July 2008: CIArb London Branch holds 5th Annual Mediation Seminar

A report from Hew Dundas

On 2nd July the London Branch held a well-attended seminar Mediation: International Perspectives” featuring top speakers with substantial experience of  "international mediation" including Argentina, Colombia, Italy, Scotland, Slovenia and the USA. The underlying theme was that while London is playing a leading role in spreading the mediation message internationally, we here in London have much to learn from abroad. The Seminar provided invaluable insights into the practice of mediation outside England. It was generously hosted (as for the previous four years) by Clyde & Co, one of the world's leading shipping law firms but no less impressive in mediation and other ADR.

The speakers were Jane Andrewartha (a partner in Clyde and Co and highly-rated mediator), Philip Naughton QC (a greatly-respected leader in the field), Katherine Hope Gurun (an arbitrator and mediator with JAMS in the USA, former General Counsel for one of the world's largest companies), Giovanni de Berti (Senior Partner of a distinguished Milanese law firm, a leading arbitrator and mediator, also Chairman of the CIArb's Mediation Sub-Committee) and Ewan Malcolm (Director of the Scottish Mediation Network, a body linking all forms of mediation in Scotland)..

Philip Naughton QC shared with us his experience of international mediation and discussed some of the pitfalls to be avoided; Katherine Hope Gurun, from the perspectives both as a mediator and as a former General Counsel, discussed mediation in the USA; Giovanni de Berti discussed mediation in Italy and elsewhere in civil law jurisdictions; Ewan Malcom addressed the practise of mediation in Scotland, in some ways very different from that in England, and Jane Andrewartha concluded by showing how mediation services offered in London can solve difficult problems in other jurisdictions, providing the most appropriate and effective form of alternative dispute resolution in each case. The presentations were followed by some lively debate with the floor. The Seminar was chaired by Branch Vice-Chairman Hew Dundas and a Vote of Thanks was proposed by Branch Chairman Stephen Bickford-Smith.