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Mediation and Dispute Resolution Hub

Unit(s) of assessment: Law

School: Nottingham Law School

Overview

The vision for the Mediation and Dispute Resolution Hub is that it will be at the forefront of academic commentary and innovative contribution to:

  • the role and training of lawyers to be effective as representatives of clients in mediation
  • the most effective and efficient styles of mediation practice with a particular focus on the user perspectives
  • the methods of selecting, training and developing individuals as effective mediators with particular regard to current training practices and the validation of institutions.

If users and the wider community are to gain the full benefit of and the opportunities to enrich society from, the use of mediation research is needed to inform the thinking of key stakeholders in the field.

It is envisaged that the Hub will design and develop training both theoretical and practical which would be attractive to:

  • undergraduate students and postgraduate students seeking a professional legal qualification
  •  
  • practising lawyers wanted to be effective representatives of clients
  • practising mediators, and those seeking to qualify as mediators, by creating an internationally recognised academic standard.

We are keen to develop and maintain links with key stakeholder organisations, both in academia and in the mediation provision community. We seek to cultivate and sustain strong relationships with leading professionals involved with mediation both as facilitator practitioners and as representatives or advocates for their clients.

Joy Davies is the Director of the Hub. She is a member of the Working Party drafting the Rules for the 12th ICC International Commercial Mediation Competition scheduled to take place in Paris in February 2017 and has been invited to be a member of the Judges Panel for the Competition.

Membership of the Hub is open to all University academic staff with an interest in and experience of mediation, arbitration or other forms of dispute resolution outside the court system.

News and events

Competition win for NTU Students

Following a strong performance in our internal negotiation competition, Wai Yee Law and Wing Sum Chan were selected to represent the university in the 2022 Mediation Skills Competition run by the Worshipful Company of Arbitrators in London.  

The competition involved three different mediation scenarios which raised a range of legal issues and financial claims.  The competition was judged by experienced professional mediators and teams of trainee lawyers competed alongside university students.

We are delighted to announce that NTU's team were awarded "Best University" in the competition.  Megan Shirley, who coached the pair, said "We are really proud of our students for competing and being recognised in such a prestigious competition."

NLS Negotiation Competition success

The Centre for Mediation and Dispute Resolution has run another successful negotiation competition this term. With students entering from almost every course within the Law School, there was an impressive level of performance.

Megan Shirley, Peter Vaughan and Alan Dury provided training to the students on negotiation skills and preparation of mediation plans. The competition culminated in a live negotiation round in which students worked in pairs to secure a good deal for their clients. Jorge Kemp and Oli Livingstone, both 3rd year LLB students, were judged the winners. Congratulations Jorge and Oli!

Centre Director, Joy Davies, judges the ICC International Mediation Competition

Joy was delighted to be selected to be a judge in the 16th ICC International Commercial Mediation Competition, this year, conducted online. She witnessed strong performances from the students in the mediation sessions that she had the privilege of observing and judging. Although not a criterion on the competition score sheet, the students' ability to adapt seamlessly to mediating online was exceptional.

NTU Team prepares to compete in the ICC Mediation Competition

A team of four students from Nottingham Law School are preparing to compete in an international mediation competition run by the International Chamber of Commerce. The team will be competing against 47 other universities entering from 39 different countries.  The competition is usually run in Paris, but will be held online in 2021.

The NTU team, consisting of Blessing Iheanacho-Emenike, Jorge Kemp, Beth Eady and Giorgia Zollino, will compete in at least four rounds with different commercial dispute scenarios.  They will be required to submit mediation plans in advance of the sessions and then go on to represent their client's interests and to move the dispute towards settlement.  The mediation sessions will be mediated by trained, commercial mediators and judged by a panel of experts.

The team is being coached by Andrii Zharikov and Megan Shirley, members of the Centre for Mediation and Commercial Dispute Resolution. We wish the team the best of luck in the competition!

NTU’s Negotiation Competition moves online for 2020!

The Centre for Mediation and Dispute Resolution recently ran a very successful negotiation competition, culminating in the final “live” rounds being conducted on 30 November and 1 December. The competition was open to all students of Nottingham Law School.

An initial round involved the completion of a negotiation plan. There followed a live round, conducted online, where pairs worked together to represent their clients’ interests within a negotiation.  Some reached a negotiated agreement, others weren’t able to agree on all points, but for all, the skills built throughout the process will undoubtedly prove useful in any future career. This year’s winners were Beth Eady and Georgia Woodier, both third year students on the LLB International Law course. Well done Beth and Georgia!

Formal launch of the Centre for Mediation and Dispute Resolution

The formal launch of the centre took place on Friday 4 November 2016. During the morning session students from across the Law School took part in an interactive demonstration of a mediation in progress organised and run by the Association of Midlands Mediators. In the afternoon students mixed with mediation practitioners, legal professionals and educationalists to hear a presentation from Professor Richard Butler which explored the development of mediation and looked at the role of the Centre. This was followed by an Open Space discussion sessions led by Amanda Bucklow a leading independent commercial mediator and trainer. The outcome from the discussions is being reviewed and should identify some areas for further research and discussion.

At the end of the afternoon The Hon Sir Peter Coulson, Judge in Charge of the Technology and Construction Court, gave a formal address to launch the Centre. Sir Peter took part in the Open Space discussions and drew on them as part of his address.

All Things Law – the magazine of Nottingham Law School

The winter edition of All Things Law featured mediation as its cover story. The keynote article, Mediation or Litigation: a fresh perspective, was written by Centre Director Joy Davies.

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Mediation Week February 2017

The centre contributed to the success of the ICC 2017 Mediation Week in February 2017, at which 130 mediation professionals (mediators, academics and lawyers) were present. Joy Davies was a judge in the 12th ICC International Commercial Mediation Competition, which involved student teams from 66 universities representing over 30 countries. Joy also created one of the problems used in the Competition and in addition was a member of the Rules Working Party. Joy also attended the fourth ICC International Mediation Round Table which opened the week.

The Nottingham Law School Negotiation Competition 2017

The Centre ran the inaugural NLS Negotiation Competition. Students from the LLB, the GDL and the BPTC took the opportunity to show their negotiation skills and to develop those skills through a series of negotiation sessions involving employment, neighbour and commercial problems. The competition was won by second year LLB students Junely Coker and Akil Hunte who then went on to represent Nottingham Trent University in Leeds at the regional heats of the National Negotiation Competition. Akil and Junely receive the Professor Miryana Nesic Memorial Prize for Skills in Dispute Resolution 2017.

Creating Opportunity and Enriching Society

The University’s strategic plan includes in its key outcome that we should create opportunity and enrich society. In support of these goals the Centre for Mediation & Dispute Resolution has commenced discussion with the Legal Advice Centre at Nottingham Law School to identify how, working together, we might offer to the local community a mediation service or support in the use of mediation.

Related staff

Membership of the centre is open to all University academic staff with an interest in and experience of mediation, arbitration or other forms of dispute resolution outside the court system.

Related staff

Publications

Nottingham Law Journal

Nottingham Law School publishes the Nottingham Law Journal. The journal was founded in 1977 (as the Trent Law Journal), changing to its current title in 1992. It is peer-reviewed and normally published annually.

Read our current edition and find out how to contribute