The Mediate.com Podcast Veronica Cravener

In this episode, Veronica speaks with John Sturrock KC, founder and senior mediator at Core Solutions.  Listen to this episode to learn about the following:

The connection between food, hospitality, meeting together, and mediation
How excellence in mediation is similar to excellence in sports
What it means to mediate "minimally" and why you should consider using this approach
The role mediators can play regarding discussions of political issues
Collaborative Scotland and the "Better Conversations Bus Tour"

Learn More:
Collaborative Scotland
Core Solutions
John's Books: Mediator's Musings Vol 1 and Vol 2


 
About John Sturrock KC:


John Sturrock KC is founder and senior mediator at Core Solutions and has also acted as a mediator through Brick Court Chambers in London. For over twenty years, he has been a pioneer of mediation in the UK, with an international reputation, and his work extends to the commercial, professional, sports, public sector, policy and political fields. He is identified as a Global Elite Thought Leader by Who’s Who Legal, is a Distinguished Fellow of the international Academy of Mediators and has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Edinburgh. He writes extensively and recently published the second volume of his book entitled “A Mediator’s Musings” (both volumes available on Amazon).
John also specialises in facilitation, negotiation, mediation and conflict management training and consultancy for leaders in the private and public sectors, sport, the professions and government. For many years, he has worked with various parliaments throughout the UK on improving effective scrutiny of policy. He regularly advises and coaches senior officials in the Scottish Government on negotiation strategy in significant policy areas. He is founder of Collaborative Scotland, which promotes non-partisan respectful dialogue about difficult issues and is one of the initiators of the Mediators’ Green Pledge.
In 2019, John conducted a major review for the Scottish Government into allegations of bullying in NHS Highland and the subsequent “Sturrock Report” was well received across the public sector. He was a member of the Stewarding Group of the first Citizens Assembly in Scotland in 2019 – 2021. In 2019, John also co-chaired an Expert Group under the auspices of Scottish Mediation which produced an important report entitled “Bringing Mediation into the Mainstream”.
John practised at the Scottish Bar from 1986 – 2002 and was appointed a Queen’s (now King’s) Counsel in 1999 and, as the first Director of Training and Education in the Faculty of Advocates from 1994 to 2002, designed and led the Scottish Bar’s award-winning advocacy skills programme. He trained in negotiation at Harvard University in 1996 and was named Specialist of the Year at the Scottish Legal Awards in 2003 and Mediator of the Year at the Law Awards of Scotland in 2009.  He was awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws from Edinburgh Napier University in 2010.

"Part of community mediation is...we don't want people co-existing, we want people co-creating." In this episode, Veronica speaks with D.G. Mawn, President of the National Association for Community Mediation (NAFCM).  Listen to this episode to learn more about the following:

About NAFCM
NAFCM's partnership with Living Room Conversations
Testing the School Board Community Toolkit
About the Toolkit
How mediators can support the program.
For more information, visit NAFCM's website at https://www.nafcm.org/. Contact D.G. Mawn via email at dgmawn@nafcm.org. 

 
 
About D.G. Mawn:D.G. has served NAFCM in several roles, first as a member of the Board of the Directors (2012-2014) then as the JAMS Foundation Mini-Grant Program Manager (2014-2016), and currently serves NAFCM as the President of the membership association. He co-developed the Cultural Intuitiveness process and provides consultation and coaching to state, public and community-based organizations on human services/system development and effectiveness, leadership development, strategic planning and communication, cultural intuitiveness, sustainability and evaluation. D.G. Mawn is an attorney licensed in Illinois and Kentucky. He received his mediation training in 2000.
D.G. has worked in the local, state and federal level health systems interweaving his background in anthropology, religion and law in a manner that connects well within the political setting as well as the community setting. Through-out his career he has sought to appreciate the culture and systems of community and follow empathetic processes that strengthen both the individual and the system in order to facilitate the creation of sustainable positive impacts.

In celebration of the publication of Mediate.com's 1000th newsletter, Mediate.com CEO Colin Rule sits down with Mediate.com co-founder John Helie to talk about the early days of the Mediate.com (and ConflictNet), the newsletter, top authors and editors, and how artificial intelligence and social networking has changed and will change the ADR field over the coming decades (discussion interrupted only briefly by a marauding pack of nearby goats).

If you've ever been curious about the attorney perspective on what makes for an effective mediation, then this episode is for you!  In this episode, Veronica chats with Margeaux Thomas, an experienced attorney, about what makes for an effective mediation within the context of mediating a business divorce.  Questions answered include:
What is a "business divorce"?
What makes a skilled mediator for these types of disputes?
At what point in the dispute is mediation most valuable?
What are some pitfalls to be avoided by the mediator?
About Margeaux:
Margeaux is an experienced lawyer and speaker with 15+ years of experience representing individuals and small businesses in commercial and real estate litigation, including class action cases and numerous trials on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants. She specializes in commercial landlord/tenant disputes, business partnership disputes, and contract disputes, and has traveled throughout the country as a faculty lecturer educating over 4,000 attorneys on business litigation issues.
Margeaux is also a contributor to the American Bar Association's Commercial Lending Treatise and has been recognized as a Super Lawyers Rising Star from 2013 - 2022 and a Top Lawyer by Northern Virginia Magazine in 2022.
In addition to managing her own law firm, The Thomas Law Office PLC, Margeaux is actively involved in various bar associations and non-profit organizations, including the Old Dominion Bar Association and the George Mason Inn of Court. In her spare time, Margeaux enjoys spending time with her family and cooking healthy meals as the founder of Vegetable Forward, an organization dedicated to promoting positive food values and nutrition through community gardening.
Connect with Margeaux:
Law Firm Website
Email: mthomas@thomaslawplc.com
Phone: 703-957-2577
 

Did you know that the average length of a lawsuit in Brazil is about 10 years? Good thing there's mediation!  In this episode, Veronica chats with guest, Mariana F. Souza--a mediator, lawyer, and arbitrator based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil--about the following topics:
The difference between mediation and conciliation in Brazil
What mediation looks like in Brazil
How party/lawyer interest in mediation has changed over the years
What is the general public perception of mediation in Brazil?
 
About Mariana:
Mariana Freitas de Souza is a mediator based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she also works as a lawyer and arbitrator.  She has over 20 years of experience in complex disputes involving commercial, civil, contracts, consumer and labor matters, and serves as mediator with the main centers in the country, as well as the UN. She holds a LL.B from the Rio de Janeiro State University and an LL.M from Tulane University.
Mariana's LinkedIn

As a mediator, are you aware of the key characteristics of communication in Latin American culture? Are you curious about whether AI will replace human dispute resolvers? Listen to this episode as Veronica chats with guest, Luis Gómez, who is both a Colombian mediator and a research lecturer who teaches negotiation strategy and artificial intelligence applied to dispute system design--about these topics.  Episode highlights include a discussion of the following:
 

Mediation vs. Conciliation in Colombia
The recent Colombian law regarding conciliation
Key characteristics of communication in Latin culture that are important for neutrals to know
What is AI?
Will AI replace human dispute resolution practitioners?
Link to related episode:
 
Online Conciliation in Colombia with Nicolás Lozada [Ep. 31]
 
About Luis:
 
Luis Gómez is an international business lawyer expert in conflict resolution, graduate of the University Externado of Colombia Law School (JD equivalent) and with a diploma program in financial law from the University del Rosario. He also holds a master in International Business and Management from the University of Westminster in London, an executive course in Successful Negotiation Strategy, University of Cambridge, after which he worked as part of Motorola´s legal team in the United Kingdom. 
 
Recently, he took the Negotiation Research and Teaching certificate offered by the Dispute Resolution Research Center at Northwestern University, Chicago, and Phd research stance at the Gould Center for Conflict Resolution, Stanford University.
Currently, Luis is a mediator at the Chamber of Commerce of Bogotá and research lecturer at the Business Law Department, University Externado of Colombia, teaching negotiation strategy and artificial intelligence applied to dispute system design, among other subjects; and member of the Committee of Commercial Practices CCI. He is in charge of the Master of International Business Law and the Diploma in Legal Innovation, and author of the book: International Negotiation – Strategic Approach.
 
Connect with Luis: LUIS.GOMEZ01@uexternado.edu.co
 
Connect with Veronica Cravener on LinkedIn