Does Mandatory Mediation Work? Perspectives from the U.K., India, and Nigeria

Presented by:

SOAS Arbitration Dispute Resolution Centre (SADRC)

In partnership with:

Center for Negotiation and Dispute Resolution (CNDR), UC Law San Francisco, and Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR)

 

 

Zoom Link to join the webinar: https://uchastings.zoom.us/j/99007155842

 

The recent English case of Churchill v. Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council has reinvigorated the debate over “mandatory” mediation. Does mandatory mediation work, and if so in what particular form(s)? Is it objectionable in principle, no matter what the benefits to backlogged courts or overcoming mediation skepticism? What are the implications for the future regulation of mediation? This distinguished panel of international experts will bring key perspectives to bear on these questions from the U.K., India, and Nigeria.

 

 

Hiro Aragaki

Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Negotiation and Dispute Resolution (CNDR)

Professor Aragaki’ s scholarly interests cluster around the intersection of contract and procedure, and his work on ADR has been published in top U.S. law journals, and has won prestigious accolades. Professor Aragaki has written extensively on federal arbitration law and is currently engaged in a number of long-term projects looking at mediation from comparative, development, and empirical perspectives.  He has frequently been called upon to train judges and lawyers in ADR and consult on ADR reform projects around the world, most recently as an Advisor to the Expert Committee on Mediation, Supreme Court of India, and as an advisor to the judiciary of Kazakhstan on arbitration law reforms. Professor Aragaki is a former member of the California State Bar Standing Committee on Alternative Dispute Resolution, a former member of the AALS Section on Dispute Resolution Executive Committee, and a former Board member of the California Dispute Resolution Council. He currently holds leadership positions in the ABA Section on International Law and ABA ROLI, and is a Professorial Research Associate at SOAS School of Law in London. He serves as an arbitrator and mediator at JAMS, and is admitted to practice in California, New York, the District of Columbia, and England & Wales.

 

Michael Bartlet

Michael’s experience as a lawyer, mediator and Public Interest lobbyist inform his role as convenor of ADR courses and tutor in Public Law at SOAS. After graduating with a degree in English Literature from Oxford he worked for a Devon Publisher and Chair of Exeter Film Workshop before qualifying as a teacher at the Institute of Education and working in schools, colleges, and universities in the UK. In 1988 he visited Ecuador and worked for the British Council in Quito while learning Spanish and doing voluntary research on human rights.

After qualifying as a Barrister in 1992 he worked as supervisory solicitor for Gateshead Law Centre before being appointed as Parliamentary Officer for British Quakers. In this role he campaigned for Freedom of Information legislation and worked with MPs and civil servants to introduce legislation to enable same sex partners to marry in Quaker Meeting Houses and to provide for a statutory right of discharge for under 18 year olds in the UK Armed Forces. Michael has also worked on asylum rights as a trustee of Refugee Council and chair of Asylum Rights Campaign.

Michael has also trained as a civil, family and community mediator and combine this work with my teaching at SOAS.

 

Caroline Nene Etuk

Ms. Etuk is a lawyer and internationally accredited mediator with over a decade of experience establishing and directing the Lagos Multi-Door Courthouse, the first court-connected ADR center in Africa. She has served at the vanguard of justice sector reform by incorporating ADR in the civil justice system through the amendment of court rules and other legislation. Currently the Director of the Enugu State Multi-Door Courthouse, her efforts focus on developing the center as an ADR hub for the region. Upon completion of her Fellowship, she intends to develop a comprehensive system for service standards requiring accountability and compliance to complete the successful transition of Court ADR to an efficient alternative to litigation in Nigeria.

 

 

 

 

Laila Ollapally

Laila Ollapally has practiced in the High Court of Karnataka and Supreme Court of India for nearly 30 years and entered the field of Mediation in 2007.  She has been a Full Time mediator since 2015. She has co-mediated cases with former Judges of the Supreme Court of India.

She is the Founding Coordinator of the Bangalore Mediation Centre. In 2015, she founded CAMP Arbitration & Mediation Practice. She has mediated over 600 complex civil and commercial disputes including, partnership,  property, family business, IP, breach of contract, landlord-tenant, company, shareholder,  employment, workplace, sexual harassment, money recovery, sports, maritime and  matrimonial. For her contribution and efforts in mediation, she was nominated to ‘The International Who’s Who of Legal Commercial Mediation 2019 and  as a Global leader in Mediation for 2020.

Presently, she serves on the Panel of Mediators of Singapore International Mediation Centre, American Arbitration Association- International Centre for Dispute Resolution (AAA-ICDR) and  other domestic and international panels. She is an International Mediation Institute (IMI) certified Mediator & a Weinstein Fellow with JAMS Foundation (USA). She has been trained in Mediation by the High Court of Karnataka. She has received advanced mediation training from Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at  Pepperdine University and International Summer School on Business Mediation, Austria.  She is a visiting scholar at Stanford Law School. She trains extensively on Mediation and Negotiation.

Ms. Laila Ollapally is a member of the Board of International Mediation Institute (IMI) and Member of the  International Advisory Board of the Global Mediation Panel, UNDP. Ms. Ollapally was a member of the Committee constituted by the Supreme Court of India to make recommendations for a draft legislation for mediation in India. She was a member of the Sub-Committee constituted by the Supreme Court of India to prepare the National Mediation Training Manual. Her articles and interviews are published widely in newspapers, Law journals, and other publications.

 

 

Kelly Stricklin-Coutinho

Kelly Stricklin-Coutinho is a barrister and mediator. In both of those, her practice includes commercial and contractual disputes, tax disputes, financial services matters, energy disputes and public law cases, often with EU and international aspects. She is a member of CEDR’s Faculty of trainers and Panel of mediators. Kelly was counsel, led by Edwin Glasgow CBE KC, for the CMC, CEDR and Ciarb in their successful intervention in Churchill v Merthyr Tydfil CBC [2023] EWCA Civ 1416. She is ranked in the Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners.”