In Mediation, the possibilities are only limited by the imagination of the participants and their legal representatives.

Whilst not infinite, in my experience, ‘doable’ deals that ‘are enough’ are
invariably possible.

Negotiation skills are rarely/if at all, taught on undergraduate law courses in UK universities, or on vocational courses for solicitors and barristers. Those lawyers who did not study law at university may not even have studied negotiation skills at all, before entering into private practice at the coal-face, i.e. the ‘real world’.

I cut my baby teeth negotiating contracts around the world and settling disputes for Rolls-Royce and Alstom.

As I mentioned to the late Professor Roger Fisher, co-author of ‘Getting to Yes’, during a short visit to Harvard Law School as a visiting scholar from King’s College London 23 years ago, I educated myself about commercial negotiation skills in my early-twenties by reading his books, and then by applying the principles he wrote about in real life negotiations with a high degree of success around the world.

At the time as far as I can recall, none of my counter-parts in what are now BRICS countries e.g. India and China, had read any of his books. That I think has now changed, and many lawyers in these countries have received a more thorough grounding in negotiation techniques than most lawyers in the UK have.

That is in large measure attributable to the work of the Standing Conference of Mediation Advocates (the ‘SCMA’) and my colleague and fellow author Andrew Goodman.

So, as a result in international commercial negotiation/Mediation Advocacy in a cross-border dispute, these lawyers have acquired a competitive edge over solicitors and barristers in the UK.

Critically, and this is the difference, they have probably become more adept than lawyers in the UK at thinking outside of the box, i.e. at imaginative/creative problem solving.

Lawyers in the UK need to catch up, otherwise in international negotiations/cross-border mediations, these BRICS lawyers are going to eat the City lawyers’ lunch! If as an international law firm you want to survive, this is no time to be arrogant and complacent.

Negotiation is a skill you develop and perfect by doing.

It requires experimentation and life-long learning.

Mediation Advocacy is a specialised form of negotiation, because it is facilitated. So, even if you have studied negotiation, then you may still not know anything at all about Mediation Advocacy. Nor may the partners in your firm, and your lecturers/tutors at University/on vocational training courses.

This is a massive gap in academic/professional training, i.e. a ‘blind-spot’/potentially existential ‘Achilles heel’ for lawyers in the UK.

To learn more about Mediation Advocacy in estate disputes, see the Slides and Speaking Notes on the ‘Mediation Advocacy’ page at www.carlislam.co.uk.

Note the ‘Research Bibliography’ on the ‘Mediation Advocacy’ page at www.carlislam.co.uk & Leathes, Michael (2017) Negotiation – Things Corporate Counsel Need to Know but Were Not Taught, Wolters Kluwer.

What I have am still trying to understand is whether this massive oversight by those who teach law at university in the UK, and on vocational training courses which are supposed to prepare green initiates for the real world of private practice, is the result of ‘academic snobbery’ or ignorance. Perhaps it is a combination of the two?