Rock, Paper, Scissors Alternate Dispute Resolution

Recently a federal judge from Orlando, Florida, brought the children’s game of Rock, Paper, Scissors commonly known in Japan as Janken-pon じゃんけんぽんto national attention...

An Agreement that lasts 1000 years?

I had often thought about how long an Agreement could literally (well at least in a physical sence) last ...

One of the earliest recorded peace treaties was concluded between the Hittite and Egyptian empires after the ca.1274 BC Battle of Kadesh. Egypt and the Hittites with Ramesses II captured the city of Kadesh and Amurru in his 8th year as king.

The peace treaty was recorded in two versions, one in Egyptian hieroglyphs, the other in Akkadian, using cuneiform script; fortunately, both versions survive ... and actual longivity agreement? Well it crumbled away like the treaty....

Between Scylla and Charybdis

We are constantly faced parties at mediation having to take critical decisions. Not always can the parties have their cake and eat it, rather it

will be an either/or choice. Are all decisions are taken from the angle of benefit?

If the choice is between Scylla and Charybdis*, is it fair to assume parties generally tend to opt for the lesser evil? Alternatively, if there is a choice between several favourable options, subjectively, the more advantageous one is likely to be chosen.

*Scylla and Charybdis (where the term ‘between a rock and a hard place’ comes from) were mythical sea monsters. Scylla the six-headed sea monster on the Italian side of the strait and Charybdis was a whirlpool monster off the coast of Sicily. They were located close enough to each other that they posed an inescapable threat to the intrepid leader Odysseus and his sailors; avoiding Charybdis meant passing too close to Scylla and vice versa. According to the mythology, Odysseus was warned about the impending danger to him and his sailors by Zeus the ‘father of gods and men’ and that he had to choose which monster to confront while passing through the strait; he opted to pass by Scylla and lose only a few sailors, but decided not tell his sailors about the imminent peril rather than risk a mutiny or even worse, the loss of his entire ship in the whirlpool.

Can mediation be used for everything?

An interesting question was raised today at a seminar ... can mediation be used for every type of dispute?
Much is available on-line about where it can be used. Between School Kids - yes; Between a convicted murder and the victims family - yes; mining company and indigenous people - yes; between 2 political parites - shoud happen more often; between two warring nations - yes; Mel Gibson and his ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva - you bet!

So when is it just not possible to set up a mediation?

Confidentiality and the integrity of mediation

Should there be more legislation to mandate mediation confidentiality?

Or...should the focus be placed on mediator quality assurance and consumer protection through National Accreditation rather than further than punitive measures?

Again - this is not to be considered legal advice... read on.

Is a Mediation Agreement a 'Legally Binding' Agreement?

So you think you are on the home stretch having endured a marathon mediation session and the parties have reached heads of agreement they think they can all live with - now the parties are now seeking to formalise the agreement in writing.

You write down the parties names on the top of the agreement and in dot points you write down the terms of the settlement whilst being careful to use their words as much as possible.

Then comes the question from one of the parties  - "is this agreement we are drafting legally enforceable?"

As this is a legal question - I concede my response is a bit heavy