I often say to colleagues that confidentiality in mediation is a bit of a myth. I don’t mean we should stop offering it. I mean that the way we usually describe it promises clients something we can’t actually deliver. Here is the kind of situation I have in mind. A client makes a complaint about […]
Confidentiality in Mediation: Are We Promising Something That Doesn’t Exist? Read More »
Prepared by The Conflict Management Academy, August 2026 Why finance is one of the biggest employers of dispute resolution skills in Australia If you have studied finance, you may not realise that the financial services industry is legally required to run dispute resolution systems, and that it employs thousands of people to do so. Two
There is a new guide out called Prompt Engineering for Mediators. The Singapore Mediation Centre wrote it with the Singapore Academy of Law and Microsoft. It is free. At 23 pages, it takes half an hour to read. It is one of the first practical AI guides written for mediators rather than for lawyers, and
A New AI Guide Written for Mediators, Not Lawyers Read More »
You meet two separated parents. Each describes a child you would struggle to recognise as the same person. One parent talks about a calm, capable, easy kid who never gives them any trouble. The other describes daily meltdowns, exhaustion, and a child barely holding together by the end of the afternoon. Both are telling the
When a Child Masks With One Parent and Melts Down With the Other Read More »
You are setting up a workplace mediation. The referrer, often someone from HR, says they want a copy of any written agreement the parties reach. It sounds like a routine request, but it changes the process in ways the referrer may not have thought through, and how you respond shapes both the parties’ experience and
When the Referrer Wants a Copy of the Agreement Read More »
Most jobs come with two descriptions. The one that gets written down is about outcomes: deliver this analysis, manage this caseload, draft these contracts, service these clients, hit these targets. That description ends up in the position description, the contract, the performance review. The other one isn’t written anywhere. Be approachable in the kitchen. Read
The Job Description and the Unwritten One Read More »
The best interests of the child is the principle Australian family dispute resolution is built around. It’s the test parenting arrangements have to satisfy and the standard we keep coming back to in every matter involving kids. The Family Law Act s 60CC factors to consider when determining what parenting arrangements are in the child’s
The “Best Interests” of the Neurodivergent Child Read More »
The setup most of us know Most workplace conflict coaching referrals follow a familiar pattern. An HR manager or other employer representative contacts you. They have two employees who can’t work together, and they want something to change. They arrange coaching, possibly with mediation to follow. They pay the invoice. And then, at some point,
Who Are You Reporting To? Confidentiality in Employer-Referred Conflict Coaching Read More »
My friend Sabine, a senior leader in a corporate organisation, recently told me about a moment that a female colleague of hers had experienced at work, a moment that many women in leadership will recognise. Her colleague, a top leader at another corporate organisation, had been developing a board presentation when two male colleagues, both
You are doing an intake with one of the parties to a workplace mediation. Somewhere in the conversation they tell you, almost as an aside, that they are already looking for other roles. They have mentally checked out. They are hoping that by the time the mediation takes place, the question of how they work