Originially from: World Arbitration and Mediation Review (WAMR) 

Pioneering an Approach to Mediating Large Disputes
By
Ian Hanger, QC, Member,
National ADR Advisory Council
Australian Government Appointee, ICSID
Mediation Member, Court of Arbitration for Sport
and
John Cooper
Leader of Allens Arthur Robinson’s Construction Practice Group
[Keynote address given at the Australian Centre for Peace and Conflict
Studies, University of Queensland, Summer 2004].
Both mediation and arbitration are well established as effective
methods of dispute resolution in Australia—the latter involving the
submission of a dispute for determination by an independent third party
and the former involving the resolution of a dispute by mutual agreement
between the parties utilizing the skills of an independent third party.
Not all disputes fit comfortably into either the mediation or the
arbitration process. We argue that it is essential to design a dispute
resolution process that suits the particular dispute rather than to try to
make the dispute fit into a process. It is only by taking this flexible
approach that a number of disputes we have been involved with have been
effectively and efficiently resolved with our input. The process that we
have recently adopted is a hybrid process. It is akin to a mini-trial, but we
have declined to use that term because the term has different meanings
depending on where you are. We thought that the most apposite term was
to call it a “Senior Executive Appraisal Mediation” (SEAM). It is based
on and adapted from a procedure described by Sir Laurence Street in a
paper given many years ago. We have added the word “mediation” after
the words “senior executive appraisal” to better describe our adaptation of
the process in which we were involved which requires both appraisal and
mediation. It is a flexible process and we will describe its nature and our
experiences in dealing with it. In a nutshell, it involves an experienced
mediator working with two senior officers of disputing organizations and
listening to presentations from their own employees who are in conflict
and then meeting with the mediator to resolve the conflict.