This article focuses on the different outcomes of mediation when starting at various moments in the divorce process. The assumption was that conflicts would escalate more the later the mediation began and as a consequence would affect the results of the mediation. This assumption was confirmed by research data. Not only is the chance of reaching agreement higher early in the divorce process, parties are also more satisfied with the mediation, regardless of the outcome. These results advocate referral to mediation in an early stage. However, referral to mediation should also be possible in a later stage.

The legally trained divorce mediator, ‘the officer of the court’, can use the law as a frame of reference for his conduct, but the psychologically trained divorce mediator, ‘the healer of the family’ has no such device. His primary tools are techniques to improve the communication skills of parties, their decision-making process and respecting systemic regularities, in particular where it concerns the interests of the children, i.e. visitation rights.Divorce mediators without legal training are hampered by the absence of a clear frame of reference. They are susceptible to subjective interpretations of events, counter-transference phenomena and partiality. The divorce mediator is himself his most important instrument, but also the most vulnerable.

From 22 to 25 October 2009 the conference ‘Reflections and Visions: Celebrating Past, Present and Future’ was held in Minneapolis under the auspices of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals. Amongst the speakers were Daniel Shapiro focussing on emotions in negotiations, Gary Friedman dealing with self-reflection by collaborative professionals, and Jennifer Lerner discussing the role of emotions when taking decisions.

In this report the author gives his personal impression of his involvement with the development of mediation in Rumania inter alia by training and educating aspirant mediators.

In companies people work together intensively, especially in family run companies. In such a situation, the interests (income, capital and employment) can be enormous when parties fail to live up to each others expectations.How to deal with situations when parties are in a dead-lock and the continuity of the business is at stake? Depending on the legal form of the company and the type of conflict, there are different legal actions to settle a (legal) conflict. However, there are so many rules and different procedures for each type of legal form, that it may dazzle the reader. Moreover, these procedures may take a long time, while the parties in a family dead-lock desire an expert/arbiter/mediator proceeding expeditiously.In a sense a marriage is also a family run company. The following experiences from the area of family law are described: the processes of a divorce, the break-up announcement (the opposite of the marriage proposal), the experiment in court with the so-called regierechter in family cases, the prenuptial agreement and the plan for parenthood after a divorce. Our conclusion is that in case of a dead-lock, parties need to have a good set of rules on the settlement of disputes, to find a qualified expert/arbiter/mediator having knowledge and experience in financial/tax/pension/legal matters and familiar with dealing with emotions in a deadlock.

In this contribution media and other instruments which may contribute to the improvement of the life of parents and children during and after divorce are discussed. One such instrument is the film ‘What is mediation?”. The project was carried out by the Centre Education Daycare (Vormingscentrum Opvoeding Kinderopvang) and supported by the Flemish government and the King Boudewijn Foundation.

In their contribution ‘Employment and ICMS’, Rob Jagtenberg and Annie de Roo discuss the yields that an integrated conflict management system may bring to individual workers, to the company or organisation, and to society as a whole. Few organisations have adopted ICMS as yet. Therefore, the authors analyse the resistance against introduction of ICMS in some detail, especially resistance on the part of management, which likely will be decisive.Recent developments in the world economy and in politics however, may change the leverage in favour of introducing ICMS still, in the years to come.

In Dutch case law mediation has become a common phenomenon. Therefore, recent cases focussed on fundamental aspects of mediation are discussed.

If a patient is not satisfied with any aspects of health care, he or she can file a complaint. In the Netherlands, as in other countries, there are several ways for handling patients’ complaints. One of the possibilities is to lodge a complaint with the medical disciplinary board. In 1997, the Individual Health Care Professions Act came into force. The main goals of this Act are to promote the quality of professional practice and to protect patients against unprofessional health care professionals.In 2008 research was undertaken into the experiences of patients (or others acting on behalf of them) with the disciplinary procedure. A sample of both complainants and practitioners against whom a complaint was lodged were interviewed about their expectations and experiences. The main conclusion is that for several reasons both parties are dissatisfied with the current procedure. This paper provides an overview of the outcome of the interviews. In addition, some concrete proposals are made regarding the improvement of the current disciplinary procedure.

In een redactioneel artikel geeft de redactie een toelichting op het tijdschriftnummer in kwestie.

CEPINA, the Belgian Centre for Arbitration and Mediation recently published special mediation rules for the resolution of IT disputes. The most important rules are discussed. Also the background of this initiative is highlighted.

In this contribution some aspects of the pluralistic society and its impact on mediation are discussed. For that purpose, first the focus is in on what is generally understood by ‘culture’ and ‘conflict’, followed by a description of communication problems that might arise in (mediation)situations with a particular cultural dimension. Next the question is posed to what extent a mediator should be susceptible for cultural dimensions in conflicts to perform his job well. And if he is prepared to do so, what pitfalls and challenges he should be prepared for?

In the Netherlands the interest in collaborative divorce, collaborative mediation is growing. On 17 October 2008 the Vereniging Collaborative Divorce Holland (Association of Collaborative Divorce Holland) was established. One of its activities is the organization of training in collaborative divorce, mediation. The main findings of the first training program which took place on 19, 20 and 21 January 2009 are discussed in this report.

In this contribution the focus is on whether mediation, as it is practiced today, can be regarded as a profession and if so, whether it belongs to the ‘new’ or ‘old’ professions. In an attempt to answer this question the structure of the body of knowledge and the predictability of the outcomes of the application of that body of knowledge are discussed.

This article deals with confidentiality in mediation proceedings. Confidentiality is considered to be one of the key advantages of mediation. Usually the parties agree that they will not be compelled to produce evidence concerning the mediation, nor call the mediator as a witness in case of subsequent judicial proceedings. However, it is not sure how the court in civil judicial proceedings will handle such an agreement. The court will have to balance the interests of confidentiality and establishing the truth. In some cases it is clear that the court should not respect the confidentiality agreement, for example when there is an obligation to disclose evidence of a criminal offence. In other cases there might be proper grounds to let the confidentiality prevail, but there is no guarantee that the court will respect the confidentiality agreement. As part of the implementation of the European directive on mediation Member States are obliged to adopt provisions about admissibility of evidence in civil judicial proceedings in order to protect certain aspects of confidentiality of mediation proceedings.