Dispute resolution is the process of resolving disputes between parties. The term dispute resolution is sometimes used interchangeably with conflict resolution, although conflicts are generally more deep-rooted and lengthy than disputes. Dispute resolution techniques assist the resolution of antagonisms between parties that can include citizens, corporations, and governments.
Mediation is a dynamic, structured, interactive process where a neutral third party assists disputing parties in resolving conflict through the use of specialized communication and negotiation techniques. All participants in mediation are encouraged to actively participate in the process. Mediation is a "party-centered" process in that it is focused primarily upon the needs, rights, and interests of the parties. The mediator uses a wide variety of techniques to guide the process in a constructive direction and to help the parties find their optimal solution. A mediator is facilitative in that she/he manages the interaction between parties and facilitates open communication. Mediation is also evaluative in that the mediator analyzes issues and relevant norms ("reality-testing"), while refraining from providing prescriptive advice to the parties.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, commonly known as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), is a department of the Secretariat of the United Nations that works to promote and protect the human rights that are guaranteed under international law and stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. The office was established by the UN General Assembly on 20 December 1993 in the wake of the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights.
The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), founded in 1947 is an independent agency of the United States government, and the nation’s largest public agency for dispute resolution and conflict management, providing mediation services and related conflict prevention and resolution services in the private, public, and federal sectors. FMCS is tasked with mediating labor disputes around the country; it provides training and relationship development programs for management and unions as part of its role in promoting labor-management peace and cooperation. The Agency also provides mediation, conflict prevention, and conflict management services outside the labor context for federal agencies and the programs they operate. The FMCS headquarters is located in Washington, D.C. with other offices across the country.
The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) is a Crown non-departmental public body of the Government of the United Kingdom. Its purpose is to improve organisations and working life through the promotion and facilitation of strong industrial relations practice. It may do this through a number of media such as arbitration or mediation, although the service is perhaps best known for its collective conciliation function - that is resolving disputes between groups of employees or workers, often represented by a trade union, and their employers. Acas is an independent and impartial organisation that does not side with a particular party, but rather will help the parties to reach suitable resolutions in a dispute.
Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) is a London-based mediation and alternative dispute resolution body. It was founded as a non-profit organisation in 1990, with the support of The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and a number of British businesses and law firms, to encourage the development and use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and mediation in commercial disputes. Professor Karl Mackie, a barrister and psychologist, became the organisation's Chief Executive and Eileen Carroll QC (hon), a Trans-Atlantic partner with a law firm joined to become the Deputy Chief Executive in 1996. On 12 June 2010 it was announced in the Queen's Birthday Honours that Karl Mackie was appointed a CBE by the UK Government for ‘services to mediation', the first citing of this reason for the award.
The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) is a leading professional membership organisation representing the interests of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) practitioners worldwide. It has over 16,000 members located across 133 countries supporting the global promotion, facilitation and development of all forms of private dispute resolution worldwide. Institute members cover the three main ADR disciplines of arbitration, construction adjudication and mediation.
The Civil Mediation Council (CMC) is the recognised authority in England and Wales for all matters related to civil, commercial, workplace and other non-family mediation. It acts as the first point of contact for the Government, the judiciary, the legal profession and industry on mediation issues.
The Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) is an institution based in Hong Kong, providing alternative dispute resolution services from administered and ad hoc international arbitration to mediation, adjudication and domain name dispute resolution. It was founded in 1985.
Frank E.A. Sander was a professor emeritus and Associate Dean of Harvard Law School. Professor Sander graduated from Harvard College with a degree in mathematics in 1949 and from Harvard Law School in 1952. Professor Sander pioneered in the field of alternative dispute resolution and is widely credited with being a father of the field in the United States as a result of his paper, The Varieties of Dispute Processing, presented at the Pound Conference in 1976 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Professor Sander's book, Dispute Resolution: Negotiation, Mediation, and Other Processes, which he coauthored with Stephen B. Goldberg, Nancy H. Rogers, and Sarah Rudolph Cole, is used in law schools throughout the United States.
The Arbitration Roundtable of Toronto is made up of several litigators, academics, arbitrators, and mediators from the Greater Toronto Area. The group promotes arbitration as an alternative method of conflict resolution over litigation, especially in commercial suits. Members include commercial litigators from Toronto law firms including some of the Seven Sisters of Bay Street. Each member has experience and interest in promoting commercial Arbitration. The group dedicates its time to encouraging this form of Dispute resolution through seminars, papers, and talks.
Edward F. Sherman served as the 20th dean and is currently the W.R. Irby Chair in Law at the Tulane University Law School. He teaches Civil Procedure and Alternative Dispute Resolution. He was previously the Moise F. Steeg, Jr. Professor of Law at Tulane. He has taught at several other schools, including the University of Texas, Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, and the University of London. Through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) he helped Vietnam write a new code of civil procedure. In 1970, he was a founding board member of the Lawyers Military Defense Committee, which provided free-of-charge civilian counsel to U.S. military members in Vietnam and West Germany.
Ombudsmen in Australia are independent agencies which assist when a dispute arises between individuals and industry bodies or government agencies. Government ombudsman services are free to the public, like many other ombudsman and dispute resolution services, and are a means of resolving disputes outside of the court systems. Australia has an ombudsman assigned for each state; as well as an ombudsman for the Commonwealth of Australia. As laws differ between states just one process, or policy, cannot be used across the Commonwealth. All government bodies are within the jurisdiction of the ombudsman.
The Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) is a Canadian organization whose responsibility is to handle the financial disputes of consumers and small businesses that could not be resolved by the customers and the financial firms on their own. The OBSI provides the service on an impartial and independent basis, and free of charge to the consumer as an alternative to the legal system.
Prof. Dr. Malik Rabea Dahlan is an international lawyer, mediator and academic specializing in international law and policy. He has founded a number of policy, research and philanthropic organizations, and has written and advised on legislative affairs, defence, energy policies, and foreign relations. He is also a UN Constitutional Expert, Oil and Gas selected by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq. He is currently a chaired professor of international law and public policy in London and Senior Mediation Fellow in Residence with Harvard University's Davis Center Negotiation Task Force.
The Community Mediation Centres (CMCs) in Singapore come under the purview of the Ministry of Law. The work of the CMCs is overseen by the Community Mediation Unit (CMU), a department set up within the Ministry of Law to run CMCs’ day to day operations as well as promote the use of mediation in Singapore.
The Global Pound Conference series (GPC) was a series of conferences about alternative dispute resolution (ADR) held in many cities in several countries in 2016/2017. The title of the conference series was "Shaping the Future of Dispute Resolution & Improving Access to Justice".. It was organised as an initiative of the International Mediation Institute (IMI).
Allan Jeffrey Stitt is a chartered Canadian arbitrator, mediator and film producer. He is the President and CEO of ADR Chambers, a Canadian arbitration and mediation organization. Stitt is the recipient of the 2006 Ontario Bar Association Award of Excellence in Alternative Dispute Resolution. As a movie executive producer, Stitt has also contributed to films including The Layover, The Birth of a Nation, Into the Forest, I Saw the Light, and Ithaca.
The Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute of Alberta (ADRIA) is a non-profit organization with offices in Edmonton, Alberta, that provides Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) services to its members and the public. It was originally founded in 1982, encapsulated within the Alberta Arbitration and Mediation Society (AAMS), but the two organizations split in 2012 so that AAMS could continue to exist with charitable status, while ADRIA emerged and carried on the membership based non-profit work. ADRIA's mandate is to promote the use of ADR while offering education and training to individuals across Alberta and the Northwest Territories in negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and restorative practices. The organization has been used as a source for ADR information, resources and expertise in a range of both private and government matters. This now includes having a key role in the annual Conflict Resolution Day, hosted on the third Thursday of every October since 2007, which seeks to promote awareness for the utility of ADR practices. In 2013 ADRIA helped provide input for the review of the Condominium Property Act with regards to dispute resolution issues.
