John Sturrock QC
As the founder and CEO of the Core Solutions Group, I spend a great deal of time thinking and speaking about mediation, negotiation, conflict management, leadership and communication. I am told I should write some of these thoughts down... so, here goes...
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A handshake is easier to enforce than a judgement
Posted on May 17, 2012 | No Comments“A handshake is easier to enforce than a judgment”. The words of Robert Webb QC, former General Counsel at BA, at the first of two fascinating conferences I attended this week, both wrestling with promoting the use of mediation. In London, the Civil Mediation Council... -
Civil Discourse and Collaborative Governance
Posted on May 1, 2012 | No CommentsThe American Bar Association recently reaffirmed “the principle of civility as a foundation for democracy and the rule of law.” Its Resolution 108 goes on: “When dealing with the public as well as one another, lawyers should set a high standard for civil discourse as an... -
Negotiating Beyond Boundaries
Posted on April 24, 2012 | No CommentsI had the good fortune to attend an inspiring talk by Israeli negotiator, Moty Cristal, at the ABA dispute resolution conference in Washington. A veteran of many of the toughest negotiations in the Middle East, he affirmed many of the key messages about negotiation as...
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Mediation or Meditation – the Missing Link?
Posted on March 19, 2012 | No CommentsWhat is it that makes mediation such an effective process for so many disputes? Why do so many long-running conflicts reach a solution in a day of mediation? Is there some sort of magic in what the mediator does? At the start of a mediation... -
Mediation Representation: new book
Posted on March 12, 2012 | No CommentsI recently received a copy of the second edition of Hal Abramson’s excellent publication: Mediation Representation. Published by Oxford University Press, this is a comprehensive guide for those representing clients in mediation – and to negotiation generally. It is written for the market outside North... -
Towards Better Dialogue? – Part 2
Posted on March 5, 2012 | No CommentsI finished last week’s post with this: Arguably we need to learn a new way of conversing, moving from debate to dialogue. What might this new learning involve? Here are some thoughts. Undoubtedly, there is a process to follow, which will enhance dialogue. Firstly, we... -
Towards Better Dialogue?
Posted on February 28, 2012 | No CommentsThis post is an excerpt from a fuller piece on mediate.com – link here. Much has been written about the need for better dialogue in Scotland and the world as we seek to find effective ways to address some of the seemingly intractable issues we... -
Game Theory
Posted on February 13, 2012 | No CommentsI have recently been studying Game Theory but only superficially – see Game Theory and the Humanities (Brams) and Super Cooperators (Nowak, a brilliant book). My son, David is studying the real thing at the moment at university. Recently, he sent me the lecture slides... -
A Civil Justice Council for Scotland?
Posted on January 26, 2012 | No CommentsCore recently responded to the consultation on a proposed Scottish Civil Justice Council. We expressed the view that this proposal seems to be an essential component in delivering an effective system of dispute resolution in Scotland in the future. We said that having a broad-based... -
Core’s 2011 Records
Posted on January 20, 2012 | No CommentsWe are delighted that Core has reported significant growth in 2011, our tenth anniversary year. The number of mediation days increased by just under 30% to nearly 100 in the year. Geographically, our mediators and facilitators acted in 24 different locations throughout Scotland and elsewhere, with nearly... -
Finishing Well
Posted on January 13, 2012 | No CommentsWe spend a lot of time as mediators and trainers focussing on how we start mediation. Private meetings? Joint sessions? Breakfast with the parties? Summaries and other documents? Initial telephone contact prior to the day? And so on…. But we spend less time on how... -
Bargaining with the Devil?
Posted on December 8, 2011 | No CommentsHarvard Professor, Robert Mnookin, in ‘Bargaining with the Devil’, poses the question: should we ever negotiate with evil? At a presentation in Oxford recently, he suggested that we should probably do so more often than we might think. There should be a presumption in favour... -
Two Paradigms, One Bum…!
Posted on November 25, 2011 | No CommentsWe should be hospice workers for the dying as well as midwives for the new, says Graham Leicester, director of the International Futures Forum – we need to respect those who have a vested interest in the old ways of doing things while we grow...