Public Policy Section
One of the Primary Recommendations of the Mediate.com Task Force on Online Mediation is to update mediation practice and ethical standards to fully embrace online mediation. In response, the Mediate.com Board of Directors has now formally adopted the Task Force's Recommended Practice Standards for Online Mediation. Conflict in the workplace is inevitable when people with different values and opinions come together. The Mediate.com Online Mediation Task Force is holding a free Forum on Friday, September 24 to review the Task Force's Final Online Mediation Report, Recommendations and Resources. Space is limited, so register early! It is difficult to understand anything fully until we recognize its limits -- the places where it falls apart, or miraculously comes together -- where it begins and ends, or transforms into something entirely different. Why talk about negotiation tactics, manipulative moves designed to slant an outcome in one side’s favor more than the other, based on “tricks” or gamesmanship versus merit? Providing Florida LEP Individuals Meaningful Access to Mediation: Bilingual Mediator Guidance on Standards of Conduct. Vulnerability as quoted from THE vulnerability researcher Brene Brown “is not winning or losing, it’s having the courage to show up even when you can’t control the outcome”. I read a Mediation Agreement that struck me as odd, perhaps unenforceable, maybe even unethical Earlier this month, Gary Friedman, co-founder of the Center for Understanding in Conflict, of Santa Rosa, Calif., conducted a video breakfast roundtable titled “Inside Out: Confessions of a Mediator in Politics.” I think it might be time for a refresher on ADA Mediation, * a topic I have written and trained on frequently – but not for a while now. This index of resources is intended to assist readers to conveniently identify and access specific portions of the Mediate.com Online Mediation Task Force Report that are of the greatest interest. Here are Committee Reports, Recommendations and Resources from the Mediate.com Online Mediation Task Force Final Report. In addition to the many Committee Recommendations, the Task Force’s Executive Committee offers these 8 Primary Task Force Recommendations to support the field of mediation fully embracing online mediation and online mediation training: “Advocacy is a conscious act of support, expressed by speaking or writing on behalf of another person, an idea, a cause or a policy.” As we gradually emerge from the dark cloud of the pandemic, conversations among mediators have shifted and we are now wondering whether we want to return to in person mediation, whether we will try a hybrid approach or whether we will continue to virtual mediation. Harvard’s PONS defined vividness bias as “…the tendency to overweight the vivid and prestigious attributes of a decision, such as a salary or an employer’s status, and underweight less impressive issues, such as location or rapport with colleagues.” While a population that distrusts organized government and veers towards private handlings of delicate matters might seem perfectly primed to welcome mediation into its dispute resolution culture, Russian intelligencia first brought mediation to the forefront of legislative consideration in the 21st century, with legislation authorizing the use of mediation in Russia only being passed in 2011. At the request of Mediate.com, a small group of US-based public policy and large group mediators/mediation trainers met online during the winter/spring of 2021 to consider best practices and ideas to enhance online training and practice. This report summarizes our ideas and recommendations for ourselves, our colleagues and Mediate.com. In November 2020, Mediate.com approached D.G. Mawn of the National Association for Community Mediation (NAFCM) to facilitate a national think tank regarding possible support Mediate.com may wish to consider which would strengthen and broaden the impact of community mediation through on-line access. The exact charge was: Develop best-practice recommendations for Mediate.com regarding their online services so they best support the field of community mediation to embrace and offer online mediation services and utilize and benefit from basic and ongoing online mediation training. With COVID19 cases rocketing once again, old questions return. We are all inescapably affected by the behaviors of others on this so we have to work out the answers with other people around us. Recently, I discussed an empirical study conducted by University of Hawaii Professor Justin D. Levinson and Mark Bennett, U. S. District Judge (ret.) on 239 sitting federal and state judges regarding their implicit bias towards “largely favored minority groups”. This Article confirms what many dispute resolution professionals have long feared – that alternative dispute resolution (ADR) processes, such as mediation and arbitration, are still not well understood by the general public. FOI Alyson Carrel (Northwestern) and LCSW Jasmine Atwell (Loyola ‘JD22) recently discussed Sharon Press and Ellen Deason’s new article, “Mediation: Embedded Assumptions of Whiteness?.” How do you respond to conflict? It is very personal, and is based on millions of experiences that have shaped each person. Earlier this month, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law adopted the UNCITRAL Mediation Rules, the UNCITRAL Notes on Mediation, and the Guide to Enactment and Use of the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Mediation and International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation.
Public Policy & Environmental Articles
Mediate.com Online Mediation Practice and Ethical Standards Adopted
Conflict in the Workplace – Mediation Can Make Your Team More Efficient
Register for Free Sept. 24 Forum on Final Report of Online Mediation Task Force
The Limits of Mediation
Negotiation Tactics: How They Work and How to Protect Yourself and Your Client from Them
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
Vulnerability for the WIN!
Mediator Ethics: Should You Ask for a Waiver of Liability?
‘Understanding’ Mediator Gary Friedman on His Adventure in Politics
ADA Mediation Refresher
Paths Forward for Online Mediation - Index of Resources
Paths Forward for Online Mediation - Committee Reports, Recommendations & Resources
Paths Forward for Online Mediation - 8 Primary Recommendations
Mediation Advocacy: A must for law students in India
Seeing the Future by Knowing the Past
Vividness Bias: Real or Illusory?
Mediation in Russia
Effective Online Mediation Training For Public Policy And Large Group Mediators
Virtual Interpersonal Community Mediation: NAFCM Think Tank Report
Use This Tool to Talk About COVID19
Implicit Bias is Everywhere!
ADR is Not a Household Term
A Conversation About Whiteness and Mediation
Fight, Flight, or Freeze....Conflict Responses are Very Personal
UNCITRAL Completes a New Mediation Framework, Based on the Singapore Convention