) bankruptcy. Business rescue workout simulation games were played at different places worldwide. Serious gaming provides insight in the complexity and dynamics of (informal) reorganizations. The research further confirms that the Harvard negotiation-principles and the INSOL International Statement of Principles for a Global approach to multi-creditor workouts may provide a useful contribution to the realization of a successful (international) financial restructuring. The intervention of skilled neutrals is often significative. More focus on communication, negotiation and cooperative dispute resolution is also consistent with the initiatives of legislators and policymakers which stimulate companies to restructure at an early stage of financial distress. These developments also make ADR-skills become of more relevance to (insolvency) professionals.

In deze bijdrage wordt besproken hoe partijen het beste resultaat kunnen halen uit een onderhandeling. Voorts worden de juridische aspecten van het onderhandelingsproces belicht en met name de positie en de werkwijze van de advocaat wanneer hij betrokken is bij het onderhandelingsproces tussen zijn cliënt en de wederpartij.

In February 2012 the Dutch student team took part in the 7th ICC International Commercial Mediation Competition. In their report they describe some of their experiences inter alia with the different negotiation styles practiced by the (other) student teams, particularly how a chosen style of negotiation may have a positive or negative impact on the mediation process. This was an important insight for a possibly new generation of mediators.

This article contains a report by the Dutch student team of its participation in the 6th ICC Mediation Competition in Paris.It gives an impression of the various mediation sessions, the mediation techniques used, what feedback was given, how the feedback was used in subsequent sessions, meetings with other students and teachers and a description of the general atmosphere.

The option of caucusing – i.e. one-on-one conversations between the mediator and one of the parties – is what makes mediation different from other types of conflict resolution. Both the view that all that is discussed in the caucus should remain confidential and the view that this should essentially be shared with the other party lead to suboptimal results. Economically inefficient outcomes caused by strategic actions by the parties can be avoided if the mediator communicates the information disclosed to him/her in the caucus to the other party in such a way (‘noisy translation’) that this other party cannot use this information to the disadvantage of the disclosing party.