Returning from the American Bar Association dispute resolution conference I was struck by how simple life seems here by comparison. It came as a shock to hear a mediator in her forties confide that she had done 3,200 mediations. I calculate that this means most days she mediates around eight disputes. That is not commercial mediation as we know it in the UK.
Attending another session on differing approaches to confidentiality, I received a handout summarising more than 100 statutory provisions in 20 of the states (leaving another 30 unsummarised). Whether ‘less is more’ remains an enduring question in deciding what we should import from US to UK practice.
