Our blog for mediators and other professionals
Why I Joined The College of Mediators
Stephen G Anderson LL.B+Why I joined the College of Mediators I'm not like Groucho Marx. I'm willingly a member of many organisations. I'll come to the College of Mediators in a moment. Meanwhile, I'd like to invite you to take a short journey with me. My first career was as a debt collector...
Revised FMC Code of Practice
Stephen G Anderson LL.B+The FMC has recently published a revised code of practice. Every family mediator should read it and make any appropriate adjustments to their practice. Changes to code The main changes to the code include those to conflicts of interests (5.1), online mediation (6.1),...
Peer Mediation – It Makes Perfect Sense
Elisabet Anderson+Peer Mediation - It Makes Perfect Sense When children fall out and argue, they rush to a grown-up for help to sort things out. They need to tell, and quick, before the other kid gets in with their version of events! Communication, or rather a breakdown in...
Get Ready for Mediation Awareness Week – UK in October 2016
Stephen G Anderson LL.B+Mediation Awareness Week-UK (MAW) will run from Saturday 8 October until Friday 14 October inclusive. It's aim is to promote all forms of mediation - civil & commercial, family, intergenerational, workplace, neighbourhood & community, peer, restorative justice...
Online Mediation Given the Clear Go-Ahead by FMC
Stephen G Anderson LL.B+I can confirm that the Family Mediation Council board has approved a raft of updating amendments to its code of practice. These include a clarification that MIAM and mediation meetings may take place via online video. This has long been the subject of uncertainty....
Love Lose Live: Divorce is a Rollercoaster by Mary Banham-Hall
Elisabet Anderson+Love Lose Live: Divorce is a Rollercoaster - A book review Mary Banham-Hall is an experienced lawyer and mediator. After many years of listening to the stories of separating and divorcing couples, she decided to give a voice to the Bailey family in her new novel, Love...
The Children Act by Ian McEwan
Elisabet Anderson+Reading The Children Act over the Christmas break might sound like a busman’s holiday, but Ian McEwan’s version is, as The Guardian said, “compulsively readable”. Interestingly, if you *google “The Children Act”, the first few results relate to the novel not the...
Anderson Mediation supports Family Mediation Week 2016
Henrik+It's time to choose a better way: Anderson Mediation supports Family Mediation Week 2016 Every year, thousands of families are torn apart by bitter court battles. Relationships between separating parents are irretrievably broken, and all too often their children are...
How to Refer Clients to Mediation in a Way Which Adds Value to Your Legal Practice
Stephen G Anderson LL.B+You're a busy lawyer. You get a phone call put through from reception. It's a new enquiry. After a few minutes it's clear that it's potentially a matter for mediation. So what do you do? You explain that they should get in touch with a mediator to help. You give them...
Are You Willing to Offer a Fixed Price to Support Mediation Clients?
Stephen G Anderson LL.B+More than 50% of our clients don’t have lawyers when they start their mediation. Typically, this isn’t a problem until a mediation agreement is reached. Then, they need lawyers to help them turn their mediation agreement into a court order. They ask us who might be able to help …
The very Idea of “Lawyer Assisted Negotiation” is a Misnomer
Stephen G Anderson LL.B+Lawyer assisted negotiation is not described in any negotiation handbooks. I’m not surprised …
The state has got to stop subsidising family court disputes
Stephen G Anderson LL.B+The state is directly contributing to adversarial family dispute resolution and to the psychosomatic problems of children when their parents separate.