Exciting new European mediation blog from publishing giant Kluwer with a cast of international mediators posting regularly
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US scholar Robert Benjamin, professor at Pepperdine University School of Law, in NZ for the August AMINZ conference, talks to National Radio
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AMINZ Director, Deborah Hart speaks with Kathryn Ryan on National Radio on 2nd August on dispute resolution. To listen click here.
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-Tom Howe QC accepts appointment as LEADR Fellow for 2011 – 2012 – Outgoing Fellow, Geoff Sharp, acknowledged. Read more here
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LEADR NZ Awards 2011 – Several well-known figures in the NZ dispute resolution landscape were acknowledged at the inaugural national awards event in Auckland on 16 June 2011. Hosted by Bell Gully, the event brought together a wide range of professionals from the mediation community. More here
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Open Letter to All Christchurch Practitioners – Mediation Assistance for Urgent Christchurch Matters as a Result of the 22 February Earthquake
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November 2010 - Geoff has been selected as a judge and mediator at the 6th ICC International Commercial Mediation Competition to be held in Paris in February 2011.
As the world’s only moot devoted exclusively to international commercial mediation, the Competition gives students a unique opportunity to exercise their problem-solving skills in mock mediations conducted by professional mediators. Universally recognized for its contribution to nurturing best practices in cross-border business mediation and best practice sharing, the Competition enjoys the support of academics, law firms and corporations worldwide. The 2011 Competition will involve about 60 competing universities and over 100 dispute resolution professionals selected from all around the globe.
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1 November 2010 – Law Society partners with Massey University to provide mediation training
MASSEY UNIVERSITY has signed a partnership agreement with the New Zealand Law Society to deliver tailor-made mediation training to lawyers.
The agreement was signed by University Vice-Chancellor Steve Maharey and Christine Grice, who chairs the Society’s Continuing Legal Education board, at a ceremony attended by Principal Family Court Judge Peter Boshier.
The full programme will be launched next year with lawyers taking part in training to better assist their clients in areas such as family mediation, or to become mediators themselves. Courses will initially be run in Wellington, Christchurch, and Auckland.
Grice, who presides on the High Court and Court of Appeal in the Cook Islands and chairs the board of Radio New Zealand and Te Pou, has first-hand experience of studying at Massey, having graduated in 2007 with a Master of Business Studies endorsed in dispute resolution.
At the ceremony in Wellington, Judge Boshier spoke positively of the relationship between the University and the Law Society, and Massey’s willingness to respond to a particular need in the area of family mediation.
Virginia Goldblatt, director of the Dispute Resolution Centre in the College of Business, will lead the programme. She says the partnership reflects Massey’s commitment to professional and executive education.
“We look forward to bringing the values and expertise of Massey University together with those of the Law Society to make a genuine contribution to the New Zealand legal and social environment,” Goldblatt said. “The University is enthusiastic about the prospect of the educational and academic aspects of the course being translated into practice in the community, particularly in the vital area of family law.”
A pilot module taught by Geoff Sharp and Virginia Goldblatt will run in November prior to full programme launch
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On Thursday 29 July Geoff interviewed the American Ambassador as part of a LEADR/ Bell Gully event billed as ‘A Conversation with US Ambassador to NZ, David Heubner’
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August 2010; Geoff is set to launch a new negotiation newsletter aimed at lawyers wanting to improve their client’s negotiation strategy at me
diation. It will be invitation only so email me if you are an NZ or Australian lawyer and wish to receive it.
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August 2010; Geoff is to present “Mediation – The Inconvenient Truth” at the joint AMINZ & IAMA conference in Christchurch, New Zealand.
This paper will aim to dispel a number of myths that have grown up around mediation and around the mediation industry in the last decade — tackling such sensitive topics as the amount mediation is actually used , the estimated size of the mediation market, who is providing mediation, who is using mediation, what is costing, mediation models in 2010, the way we train mediators, the prospect of a career path for new mediators, diversity within the ranks of New Zealand and Australian mediators, how am mediation practice differs from what is taught in mediation training.
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In February 2011 Geoff has been invited to speak on “Trial or Therapy, Rights or Interests?” at the 2nd Asian Mediation Association 
Conference in Kuala Lumpur having been privileged to make the closing address at the 1st Asian Mediation Conference in Singapore in 2009.
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July 2010; Geoff has just completed an online seminar for mediators “Preparing to Mediate” - a Lexis Nexis webinair and part of its Dispute Resolution Series – pay per view here.
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