Listening to the CBC’s recent program on family law (Ontario Morning, March 12), it became clear to me that separating parents do not always understand their dispute resolution options. Recent changes to the federal and provincial laws require all separating couples to consider trying out-of-court settlement, and many are doing just that. But it can be wildly confusing trying to …
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CBC Promotes Family Mediation!
Best Practices for Addressing Power Imbalances and Safety in Family Dispute Resolution Processes: Research, Protocols and the Law
Introduction With courts, for now, restricting services to all but emergency matters due to COVID-19, the demand for alternative dispute resolution services is growing exponentially. The need is greater than ever to ensure that those processes put issues of power imbalance and safety of clients and children first. Private mediation or adjudication is not appropriate in all cases. Professionals should …
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Book Review: A Guide To Family Arbitration In Ontario, By Stephen Grant And Jenna Preston (Lexis Nexis 2018)
Score: 9.5/10 As a family arbitrator I am always looking for good reading to stay current. I recommend this book highly for anyone doing this work. This thin (just over 100 pages of text), easy-to-read primer is a gem for family arbitrators and parenting coordinators. It is also a great guide for counsel wondering if private adjudication is a good option. …
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Court Upholds Confidentiality of Mediation Intake Forms, Mediator’s File & Screening Notes
Cliff Nelson, Riverdale Mediation & Hilary Linton, Riverdale Mediation and mediate393/311/47 Few legal principles are more sacrosanct than settlement privilege. In family law, where the legal, emotional and physical safety of family mediation is directly connected to its effectiveness, the principle is even more important. And the most sacred of all parts of a family law file are the notes …
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Sustainable Peace, Mediation, and the Status of Women and Girls
By: Mina Vaish and Archana Medhekar In March of 2018, the Canadian delegation consisting of Archana Medhekar, Tricia Morris and I joined eighteen other international mediators for the Mediators Beyond Borders’ international (MBBI) delegation to the 62nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York (CSW62). The session was the largest ever Commission held in …
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Participating in the Open Bar Lecture at 311 Jarvis
I recently attended one of the great “Open Bar” lectures at 311 Jarvis St— the Ontario Court of Justice in downtown Toronto. It is remarkable that in the court, after hours, gather leaders of the Toronto family law bar, dispute resolution community and judiciary who are working with the most vulnerable of Toronto families at a difficult time in their lives. It …
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Speaking at the OBA Institute on Neuroscience and ADR on February 7 was no exception.
Here is what I learned: Suzanne Sherkin of Highborn Communications taught me that our brains take short-cuts to the familiar, and that this can be limiting. For example, I did not know that the English language has ten times as many negative words as positive ones, and that the use of these words can send our brains to the familiar …
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Reviewing the Best Book a Family Law Lawyer Could Read in 2017
This book was published in late 2017, and its title is a mouth full; Settling Family Law Cases: Practical Techniques for Advocates and Neutrals. However, the book itself is in chewable pieces, many of which are truly savoured. The author is Mr. Lorne Wolfson, a Toronto family lawyer, mediator, arbitrator, and partner at Torkin Manes. However, this is not really …
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