The Proposition – ‘While life can only be understood backwards, it must be lived forwards’ (Søren Aabye Kierkegaard). So, which is the most constructive, cost-efficient, and effective method of dispute resolution – Litigation or Mediation?’
Debate!
This is a great question for a panel of Arbitrators, retired Judges & Litigators v. a panel of Mediators & Mediation Advocates, globally, to debate, in an online contest of ideas and arguments about the merits of litigation v. mediation, as a constructive, cost-efficient, and effective method of dispute resolution.
Event organisers please note – as far as I am aware, this has never been done, ever, anywhere.
Which side do think would win, with a voting audience made up 100%, by parties in actual dispute?
Another way of framing this debating ‘Proposition’ is:
‘What is:
(i) the cost of litigation?
v.
(ii) the price of doing a deal?’
I discuss Mediation & Mediation Advocacy in detail in the ADR chapter of my new book, which is on schedule for publication on Monday 24 February 2025. It should be in Law book shops and also available for distribution by Amazon, by mid-March, if not before.
Pre-ordering Links:
– https://lnkd.in/dHtHQjBz [NB Wildy’s deliver worldwide].
– https://lnkd.in/ejzMFjyn.
– https://lnkd.in/eQeZaqC8.
For me, the critical difference, is that whereas in litigation, parties have to confront the events which gave rise to the dispute (i.e. to relive their past in public and in vivid technicolour in a courtroom), in Mediation they can in private, set themselves free from the past, by together, working out a better future for each and both of themselves, on terms that a court cannot devise and order.
There are of course other benefits of looking forwards, rather than backwards.
See also – https://lnkd.in/e5tcZv96
My next live Zoom webinar to be presented to members of the Standing Conference of Mediation Advocates worldwide in 2025 is entitled – ‘Mediation Advocacy & Ethics in Claims for the Return of Ancient Art.’ This is provisionally scheduled for the afternoon of Thursday 20 November 2025.
The title of my next book is, ‘Culture & Ethics in the Mediation of Claims for the Return of Ancient Art.’ This will be written as both a multi-disciplinary academic course textbook for Law Students, and as a handbook for Mediators and Mediation Advocates – globally. See the ‘Claims for the Return of Ancient Art’ page at www.carlislam.co.uk.