news

November 2006

Out of the Box: 2 weeks to go – register now for 17 November forum

Announcement

Recent Research

Core Panel activities

Mediation Feedback

Mediation Training: next course dates announced

Advising and Representing Clients in Mediation – 8 December

International and other contacts

“If we are to solve problems, from those confined to a single individual to those afflicting whole nations, we must learn how to identify and break out of restrictive mind-sets and give full, serious consideration to alternative solutions.”Morgan Jones

Out of the Box:

Modern Approaches to Problem Solving

Friday 17 November

Core’s innovative one day forum is designed to have us all thinking differently about how we deal with today’s challenging business and professional situations. The event will cover

· creative thinking techniques, including approaches to risk analysis

· the vitally important skills associated with effective business relationships

· how to negotiate in difficult situations with difficult people – and how to use a mediator effectively

· helping your business or organisation to change the culture of dispute handling by introducing systems and early interventions

· new ways to draft commercial contracts and dispute resolution clauses

We have assembled a top class team of presenters from north and south of the border, all of whom have broken the mould in their own way. They include internationally recognised strategists, Bill Marsh, Miryana Nesic and John Clark, experienced innovators, David Fraser, Elizabeth Rivers and Graeme Colquhoun and Core’s leaders, John Sturrock and Pamela Lyall.

During the day, participants can select from a menu of workshops to explore new ideas in practice. Our website contains full details about each topic and presenter. Click here to read about the day’s themes and here for biographies of our presenters. Click here to view the event programme.

To register online, click here. You may download a registration form by clicking here.

The forum takes place at the refurbished Radisson Hotel in the Royal Mile, Edinburgh. There are discounts for group bookings and each registration entitles you to lunch and full course papers, together with a glass of wine at the recently opened Scottish Story Telling Centre.

People have said:

“It's a fabulous programme, and one we would all benefit from attending.”

“If some business clients are doing this stuff anyway, it is essential that we as practitioners are able to engage with them.”

Announcement

Core is delighted to announce that Michael Leathes, formerly Head of Intellectual Property at BAT and one of the world’s leading advocates for mediation in the corporate world, has agreed to work with Core as a special adviser on the development of mediation in corporate matters. Michael will be involved in activities which will be designed to bring the benefits of modern and effective dispute management to the attention of business people and others who can benefit from, and encourage the use of, new approaches. Many readers will recall Michael’s engaging address to our conference on this topic two years ago. More news about this exciting development later in the year.

Core now has a regular feature in Scotland’s leading business magazine, Insider. This is an excellent way to bring the message about mediation to the business community. Click here to read the column from the October edition.

Recent Research

We mentioned in a recent edition of Core News the research by Dr Bryan Clark of the University of Strathclyde about lawyers’ attitudes towards commercial mediation. The findings are summarised in the September edition of the Journal of the Law Society of Scotland. Click here to access the Journal’s website.

Legal Week recently reported the findings of Amanda Bucklow who has researched attitudes and expectations about commercial mediation. She has concluded that regulation of mediation is not desirable and that focussing on standards and training is preferable. She identifies the key skills, qualities and attributes of mediators as building rapport, listening, stamina, empathy, patience and humour. She has discovered that the skills and qualities that are valued by parties and advisers who have experienced mediation include: trustworthiness, gravitas, patience, confidence, even-handedness, impartiality, optimism, persistence, understanding, imagination, and being “quick on the uptake”. Click here to read the article.

Core Panel activities

Recent weeks have seen Core’s mediators and facilitators actively engaged in a range of projects. Carol Paton has been working in the higher education sector, facilitating the design of a new approach to harassment and bullying; Hugh Donald has worked with a health authority in dispute management; Alastair Kelly has assisted a public sector body in the design of a collaborative scheme for decision-making in a new project. Hugh, Alastair Thornton, Judith Scott and David Fraser have all been involved in significant mediations.

Mediation Feedback

The value of mediation to SME’s is sometimes forgotten. By providing a quick and cost-effective way to resolve difficult disputes, these businesses, which can ill afford long-running conflicts, can get on with what they do best – delivering services or producing goods.

Core has recently received these two testimonials from Managing Directors of SME’s who were directly involved in mediation. With their permission, we repeat them to encourage others:

“I had grave doubts as to whether or not your service would indeed resolve our differences which had been going on for over three and a half years. It was a long day for all involved but in the end the main objective of solving the dispute was indeed achieved. Whilst I hope to avoid disputes such as this in the future, should I find myself in this position again I would have no hesitation in using your excellent services again.”

”I would like to personally thank you for all of your efforts. It was a long day and, having never been in such a situation before, can honestly say it certainly was an “experience”. I am extremely pleased we have reached an amicable conclusion…”.

It may have been a long day but the alternatives were much less attractive!

Mediation Training

Next dates: 26 – 29 March and 18 – 20 April 2007

With the latest mediation skills course nearing completion, dates have been announced for the next of Core’s highly regarded courses, in March and April. An Early Bird discount is available. This is likely to be the last course in the present format. Recent courses have been fully subscribed, so early registration is advised.

Contact Core on 0131 221 2520 or lisa.garrow@core-solutions.com for more information or visit our website: www.core-solutions.com

Advising and Representing Clients in Mediation

8 December

This popular course takes place again on Friday 8 December. Designed for solicitors, advocates and others with an advisory role, it introduces the nuts and bolts of the mediation process with practical sessions throughout.

Details on the website www.core-solutions.com, or contact Core on 0131 221 2520 or lisa.garrow@core-solutions.com. Early Bird and Group discounts available.

International and other contacts

Pamela Lyall has been in Philadelphia to participate in the annual conference of the Association for Conflict Resolution. Pamela will report on that soon. Click here to read more about ACR.

John Sturrock addressed the biennial conference of the Irish Commercial Mediation Association in Dublin on the topic of why commercial mediation works for small and medium size enterprises. Among other topics were the use of mediation in industrial relations and family business succession planning, while Mr Justice Peter Kelly spoke of the Irish commercial court’s enthusiasm for mediation in commercial cases. The highlight, however, was a thought-provoking and utterly compelling exposition on the role of mediation in recent Irish cross-border political discussions, given by Dr Martin McAleese, the husband of the President of Ireland, who has devoted himself to this work.

At the conference of the Civil Mediation Council in Birmingham, the minister responsible for civil justice in England, Baroness Ashton, spoke eloquently of government support for mediation as a core part of strategies to help resolve problems more quickly, flexibly and cost-effectively. There were interesting discussions about standards and regulation and stirring contributions about the scope for mediation in community and family settings. Click here to access the CMC website.

Core was pleased to sponsor the keynote visit of Rachel Wohl, the Executive Director of Maryland’s mediation initiative, MACRO, to the conference of the Scottish Mediation Network in Perth in September. At the conference, Pamela Lyall facilitated a discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of a scheme for quality assurance of mediators and, continuing the international theme at that conference, Pamela and John led a workshop on Mediating an International Crisis, in which participants role played negotiators discussing how to approach solutions to international terrorism. A short note on the discussions is available by clicking here.

“While mediation in various forms has been around for years, it is now being reborn as a more effective stage in the evolution of how we, as a society, resolve conflict.”

Alan Stitt in Mediation: A Practical Guide (Cavendish)

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