Family arbitration is a very different process from mediation, and yet they are often confused. Arbitration is a process whereby the parties present their version of the story before a privately-retained arbitrator, often a senior family lawyer, who hears the evidence, applies the law and makes a binding decision. Family arbitration is therefore, more like court than it is like …
MORE
Category Archives: Family Arbitration
Family Arbitration: Exploring Your Options in Dispute Resolution
Best Practices for Screening in Family Mediation-Arbitration
Best practices for screening family mediation and arbitration cases for power imbalances and domestic violence. MORE
Coach your Client to be a Better Negotiator: Tips for Negotiating Effectively
ADR professionals are, by definition, skilled negotiators. What attitudes, skills, and strategies do we already have to help coach our clients to achieve the best possible outcomes? 10 Coaching Tips for Clients 1. Our clients all come to us from a place of fear. They fear loss: of what they want or need, of a relationship, of control, or of …
MORE
Gender in Negotiation
In light of International Women’s Day being this week, here is an article by Deborah Kolb reviewing the role gender plays in negotiation. After many years of indifference, the study of gender is now an important area of scholarship in negotiation. At the same time as interest has grown, so too have the perspectives on gender and negotiation evolved. Elsewhere, we …
MORE
Reflections on Teaching ADR in Grenada – Part 2
Our teaching team Nicole Stewart Kamanga ,Liz Waisberg along with Elizabeth Hyde and Joel Skapinker are in Grenada this week. They are delivering training to 35 community leaders as part of the IMPACT Justice Project. See our previous blog for more information about this exciting project. _______________ Another perfect weather day! As our Group’s skills continue to build, today they worked …
MORE
Family Med-Arb: It’s time to set some standards in Ontario
During Ontario’s first FDRweek there was a well-attended workshop on family mediation-arbitration. Led by highly respected BC mediator-arbitrator Carol Hickman Q.C., the theme was clear: there are no standards of practice for family mediation-arbitration in Ontario and they are needed. The “med-arb” process has become flavour of the month in family law. Most lawyers routinely add a clause in their …
MORE
Outline of a Basic Family Mediation Process: Part 6 of 8 – Moving the Parties Along
It is critical for mediators, during this phase of the mediation, to balance active and non-judging listening, curious questioning and gentle prodding towards the “what’s next”. _______________________________ As with negotiation, the mediation process follows a basic framework. The framework that a mediator uses will be determined by the principles that guide through. At Riverdale Mediation, these are our guiding principles: …
MORE
Leading UK research on family dispute resolution
Helping clients identify the most appropriate dispute resolution process for their family just got a lot easier thanks to a new study in the UK. It is the report of a three year study on the usage, experience and outcomes of family mediation, lawyer negotiation and collaborative law: Mapping Paths to Family Justice. The researchers studied almost 3000 people across …
MORE
