Contemporary Issues in Mediation

The following sections are included:

• Contents
• Foreword for the Series By William Ury
• About the Editors
• Editors’ Note
• About the CIIM Essay Competition

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Mediation and family violence
• Finding a safer haven?
• Conclusion

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Overview
• Mandatory nature of mediation
• The current model of mediation
• Procedural improvements to the system of mediation
• Conclusion
• Annex 1
• Annex 2
• Amendment of rule 2

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Analysis
• Conclusion

With the advent of the mediation movements in the 1990s, Singapore’s legal landscape has transformed and taken warmly to this form of Alternative Dispute Resolution (“ADR”). At first glance, it seems almost a perfect fit given the cultural aversion to contentious forms of dispute resolution. However does this broad cultural fit carry over to the debate circulating mandatory mediation given the centrality of voluntariness in the mediation process? This essay thus seeks to examine the extent arguments against “mandatory mediation” may be blunted in Singapore’s cultural context given greater likelihood of compatibility the nation has with mediation. Further, given that inherent culture is limited, it argues that appropriate nuances in the approach to mandatory mediation has been and continues to be employed to shape culture in a manner that serves (rather than hinders) the progress of mediation as a desirable form of ADR in Singaporeans’ consciousness. In essence, it seeks to contextualise mandatory mediation critiques in the Singapore context and in turn offer a bird’s eye view of how it has been employed locally.

This is an age of Alternative Dispute Resolution (“ADR”). It is now the duty of lawyers in many countries to advise clients on ADR. Unequivocal judicial pronouncement of such a duty can be found in Halsey v Milton Keynes General NHS Trust (“Halsey”), where Lord Justice Dyson said, “[a]ll members of the legal profession who conduct litigation should now routinely consider with their clients whether their disputes are suitable for ADR”.

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Conclusory remarks — potential deficiencies and moving forward

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Improv, NLP and Jazz — The ideas and the origins
• Mediation as a hybrid art form
• Exercising Improv — Use of creative cognition for better mediation results
• Conclusion

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Scope
• Benefits of caucus mediation
• Benefits of conference mediation
• Benefits of adopting the best of both approaches
• Conclusion

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Definition of neutrality
• Dynamics of power in mediation
• Unpacking the paradox of neutrality and power
• Resolving the paradox
• The way forward: neutrality as mediator equidistance
• Conclusion

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• The Mediation Ordinance
• Proposed apology ordinance
• Conclusion

The following section is included:

• End Notes