This article tells the story of University of Strathclyde Mediation Clinic through the eyes of its founder. Taking its first case in 2012, by the start of 2021 it will be providing a free mediation service in 16 of Scotland’s 39 sheriff courts, covering more than half the country’s population. Yet it started with no plan, no budget and a few volunteers. The article makes the case that mediation clinics, like mediation itself, call for improvisation, coining the term ‘pracademia’ to describe how such clinics straddle the two worlds of practice and theory.

Following a retrospective of the road towards the Convention, incorporating some Singaporean inside views, the authors provide a detailed analysis of the envisaged grounds for refusal of mediated settlements. The authors also highlight various issues around the very concept, and proof, of mediation. These issues are fundamental, as only settlements ensuing from mediation are covered. Another significant aspect is the absence of any provisions pertaining to the status of agreements to mediate, the contract situated at the entry side of mediation.

The Parenting examination (in Dutch: ouderschapsonderzoek) is a method that is used in high-conflict divorces in the Netherlands since 2008, whereby the court appoints a forensic expert who uses mediation and coaching techniques to support the parents to find a solution for their dispute. When parents fail to reach agreement, the forensic expert reports to the judge who can use this information to make a decision. This article discusses the results of two studies that have been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the Parenting examination in practice.

On 23 April 2018, the Belgian Ministry of Labour, together with a consortium of 12 European research institutes, held a symposium on the current state of the art and best practices for conciliation and mediation in collective labour conflicts within the European Union, and particularly in Belgium. The symposium was organized for two occasions. First, the 50st anniversary of the Belgium law, providing mediation services by the Ministry of Labour to prevent and mediate in collective labour conflicts. Second, the presentation of the results of an EU (DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion) sponsored project in 12 EU member states.
The management of collective labour conflicts is in all countries regulated differently. The study shows that also practices of third party intervention differ largely. Most countries differentiate conciliation (a relative informal process of facilitated negotiation), mediation (usually defined as a strong involvement of the third party, who gives recommendations to the parties), and arbitration. Mediators typically are not trained, certified or registered as mediators in most countries. In all countries there is a large potential for conciliation, particularly in early stages of conflict (preventive mediation), as well as in rebuilding of trust after conflict episodes. More details in open access book: Mediation in collective labor conflicts (Springer, 2018).

This article provides a preliminary analysis of the 622 responses to a questionnaire conducted in the context of Maryam Salehijam’s PhD research which focuses on commercial parties’ agreement to mediate/conciliate. The questionnaire targeted ADR professionals and experts with experience in drafting, inserting, or enforcing dispute resolution clauses that provide for non-binding ADR mechanisms. Some of the key findings include that it is still not very common for commercial contracts to conclude agreements to mediate/conciliate. This begs the question of why the parties and/or their legal advisors do not conclude such agreements as regularly as agreements to arbitrate. Moreover, the questionnaire confirmed that there is widespread practice in contract drafting to copy and paste dispute resolution clauses. This practice is shocking in light of the rising number of cases in which the parties dis­agree regarding the binding nature of their dispute resolution clause.

Despite the positive development of the European Mediation Directive and its translation in the German Mediation Law, in 2014 only 1.5% of the cases in court proceedings at the lower German courts were referred to court mandated conciliation or mediation proceedings. Against this background and in the context of a broader ten years research project, PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Institute of Conflict Management at the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) initiated a series of studies in 2005. This series was recently concluded with the fifth study conducted end of 2015 and published in October 2016. In addition to assessing the overall corporate landscape in Germany with regard to commercial dispute resolution, the study also considered the future developments and the required changes for further advancing this field.

Taking the recent European Commission’s Report on the application of Mediation Directive 2008/52/EC as a starting point, the authors set out to reconstruct the pattern of ADR/mediation activities undertaken by the EU and the Council of Europe over the past 40 years. The authors conclude that the European initiatives have been conducive to a broadening and deepening of the ADR debate. Remarkable shifts can be observed in the emphasis placed by the European agencies during this period, notably a shift from emancipatory to efficiency-based arguments. The inherent coupling of private mediation and public adjudication entails risks however for each of these distinct conflict resolution strategies. The authors call for advanced research designs to generate the data needed for a genuine evidence-based policy in this domain.

This research aims to explore empirically (method: questionnaire) the usefulness of mediation as a technique of external conflict management in the event of a family business transfer. More specifically, the research intents to verify if the conditions of application, the consequences and the benefits of mediation as described in general literature apply to the context of a family business (transfer), since Prince underlined 25 years ago that research is required to develop: ‘a system of intervention that employs the concepts, techniques, and logic of mediation that apply to the unique aspects of family business’. Results of the own research showed that mediation was an adequate technique of external conflict management in the context of a family business transfer and that it was more successful than consulting, defined as other techniques of external conflict management, in the researched cases. Furthermore, the research found indications that mediation is an adequate technique beyond the researched cases.

In this article the authors compare Belgian and Dutch (draft) regulation of mass damage claims, and notably the prominent place reserved for the collective amicable settlement of such claims. Though collective action for the recovery of damage is still not possible in the Netherlands, Dutch law does provide for the possibility of the court endorsing collectively agreed settlements, since 2005. One of most notorious settlements, i.e. the Dexia case, is discussed, illustrating how individual victims may retain their standing to sue in court, although in such cases the courts show a tendency to cling to the terms of the collective settlement just the same (‘reflex effect or shadow of the settlement’). Mediation in brokering such high profile settlements does not necessarily follow the vested principles of mediation in ‘regular’ one to one disputes.

ADR in Kenya is traceable to the pre-colonial era. Before colonial rule, African communities applied traditional justice systems in the resolution of disputes. Some of these traditional justice systems are what are formally called ADR. It is through the imposition of formal justice systems by the British that certain ADR mechanisms were recognised in Kenya. In recent times, ADR is one of the commonly used avenues in accessing justice in Kenya. ADR in Kenya is growing at an unprecedented rate courtesy of its recognition in law, inaccessibility of courts and tribunals, backlog of cases and increased commercial activities requiring the use of ADR processes. Consequently, there are efforts by government and the private sector aimed at promoting ADR in Kenya. These efforts suggest that the future of ADR in Kenya is promising. In this article, the authors discuss the growth, development and practice of ADR in Kenya highlighting some of the likely challenges and opportunities in its use.

Colombia has been a territory with some social and political difficulties which have affected several dynamics of the community as well as the legal security in almost all levels of the Colombian society. The alternative dispute resolution mechanisms arise as a response for all the gaps that such circumstances produce in the country and as useful tools to solve numerous disputes in different fields. The Chamber of Commerce of Bogotá, through its Arbitration and Conciliation Center founded in 1983, is making a permanent bet to support the Colombian citizens’ coexistence in the schools, in the neighbourhoods, in the companies that provide jobs as well as benefits to the city and to the whole country. Clever strategies have been developed through the years with three purposes: change the culture about the alternative dispute resolution methods, provide confidence in using them and change the way the people manage their conflicts.

The article looks at the background to the use of mediation as a tool for resolving tax disputes between the UK tax authorities (HMRC) and UK taxpayers. It explains HMRC's litigation and settlement strategy which comprises the broad structure within which HMRC must operate to resolve such disputes. It then looks at specific guidance published by HMRC dealing with ADR and mediation in particular. The operational elements of this guidance, and the authors practical experience of them are then described, as are their views, with the limitations of the process. Finally the authors look at the application of ADR in the international arena.

This paper is a combination of the ‘Oxford study 2012’ (C. Hodges, I. Benöhr & N. Creutzfeldt-Banda, Consumer ADR in Europe, Oxford: Hart Publishing 2012) and subsequent publications about consumer dispute resolution in Europe. Recent EU legislation aims to establish a EU-wide framework for consumer alternative dispute resolution (CADR or CDR) schemes and a platform for online dispute resolution (ODR). This forces member states to revisit their existing CDR models and in some cases, to modernize their structures. Many member states face challenges of reform of existing systems by the directives implementation date of 2015. This paper will provide an overview of CDR, the development of current legislation and discuss some national examples. The paper concludes with comments about implementation of the directive and potential future direction.

Disputes are part of a company’s daily business reality, involving a broad range of internal and external stakeholders. As disputes may have significant consequences in terms of costs and damages, it is crucial that disputes are managed in a ‘wise’ manner. In this context, PwC and the Institute of Conflict Management at the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) initiated a broader ten years research project. The fourth and most recent survey was published in October 2013 and examines the question of how dispute management can be established as a means of value based corporate governance. The survey describes how disputes can be successfully managed by employing a professional framework and associated tools.

Giuseppe De Palo and Romina Canessa give a description of the recent publication of a study conducted for the European Parliament on Mediation, ‘Rebooting the Mediation Directive: Assessing the Limited Impact of its Implementation and Proposing Measures to Increase the Number of Mediations in the EU’, has contributed to the ongoing debate about effective mediation policy. The Study concluded that despite an increase in mediation awareness and the proven benefits it can have, mediation still remains largely unused as a method of dispute resolution.