Originally from World Arbitration And Mediation Review (WAMR)

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CERTIFYING INTERNATIONAL COMPETENCY

STANDARDS FOR MEDIATORS:
A LOOK AT IMI’S INITIATIVE
Neil Carmichael*

I. INTRODUCTION
In recent years, users of commercial mediation (as well as
some in the public arena) have observed that mediation has not
progressed into a true profession in its own right. While the
practice and use of mediation as it has developed in recent years
finds a mature market in the United States and a relatively mature
market in Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the
market is less developed in Continental Europe, except for The
Netherlands, and even less so in Latin America, the Middle East,
Africa and Asia. In those countries where mediation has taken
hold, the practice is still very much a vicarious profession, reliant
for its standards and integrity on the range of professional
qualifications in other fields (e.g., construction, intellectual
property, energy, etc.) held by mediation practitioners. In
addition to the vicarious nature of the practice, mediation is
plagued by a lack of homogeneity in its use, varying levels of
service among individual mediators, and little or no consistency
in terms of quality and content among training and accreditation
criteria.
Given these developments, the mediation landscape from the
disputants’ perspective can often appear confusing, even to
sophisticated users. Disputants and/or their legal counsel are
often insufficiently informed about how and why mediation
works, and are unsure about the competency of many mediators.
Consequently they are hesitant to use mediation, thus inhibiting
the development and progress of the field. Thus, the vicarious
nature of the practice, lack of homogeneity in the use of
mediation, the varying levels of service among individual