Originially from: World Arbitration and Mediation Review (WAMR)

THE INCREASED USE OF MEDIATION TO RESOLVE
INTERNATIONAL DISPUTES
By Richard A. Schiffer, International Dispute Resolution Ltd., London. Mr.
Schiffer is a London-based American lawyer advising on American and
international law. He has had 17 years of international experience in commercial
and financial matters, shipping, and dispute resolution. He is European Director
of International Dispute Resolution Ltd., Managing Director of I.D.R. Europe
Ltd., and a Director of Computer Mediation Ltd., as well as an Associate Member
of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and an Arbitrator for the International
Commercial and Arbitration Court in Geneva.
The Warning And The Trend
In the 18th Century, Voltaire wrote: “I was ruined but twice—once when I
gained a lawsuit, and once when I lost one.” In the 19th Century, Abraham
Lincoln advised: “Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise
whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a loser—in
fees, expenses, and waste of time”
Litigation is a “no-win” option. However, despite these centuries of warnings it
is only in the last 20 years, and particularly in the 1980’s, that alternative methods
for the lawful resolution of disputes, both business and personal, have been
developed to avoid litigation.
Several years ago Warren E. Burger, then Chief Justice of the United States
Supreme Court, highlighted society’s concern: “People with problems, like people
with pain, want relief, and they want it as quickly and inexpensively as possible.”
The same call is now being heard in the United Kingdom. As recently as January
27, 1989, the Lord Chancellor Lord Mackay of Clashfern stated on national
British television: “I would very much like to see settlements occurring earlier so
that the Court calendar can be better planned. Settlements and mediation and
methods of resolving disputes without going to Court that produce satisfactory
results for both sides I think are very much to be encouraged.”
An Overview
As a result of rocketing legal costs, which can put the furtherance of one’s
legitimate rights beyond the means of the average citizen, compounded by timeconsuming
discovery procedures and crowded court calendars causing serious
delays in the judicial process, both private and not-for-profit alternative dispute
resolution (ADR) organizations have been established in many countries—
including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Israel, Australia, and New
Zealand—for the private resolution of disputes through methods such as