Kari Boyle’s contributions to Slaw.ca

Mediate BC has just launched its new blog on dispute resolution topics – BC Mediation Blog –  and it promises to be a fabulous source of information and opinion.  And while we are looking forward to  posts on topics as wide-ranging as DR and justice reform initiatives, the impact of world view on DR methods, and neuroscience and conflict resolution, the launch also provides an opportunity to celebrate the already impressive breadth of dispute resolution blogs in BC. We are fortunate that BC is home to some of the very best of the DR bloggers, and they are doing a fantastic job of gathering new literature, highlighting new ideas, and flagging news from abroad and at home!

Check out a few of these local bloggers and “follow” them for regular updates on a wide variety of matters of interest in the field.

Kari Boyle has recently joined the ranks of the bloggers at Slaw and I am looking forward to her contributions.  Her most recent post is a great example of Kari’s considered, well-researched, and insightful observations about mediation.  In this case, she follows up an earlier post on “Unlocking the Potential of Commercial Mediation” with some concrete suggestions for “tweaking” the commercial mediation model for the benefit of all parties.

For anyone who doesn’t know Kari, she is Executive Director of Mediate BC Society – so hopefully we’ll see some of her writing in the new Mediate BC blog as well.   Kari is an equally skilled speaker on DR topics, and just led a fabulous CoRe Speaker Series panel on “Creative DR options under the new Supreme Court Rules” along with Jenifer Crawford and Peter Behie, QC.  Let’s hope we see some of the wonderful observations from that panel in blog format, soon.

Susanna Jani at BC Distance Family Mediation Blog

The good news about the Mediate BC Blog launch comes tinged with a note of loss: the new blog replaces the highly successful and informative BC Distance Family Mediation Blog.  In just one year of publication, Susanna Jani received incredible response to the blog, including national recognition as a runner up for best new blog in the 2011 CLawBies (Canadian Law Blog awards) and international attention as a mediate.com Featured Blog.*

The blog was an integral aspect of the test phase of the Distance Family Mediation Project which ceased taking referrals on May 15th.  While new posts won’t be added to this blog, it’s still a great resource and worth a visit!  Thank you to Susanna for the tremendous work!

* If you’re not familiar with mediate.com as a clearinghouse for great blog postings, this is another (non-local) resource that merits a look.  The featured blogs list and “This Week’s Best Blog Posts” are great resources for finding new and interesting blogs that you just might want to follow.

Ben Ziegler at Collaborative Journeys

Ben Ziegler is one of BC’s most generous and adventurous social media explorers, and his blog, Collaborative Journeys, is a wonderful reflection of his approach to collaboration:  Ben shares his wide-ranging discoveries in conflict resolution, social media, creativity, and current news or events that he links to themes in conflict resolution.  One of my favourite recent posts captures Ben’s creative view of the world and his pleasure in connecting diverse ideas: Conversations with my dog and other non-judgemental beings.

Ben invites online dialogue and collaboration in building new ideas, and truly walks the collaborative walk.  I find Ben’s blog inspiring in its unflagging commitment to the core belief that “good things happen when people find ways to  come together, respect, understand, and appreciate each other.”  Ben offers the mediation world a place to do that.

What are your favourite DR blogs?  I’ve focused only on BC bloggers here, but, of course, there are fabulous blogs from other jurisdictions and in other subject areas that cross over into the conflict resolution field.  Share your additions to this list as comments below or email us at coreclinic1@gmail.com if you’d prefer.

Sharon Sutherland is Clinic Supervisor at CoRe Conflict Resolution Clinic and Assistant Professor at University of British Columbia Faculty of Law.  After close to a year off for family and health-related reasons, Sharon is re-starting her own blog on Impasse Breaking and Creativity for Mediators at CoReJolts in June.

CoRe is delighted to announce the election of two new student representatives to the Society’s Board of Directors – Steve Chasey and Alain Saint-Onge. As Student Representatives, Steve and Alain will participate in all CoRe Board meetings and liaise between Board and student management.  They are also committed to working with student leadership on new initiatives to provide greater negotiation and mediation training opportunities for the law school as a whole.  Steve and Alain are already actively involved in planning for next year and by all indications, we can look forward to a great year!

Steve Chasey

Steve Chasey is a first-year law student at UBC Law with a background in healthcare. He worked for the BC Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health in health policy for a number of years and holds a Masters in Health Administration from UBC. He is originally from California, but came to Vancouver five years ago after working in New York City. Steve is excited to join the CoRe team.

Alain Saint-Onge

 

Alain Saint-Onge is part of the Juris Doctor class of 2014. He received a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Guelph in 2011, with honours and a specialization in Human Resources. Alain has worked with CoRe as both a clinician, and as lead contributor to the weekly student blog. In addition, Alain participates as a clinician with the Law Students Legal Advice Program. Prior to attending UBC, Alain worked closely with Professor Rumina Dhalla at the University of Guelph assessing the Corporate Social Responsibility performance of top Canadian companies. Alain spent two summers interning at the Corporate Executive Board’s Enterprise Council on Small Business researching best practices for marketing to small business, as well as influential trends affecting this segment such as social media and increasing representation of female entrepreneurs. In his spare time, Alain enjoys staying active taking part in many sports such as basketball, squash, and hockey.

Congratulations to Steve and Alain!

In a recent article for The Lawyers Weekly, donalee Moulton shares her interview with CoRe’s Clinic Supervisor, Sharon Sutherland, on images of mediators on television over the past few decades.  Attendees at Sharons’ recent CoRe talk will note that this article focuses on observations of mainstream television shows. On March 13th,  Sharon had the chance to lead a discussion with a group of CoRe members and guests about a broader range of cultural images of mediators on television and reports leaving the session incredibly energized by the insightful observations of the group regarding Star Trek mediation, in particular, and grateful to all for the lively discussion.

Riva the mediator with his chorus in "Loud as a Whisper", Star Trek: The Next Generation, 2:5.

Following the CoRe talk, Sharon has been investigating a wider range of science fiction depictions of mediation and peacekeeping in such series as Andromeda, Stargate: SG-1, Battlestar Gallactica, and the later Star Trek series.  ”I find it fascinating that mediation was so much more prevalent in science fiction programs than in traditional courtroom dramas for over two decades,” Sharon comments when asked why she is interested in the topic.  ”As a science fiction device, mediation typically reflects utopic visions of human (and alien) interactions in a more enlightened future time.  These shows seem to say that when we have achieved the social stability and maturity of the 24th century, mediation will be the norm.  The relative ineffectiveness of mediation as shown on contemporaneous courtroom dramas supports a similar vision: collaboration is simply not possible in the world of competitive and frequently unethical litigators seen through the ’90s and early 2000s.  In these depictions, the level of trust necessary for such processes to work seems to be a utopic vision of the best possible future.”

Sharon will be presenting on these themes and her continuing research into television images of mediators (including a look at mediation on shows for teens and pre-teens that she’s been engaged in with her daughters’ aid during their spring break) at the Continuing Legal Education conference on May 11th.  She welcomes any and all help in locating additional scenes of mediation on television series of any type.  (Please email her with ideas at coreclinic1@gmail.com).

As well, please note that the next CoRe Speaker event is approaching rapidly.  Joan Braun will be speaking on April 10th at 4:30 about “Elder Mediation: Preventing Pitfalls and Building an Effective Practice”.  RSVP to coreclinic1@gmail.com.

As always, we are grateful to  KPMG for its generous sponsorship of the Speaker Series.

CoRe Conflict Resolution Society is delighted to announce that Dan Williams was elected President and Sarah Swan Vice President at the recent AGM. Dan and Sarah come to their new roles each with a long history of involvement with CoRe, however, we are most intrigued by one particular shared characteristic: they are both CoRe Challenge winners! That’s right, the winners of our first and second CoRe Challenges are now leading the Board of Directors! That can only mean that CoRe is ready for new adventures in 2012!

It also means we have great photos and video footage of our new leaders…

Please share your ideas for CoRe with Dan and Sarah!  Both can be reached at coreclinic1@gmail.com.

Carrie Gallant

CoRe is very grateful to Carrie Gallant, Past President, for her wonderful leadership over the past two years, and her long and generous service to CoRe since its earliest days. We are delighted to know that she will continue to advise us in her new role.

 

Welcome also to our two new Board Members, Jacqueline Fehr and Jenifer Crawford. We are excited to add two equally energetic, engaging and brilliant members to our Board. Jacqueline re-joins us as a Board member just a few years after she won the first Vancouver Maritime Arbitrators Association Prize for service to CoRe while a student CoRe Clinic Coordinator. We know that her experience as a student leader at CoRe will allow her to share ideas with our current student leadership. Jenifer’s involvement with CoRe is more recent: she has been very involved in the early dispute resolution training program at Thompson Rivers University Faculty of Law where a nascent student organization is growing and will soon have a chance to demonstrate her expertise and creativity in a speaker series event on under-used dispute resolution processes (date tba).

Remember that student board representatives will be elected at the CoRe meeting on March 13th, immediately preceding the CoRe Speaker event.  And don’t forget to send in your nominations for the 2011-2 VMAA Prize for service to CoRe.  Nominations are due by March 14th.

Jan. 31st

Perhaps it’s the seasonal “Blahs” experienced by many Vancouverites during this low light, rainy season that has led to a schedule of upcoming conflict resolution workshops with a focus on “difficult” people and the use of empathy?  It may just be that a little more empathy is needed in February!  Whatever the motivation, dispute resolution professionals will have the opportunity to participate in some fabulous workshops over the next couple of months.

Dealing with Difficult People:

Effective Approaches for Working with Challenging Employees, Team Members, Clients, and Family Members

Presented by Gordon White and Catherine Comuzzi

This is one day workshop is a great opportunity to hear from Gordon without travelling to Vancouver Island! Get a sense of Gordon’s approach by reading the CoReJolts review of his presentation at the NWADR conference in 2011.  In this session, Gordon teams up with psychotherapist, Catherine Comuzzi to offer participants the chance to learn:

• How to recognize the difference between difficult situations and people
• How to recognize severe problematic personalities
• How to see the needs behind negative behavior
• How to maintain focus and develop ease while in the midst of difficult people situations
• How to set boundaries while maintaining compassion
• How to prepare for a difficult conversation
• How to ask powerful questions that promote reflection and flexibility
• How to seek understanding, agreement, and follow through
• How to benefit from the challenges and efforts to working effectively with difficult individuals

For more information or to register, go to: http://ccomuzzi.com/workshops/ or contact Gordon at 250-389-6231 or gcwhite@telus.net.

February 15th

CoRe Clinic Speaker Series

Journey to Empathy:

The Practice and Use of Metta Bhavana as a Tool in Mediation

Presented by Martin Golder

4:30-6:00 at KPMG (777 Dunsmuir St) or by videoconference to Allard Hall and Thompson Rivers Law School

This presentation will provide a short introduction to a useful tool in mediations – ‘the conscious projection of good will’. The tool is based on a very old tradition from India often now associated with Buddhism but undoubtedly predating it called metta bhavana which translates as the cultivation of loving kindness.

At its simplest it can be described as very focused and attentive listening followed by a kind response.

Martin Golder is an architect in Victoria. In 1996 with the encouragement and mentoring of Patricia Lane he started a practice of conflict management. In addition to his private practice, Martin is a mediator and mentor in the Provincial Court Mediation Program.

Martin has been an environmental and social justice advocate for many years and has worked with many First Nations and social agencies on housing issues. He is just finishing a 6 year term with the Sierra Club of BC including 3 years as chair. Martin served on the Board of the Victoria Cool Aid Society for over 10 years. He was Chair of the Board twice during this period.

After some time studying in India Martin started using some techniques from these studies in mediations with good results. He developed the conscious projection of good will from the ancient technique of metta bhavana and vipassana.

For a quick preview of Martin’s thoughts on empathy, see : http://www.mediate.com/articles/golderM.cfm

RSVP to coreclinic1@gmail.com

Feb. 24th

A full day session with Martin Golder

A Journey to Empathy:

The conscious projection of goodwill as a tool in mediation

Intrigued by Martin’s CoRe talk?  Or already know that you want more on this intriguing topic?  Sign up now for a full day workshop at the Canadian Memorial Church, Centre for Peace.

Register: golder@me.com 1 250 592 7700

For more information, click here.

March 29th and 30th

Mediating High Conflict Disputes:

Advanced Training for Dispute Resolution Professionals 

Presented by Bill Eddy

This training is designed for mediators and professionals who work in a mediation setting, such as lawyers, collaborative practitioners, accountants, human resources professionals, union representatives and other professionals who are involved in dispute resolution.

For more information, see the workshop brochure.

To register, contact event organizers by email at billeddyevent@telus.net or by phone at 250-385-5523.

Wednesday, January 18th – 4:30-6:00 at KPMG (777 Dunsmuir Street)

So many wonderful events for Dispute Resolution professionals next week!  Of course, we at CoRe are especially looking forward to the first CoRe Clinic Speaker Series event for 2012 (and hope to see many of you there), but here is a listing including several additional events that will be of interest to the DR community:

CoRe Clinic Speaker Series

Working with cultural and religious values in mediation:  Examples from Ismaeli and Christian perspectives

 Presented by Leanne Harder and Fazal Bhimji

Please RSVP to coreclinic1@gmail.com.  More information on our website of facebook.

Monday, January 16th – 4:30-6:00 at Allard Hall, UBC

UBC Program on Dispute Resolution

Unsettling the Settler Within: Why History and Pedagogy are at the Heart of Reconciliation in Canada

Presented by Paulette Regan of the Truth and Reconciliation Cmmission of Canada

Details are available here.

Thursday, January 19th – 4:45-5:30 at the Sheraton Wall Centre Hotel

Peter Wall Institute – Explorations of Fairness

“Fairness, Neuroscience and the Brain”

Presented by Dr. Elizabeth Tricomi, Rutgers University, Psychology Department

Friday, January 20th – 9:00-10:00 at the Sheraton Wall Centre Hotel

Peter Wall Institute – Explorations of Fairness

“The Evolution of Fairness”

Presented by Dr. Joe Henrich, Canada Research Chair in Culture, Cognition and Co-evolution, Department of Psychology,
Department of Economics, University of British Columbia

Friday, January 20th – 12:30-1:15 at the Sheraton Wall Centre Hotel

Peter Wall Institute – Explorations of Fairness

“The Principle of Fairness and Obligation”

Presented by Dr. George Klosko, Henry and Grace Doherty Professor of Politics, Political Philosophy, Policy and Law,
University of Virginia

Details on all public sessions in the Explorations of Fairness series are available here.

The Canadian Centre for Elder Law (CCEL) has just announced the online publication of its report, Elder and Guardianship Mediation.  This Law Foundation-funded report is the first comprehensive and internationally comparative study of elder and guardianship mediation in Canada.  The full report is available online. The following summary information is excerpted from the CCEL press release:

As a person ages, mediation may be used to resolve disagreements in the context of estate planning, financial planning, organizing caregiving, developing a housing plan, discussing lifestyle choices—varied circumstances where an older person may involve family or other support people in problem-solving, especially where there is a desire to resolve a legal matter without going to court.  Anticipated changes to guardianship law in BC include mandatory mediation in certain circumstances.  

Elder and guardianship mediation is a new but growing area of practice.  The work gives rise to complex ethical and practical questions in regard to maximizing the ability of the older person to participate in decisions about his or her future as well as ensuring age-based discriminatory assumptions and values are not affecting the decision-making process.

“As a province we are now at the precipice of proclaiming new legislation governing adult guardianship mediation and also of tremendous growth in the field of elder mediation, based on demographics,” says Executive Director Jim Emmerton.  “In order to move forward practitioners, policy-makers and educators require access to comprehensive information on elder and guardianship mediation.  This report fills that need.”
This large report includes consultation feedback from elder mediation leaders from across North America and compares lessons learned from key pilot guardianship mediation programs in other jurisdictions in the US and Canada.  The report concludes with recommendations for training and standards for elder and guardianship mediators, ethical standards for practice, mediation models and styles, as well as for the design and development of a court-connected adult guardianship mediation program in BC.

 

 

The Negotiation Coach’s Corner

Carrie Gallant, CoRe President

In this periodic blog contribution, Carrie Gallant provides advice on negotiation topics and answers readers’ questions.

Send your questions to: carrie@gallantsolutions.ca

Saying Goodbye to 2011 and Hello to More in 2012

As I embarked on my annual year-end review process and intention setting for 2012, I scanned through my files for a great template to use to guide my process – I stumbled on the perfect one for this year, one I had forgotten about.

Then I noticed the author’s name at the end, and it took my breath away – Debrah Rafel, a dear colleague and friend who passed away a few years ago.  I like to keep her notes in my files, so every once in a while, like today, I wander across her musings and pause to remember her luminous light and her gifts to the world.

It was very poignant to use Debrah’s process as my guide this year, and very joyful at the same time – I felt her presence nearby, reminding me to take a playful and celebratory approach.

Debrah Rafel

Here is the essence of Debrah’s “Goodbye Year End Hello New Year” process from her last New Year’s newsletter in December 2007.  I’m sharing it here because I hope you find it as helpful as I did.

In this process you will establish Five Freedoms and Five Commitments.

Five Freedoms

The Five Freedoms are those parts of you or your life that you are willing to release, as you say goodbye to the old year.  Express your Freedoms as something that you are now free to experience as a result of letting something go.  For example:

• Freedom to experience more Joy and Love through releasing self-judgment
• Freedom to expand business exposure and help more people through releasing playing small

Five Commitments

The Five Commitments are those parts of yourself or life that you are willing to explore, welcome and embrace in the New Year.  For example:

• I am willing to explore what more joy & self-love feels like
• I am willing to embrace more business and financial abundance

See how this works?

Ten Questions

If you have trouble coming up with your Five Freedoms and Five Commitments, try some of Debrah’s insightful questions to get your juices flowing – I did, and loved the process.

• What were your three most meaningful accomplishments this past year?
• What were your three greatest insights?
• What strengths/skills have you gained to prepare you for an outstanding new year?
• What were your greatest lessons? Your deepest disappointments?
• To whom do you need to offer forgiveness (this includes you) and for what?
• What are you willing to leave behind in 2011?
• What are your intentions for the New Year?
• What new skills would you like to develop – personally, professionally?
• What would you like to experience more of this year?
• When you stand at the end of 2008 and look back, what is your vision of the year?

I hope you enjoy Debrah’s Five by Five process as much as I did!

Thank you Debrah, for continuing to share your joy for life and your wisdom.

Peace and Love.

Carrie

This article was originally published in Carrie’s Gallant Solutions Inc. newsletter, January 2012.  Subscribe to Carrie’s newsletter at http://www.gallantsolutionsinc.com/.

Over the past year, mediation on television has experienced a real boom.  Once considered a clear indicator that a television litigator didn’t have what it takes to be a lawyer (see for instance Judging Amy (“Lost in the System” 4:1) for its clear indictment of mediation and mediators as wimpy and ineffective in the face of real hostility), mediation is suddenly sexy and mainstream.  Fairly Legal has a mediator as lead character, and whatever criticisms one might aim at the show for dramatic licence in its mediation scenes, Kate Reed, Mediator, is dynamic, strong, creative and “successful” in her work.  The Good Wife had two mediations and an arbitration this year, as well as numerous negotiation scenes; while the main characters still end up in court with far more frequency than any real litigator, other dispute resolution options are normalized by their frequency.  Even Harry’s Law, with its curmudgeonly and adversarial lead character, tried for a mediation between rival street gangs – and demonstrated that the skills of a mediator are very different than those of a litigator, as Harry was fired for incompetence as she tried to mediate without any training or experience.

Of course, all of these popular culture mediations take place with actors in the role of mediator.  There might be a very small niche for the odd mediator with acting skills to audition for a role; and certainly some small amount of consulting work for mediators in the screenwriting and production processes, but Scripted television is probably not a great career option for a mediator.  Reality television on the other hand?  Definitely a growing mediator career path!

Attendees at the ADRIC conference in Vancouver in October will know that my personal favourite amongst the new television reality shows is The Peacemaker.  In this six-part series, Malik Spellman conducts high stakes mediations amongst rival street gangs in L.A.  Spellman brings his skills as a violence prevention counselor to the role of mediator: he mediates truces in gang wars!  While Spellman’s mediations take place on street corners rather than boardrooms, his very real mediation skills are evident throughout.

Closer to home (in the sense of the more immediately familiar for most of us) is Next Door Nightmares, a Sky 1 HD production in the UK that sends professional mediators Oretha and Irene into “volatile” neighbour disputes.  Some of the issues are remarkably similar to disputes we hear about at the CoRe Clinic: neighbours in Leeds struggle with noise disturbances (one snores, the other plays bongos late at night) or pensioners refuse to speak to each other as a result of hearsay and rumours.  Perhaps CoRe should give more serious consideration to a reality series to boost referral numbers?

And thanks to C.D. Saint and Kari Boyle at Mediate BC for sharing this  Casting Call for Mediation!

“GOT A BEEF WITH YOUR FRIEND OR FOE? NEED VALIDATION… OR MAYBE CLOSURE? 

Ever wish there was a professional way to settle your personal drama?

MTV Networks is casting for a new show where a trained mediator helps two high school students who have an issue with each other resolve their dispute.”

This casting call is for high school students who’d like to have their dispute mediated on television, but apparently professional mediators will conduct the mediations, so presumably mediators have been cast or are being cast separately.

And finally, just posted yesterday, a call for disputing mothers and daughters for a pilot called “Mommy Mediator”.  The proposed show would present disputes between mothers and teenage daughters.  There’s no mention of the mediators in this call, but as a mother with three teen daughters, I’m thinking I might just be in the running if they’re looking for subject matter expertise!

Clearly there is scope for more – the reality TV format should be fairly adaptable to different audiences and different types of disputes.  In an aging population, surely there is scope for drama and educational value in showcasing estate planning mediations?  Restorative justice?  Even Small Claims mediations could capture the same audience as People’s Court.

Is it time to add reality television mediator to the list of careers that require mediation expertise?

Sharon Sutherland is the Clinic Supervisor for the CoRe Conflict Resolution Clinic and an Assistant Professor at University of British Columbia faculty of Law.  Her research interests include mediation and law and television.

Working with cultural and religious values in mediation:

Thank you to Lee Turnbull for providing us with a wonderful and rich discussion of ethics yesterday to help us wrap up our 2011 Speaker Series!  And thanks also to KPMG and Moskowitz and Meredith LLP for their generous sponsorship of our events this past year.  We are very pleased to announce that KPMG and M&M will continue to host our 2012 series allowing us to begin booking dates and speakers now.

In 2012, the CoRe Speaker Series will once again include a total of eight presentations on a wide range of topics of interest to all dispute resolution practitioners and students.  Our first three sessions are scheduled, so please save the dates!  And remember to renew your annual CoRe membership now to ensure that you receive notice of all events.  Our memberships run for the calendar year, so all members are due to renew.

Wednesday, JANUARY 18th – 4:30-6:00

Examples from Ismaeli and Christian perspectives

Presented by FAZAL BHIMJI and LEANNE HARDER

 

Wednesday, FEBRUARY 15th – 4:30-6:00

Journey to Empathy:

The Practice and Use of Metta Bhavana as a Tool in Mediation

Presented by MARTIN GOLDER

For a quick preview, see Martin’s article on empathy.

 

Tuesday, MARCH 13TH – 4:30-6:00

“Does Justice Look Like This?”:

Mediation on Television

Join SHARON SUTHERLAND as she updates and expands upon her very popular ADRIC conference presentation on mediation on television.

Seasonal Giving

Are you thinking of giving a gift that gives back?

Consider a charitable donation to CoRe Conflict Resolution Society.

In the past few years, donating to charities that fund a good cause has become a very popular way to “give twice”. The recipients will never see the gift, but know that the money was spent in their name to support a cause that is close to their hearts.  With a donation to CoRe Conflict Resolution Society, you support:

• Free and low cost mediations for low income clients and not-for-profits
• An information service on mediation and conflict resolution
• Conflict resolution training and client counseling experience for law students
• CoRe’s community education and Speaker Series events

All donations go to support the work of the CoRe Conflict Resolution Clinic.  Tax deductible receipts will be provided for charitable donations of $50 or greater.

Help us to make non-court-based mediation accessible to all!  Donations may be made through our website.  Choose PayPal or CanadaHelps payment options.

Or send cheques to:              CoRe Clinic,  1822 East Mall,  Vancouver, BC  V6T 1Z1

CoRe Conflict Resolution Society (“CoRe”) is a non-profit registered charity, charitable number: (BN) 863815445RR0001