Episode 21: Bringing Structure and Empathy to Mediation with Pierangelo Bonanno

Mediation is often seen as an alternative dispute resolution method to more traditional court proceedings, as the disputing parties are expected to participate more actively in the process. What is common to both, however, is that both proceedings are often led by trained legal professionals, who tend to put their legal knowledge and legal practices at the center. In such circumstances the genuine interests of the parties - such as sustaining good business relations and processing hurt feelings - may remain secondary. Design thinking and methods, however, can help lawyers bring clarity, transparency and empathy to the complex and often negatively perceived dispute resolution processes. Our special guest in this episode is Pierangelo Bonanno, who is an experienced and acknowledged international mediator and a member of the Charter Institute of Arbitration (CIArb). His proposal “Mediation by Design”, also published as an article in the Resolver magazine, has received international interest and praise. We discuss why alternative dispute resolution methods have suddenly become so trendy, but yet not so much used in reality, and why dispute resolution has such a negative image in general. Isn't the idea to resolve the problems, not to create new ones?