Mediation is Flexible Enough to Respond to Social Distancing, Guest: Bill Marsh

Bill Marsh is one of Europe’s top commercial mediators and co-editor of the Kluwer mediation blog - https://mediationblog.kluwerarbitration.com/author/bill-marsh/. He talks about how he prepares for standard mediation i.e understanding the case and reading the key issues and emphasises that the mediator’s job is ‘to enable people to get the most out of the process’. He also makes the point that mediation works best when there is a balance between giving people enough opportunity to state and discuss the way they see issues legally, commercially and personally. He explains why time and focus need to be divided properly and how creativity is important for the mediation process and enables people to look more broadly at both issues and solutions. We also discuss the effectiveness and growing popularity of online mediation and its advantages i.e saving time, energy and money and how it has made it an even more flexible process than it was before. He touches on his mediation blog/forum for people who want to extend their thinking, what is acceptable from a mediator in different cultures and how the Singapore Convention gives international credibility to the mediation process.