Effective alternate dispute resolution

Endeavour

noreply@blogger.com (St. Clair Jonker Mediators and Arbitrators) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 08:40:00 +0000

"endeavour"-a purposeful or industrious undertaking (especially one that requires effort or boldness) (www.thefreedictionary.com)

Last night at a meeting, our lead pastor used the word "endeavour" in a way that I found intrigueing, so this morning I decided to check out the word and I came across this definition which I love-probably because it has the word "boldness" in it. I am less of a fan of the word "effort". Haha...JK-that's pre-teen BBM speak for "Just Kidding", by the way...hope my 11 year old daughter doesn't catch me using her abbreviations...she would not be impressed and that would not be ideal.

Anyway, back to "endeavour". Building a practice in Alternative Dispute Resolution ("ADR") has been an exciting endeavour ie an exciting purposeful, industrious undertaking, requiring effort and boldness indeed.

My experience has been of having had to be single-mindedly intentional about building ADR. And it has been fruitful. A great number of lawyers and other professionals are drawn to ADR, believing in the innate goodness of settling disputes outside of court and are drawn to the fact that there is a potential livable income wrapped up securely within something that has so many altruistic facets. "Altruism"...um...just give me a second...ah "unselfish concern for the welfare of others" (www.thefreedictionary.com) Yes, that is what I was trying to get at in using the word "altruistic".

But altruism alone is not going to sustain single-minded intentionality in building an ADR practice. There are economic considerations. Yes, I did say "Livable income wrapped up securely in something that has many altruistic facets"

"Livable income?" I hear you ask. "Yes indeed", I say. Well then why do so many professionals with a passion for mediation abandon ship soon after become formally skilled up in the ways of mediation? The answer is, in my view, that professionals have an expectation of qualifying in mediation and then automatically getting work in mediation. Simple, you qualify, you get work. Get it? Well, the truth is many don't. For many with a burning passion for ADR, for a better way, it is a massive anti-climax.

Having just said all I have, may I just say that there are significant opportunities in ADR, and that there are significant amounts of work. So what's up then, what's missing?

May I suggest it is "endeavour"-wrapped up in that we find purposefulness, industriousness (is that a word? if not consider this whole blog a poem-JK-ooops!), effort and boldness. I love "boldness". Um...just give me a second...ah yes, "fearless and daring; courageous". Yes, that hits the spot.

Having "endeavoured" around my ADR practice for the past six years, just over a year ago I founded ADR Network South Africa to formally cope with referrals we were receiving nationally and internationally, and also as a platform to train lawyers and other interested professionals in ADR. It has grown to a platform where we also assist others in establishing, nurturing and growing their own ADR practices. We have established a dynamic, young board of directors. When I say young, I include myself in that, so think of "young" as a spectrum, if you will.

From 2012, I am largely concentrating my endeavours on getting work for the Network and training up enough capacity to do the work. It is an exciting endeavour and puts me in the position of helping professionals with an interest or passion in ADR to connect with their dreams and aspirations.

Tomorrow morning I have a meeting with a lawyer from Papua New Guinea (if the spelling is wrong on that, this is a poem). I am excited to hear her aspirations and assess how we can help in connecting her with those.

More about ADR Network South Africa to come...watch this space.

As always, yours in BIG peace, huge!
Sheena Jonker

Ps. If you have a dispute you wish to keep out of court drop us an email at adr@mediatorsa.co.za
And is you have aspirations in ADR (mediation or arbitration), email me on sheena@mediatorsa.co.za
www.mediatorsa.co.za

Peer Mediation in the Workplace: One Day Program

noreply@blogger.com (St. Clair Jonker Mediators and Arbitrators) — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:53:00 +0000

ADR-Network-South Africa
presents
PEER MEDIATION IN THE WORKPLACE: ONE DAY PROGRAM

• Resolve conflict in the workplace internally
• Minimize referrals to the CCMA and Labour Courts
• Conflict is effectively managed and resolved by peers in the workplace
• Participants gain valuable mediation and conflict resolution skills
• Great for team-building in the workplace
• Suited to all types of organizations where humans deal with humans

Costs:

R 1500 (excluding VAT) per delegate for the first five delegates from the same organization
Delegates six to ten from the same organization pay R 1000 (excluding VAT) thereafter
Further delegates from the same organization pay R 500 (excluding VAT)

Availability:

The program is run throughout South Africa

Information:

For full program information or to book send an email to adr@mediatorsa.co.za

Regards

The ADR-NETWORK, SOUTH AFRICA team
www@mediatorsa.co.za

Dispute Resolution in the Workplace

noreply@blogger.com (St. Clair Jonker Mediators and Arbitrators) — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 09:48:00 +0000

When "issues" rear their head in the workplace, most people immediately think CCMA.

Whether it's the employee wishing to assert and protect his or her rights or the employer worried that he or she is going to be dragged off to a CCMA tribunal to have his or her fate determined for him or her. And I have read reports that 75% of all CCMA matters go the way of the employee.

Even so it is not a certainty that the employee will come away with what he or she wants or needs.

Private dispute settlement is a very real and effective option.
From making sure that fair procedure is followed in terms of an enquiries and subsequent dismissals, to getting the employer and employee around the table to discuss and work out a solution (or settlement) that is acceptable to both parties, labour mediation and labour arbitration offers parties solutions that are speedy, affordable, effective and private.

Whether you have a labour dispute in Cape Town, George, Durban or Johannesburg, or, in fact anywhere else in South Africa we have a network of professional mediators and arbitrators that can assist you in settling your dispute.

For more information drop us an email at info@mediatorsa.co.za or visit www.mediatorsa.co.za
Until next time, peace!

ADR Certification Course

noreply@blogger.com (St. Clair Jonker Mediators and Arbitrators) — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 11:32:00 +0000

ADR-Network-South Africa

presents

ADR Certification Correspondence
Course

Compulsory Training Units for the certificate are:

1. An Introduction to Conflict Resolution
2. Mediation-the process and skills
3. Arbitration

Elective Training Units, from which the student must choose one are:

1. Labour Dispute Resolution
2. Divorce Mediation

Evaluations are done in the form of assignments at the end of each training unit.

The ADR course is appropriate for professionals, business people, labour and IR consultants, bargaining council and union representatives.

Graduates of the certification course can apply for membership on the ADR-Network-South Africa Panel.

Costs for 2010

The cost for each training unit is R 2 499,00 inclusive of VAT. The fee is payable in advance of each Training Unit.

Students are required to complete all four training modules in a maximum of twelve months.

Further Information and Registration

For further information or to obtain registration forms, kindly email adr@mediatorsa.co.za

Alternate Dispute Resolution in Labour Matters Certification Course

noreply@blogger.com (St. Clair Jonker Mediators and Arbitrators) — Tue, 18 May 2010 11:28:00 +0000

ADR-Specialists, South Africa
presents
a two day certification course in
ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION IN LABOUR DISPUTES
This is an advanced training course in ADR processes in Labour Disputes equipping participants with the soft skills used in mediation as well as the ability to effectively use multi-tiered approaches in labour dispute settlement
(refer to the course outline attached)

The course will be run on the 4th and 5th of June from 9am to 4pm on each day in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town

Cost: R2999 (includes manual, teas and lunch)
A 50% non-refundable deposit is due on confirmation of attendance.

Presenters: Leading professionals in labour dispute settlement

Registrations close 28 May 2010.
RSVP and enquiries to:
info@mediatorsa.co.za

Expanding our ADR Services

noreply@blogger.com (St. Clair Jonker Mediators and Arbitrators) — Fri, 07 May 2010 11:18:00 +0000

Well, the time has come for expansion, and I am pleased to welcome Stephen Strydom into the fold, in a format still to be finalized.
Stephen is an admitted advocate of the High Court of South Africa, and is a staunch proponent of alternate dispute resolution (ADR).
Together we intend to raise the profile of mediation and arbitration and educate end users about the benefits of alternate dispute settlement as opposed to litigated court action. Coming from a legal background (and especially a background in litigation), Stephen is all too aware of the costly, divisive and destructive nature of litigation. He held office on some of the earliest committees of The South African Association of Mediators back in the early nineties-back in the days when I was still in nappies. Okay, that's not true.He had a special interest in Divorce Mediation even then, when mediation wasn't exactly at the forefront of anyones minds.
And so we share an interest in this very exciting and ground-breaking field.
Over the next few weeks, I will be bringing you more interesting stuff and many different aspects of the application of ADR. If you have any particular interest, be it Family Mediation, Parenting Plans, Labour Mediation or Arbitration or Commercial Mediation or Arbitration, please drop me an email at sheena@mediatorsa.co.za or visit www.mediatorsa.co.za
Until next time, PEACE.

Ten reasons to refer your dispute to mediation

noreply@blogger.com (St. Clair Jonker Mediators and Arbitrators) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 16:47:00 +0000

#1 Be in control of your own outcome as opposed to leaving the result to chance in the hands of a judge
#2 Mediation is between ten and a hundred times cheaper than litigation
#3 Mediation is speedier. To give you an example, the backlog in the Durban High Court is three and a half years. Yes, you wait three and a half years just to get a court date, which is then subject to postponements, adjournments and the like.
#4 Mediation helps to preserve relationships. When one party is pronounced the "winner" and the other the "loser", what chance does their relationship stand?
#5 Win/win-you don't have to "settle" for compromise (which is an inferior goal), each party can achieve a solution they can live with.
#6 A mediated solution generally lasts longer as the parties participated in designing the solution rather than having a decision imposed on them externally
#7 Mediation is private and confidentiality remains in tacked. Solutions can be explored without fear of publication. Court cases are heard in public
#8 In family matters, mediation champions the best interest's of minor children
#9 The parties can choose their own mediator
#10 Mediation is consensual and can be terminated by any party, at any stage, without having to give a reason

Yours in peace
Sheena

For more information go to www.mediatorsa.co.za

Mediation Mandatory in terms of Children's Act

noreply@blogger.com (St. Clair Jonker Mediators and Arbitrators) — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 15:25:00 +0000

On the 1st of April 2010 the outstanding sections of the Children's Act, 2005 and the Children's Amendment Act came into operation.

In terms of the Children's Act, parties seeking a divorce will have to attend mediation if they have minor children. The mediator will assist them in putting together a parenting plan dealing with care, contact and support (custody, access and maintenance) of their children.

This is a victory in the lives of children who are to go through the difficult experience of their parents divorce, in that through mediation their very best interests are championed in addition to the fact that their parents relationship stands a good chance of being good post-divorce at the level of co-parenting their children.

If you are going through a divorce or have a friend or family member who is, and require more information on divorce mediation, kindly email us on info@mediatorsa.co.za or call us on 0845204348. Yoiu can also visit or website at www.mediatorsa.co.za.

Yours in peace
Sheena

Spousal Maintenance after Divorce

noreply@blogger.com (St. Clair Jonker Mediators and Arbitrators) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 08:16:00 +0000

There is no automatic right to spousal maintenance after divorce. A case of entitlement to maintenance must be established by the party seeking maintenance before a court will determine the quantum or duration of such claimed maintenance.

The claimant spouse must establish a marital lifestyle in which she (or in some cases, he) is entitled to be maintained post divorce.

It is unlikely that a claim for lifetime maintenance will be entertained by the court unless it is proved that the other party was the sole breadwinner and had got the claimant used to a certain standard of living during the course of the marriage.

Very often one party is ordered to pay the other party maintenance for one or two years after divorce as "rehabilitative maintenance" aimed at assisting the party until she (or certainly, he) is able to establish herself (or himself) in the marketplace.

In considering spousal maintenance the courts will consider such factors as the duration of the marriage, ages and respective qualifications of the parties.

In mediation , issues such as spousal maintenance can be addressed around the table, and settled on a principle-centred basis, rather than leaving them to chance or to the court's discretion which most often ends up in a win-lose situation.

If there are any specific issues around divorce, dear reader, that you would like to read about, please drop me a line and I will attempt to meet your need. Either leave a comment below, or contact me direct on 0845204348 or sheena@mwebbiz.co.za.

Until next time!!!

Divorce and Family Mediation

noreply@blogger.com (St. Clair Jonker Mediators and Arbitrators) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:04:00 +0000

Separation or divorce usually amount to a major crisis in the life of a family involving untold trauma and cost, both personal and financial.

Many separating and divorcing couples are concerned about, and want to avoid, contested and protracted court proceedings which can escalate the already existent hostility and can be enormously costly. However, it is often impossible for divorcing or separating couples to resolve the issues involved in their divorce or separation on their own.

So mediation provides a very real and viable alternative. Experienced mediators are able to assist such couples in exploring the options available and reaching agreement.

Here are the answers to some questions you may be asking:

#1 What is mediation?

It is a process in terms of which both parties, assisted by a mediator, work out the arrangements for themselves and for their children rather than having their divorce or separation controlled by attorneys or a court.

Mediators do not impose decisions on the parties. They focus on minimizing conflict, exploring options to settle and encouraging parental co-operation
Where children are involved.

#2 When can mediation be sought?

Before divorce or separation
During divorce or separation
After divorce or separation
Whenever there are issues of conflict to resolve

#3 What issues can be brought to mediation?

Any problems emanating from separation or divorce
Decisions about separation or divorce
Arrangements for care of or access to children
Housing and other property matters
Financial support
Financial settlements

#4 Is mediation confidential?

Yes, mediation is confidential. Discussions to try and resolve conflict are “without prejudice” and legally privileged, which means the information may not be used by either party in court. Mediators treat the information is strictly confidential unless someone’s life or welfare is in danger.

#5 Is mediation affordable?

The number of sessions required depends on the nature and complexity of problems. But mediation usually involves a fraction of the cost of legal proceedings. The charges may be shared by the parties in any way they agree.

#6 Is mediation a substitute for the services of a lawyer?

No, even where the mediator is a lawyer, he or she does not give legal advice. The parties are encouraged to seek legal advice during the process, and especially to peruse any resulting settlement agreement.

#7 The conflict is high-how can we possibly meet face to face?

Mediators are trained to deal with high emotions. All the couple needs is a desire to work things out peacefully and avoid contested legal proceedings.

#8 Can mediation work where one party is very powerful?

The mediator will not allow one party to overpower the other. The mediator will stop the process if any imbalance of power becomes disproportionate. Many spouse who have considered themselves the “weaker” party have been very effective in mediation.

(Sources: Family Mediation Practice; Family Life; Findlaw)

For more information contact Sheena Jonker on 0845204348.

Say what?

noreply@blogger.com (St. Clair Jonker Mediators and Arbitrators) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:31:00 +0000

So exactly what is alternative dispute resolution?

I am so glad you asked. When disputes arise in society, and in particular where those disputes involve legal issues, it is a function of the courts to enforce the rules of society (the Law) or resolve the disputes.

But judicial processes are not the only way of resolving disputes. Negotiation, mediation and arbitration are all examples of alternative dispute resoltion mechanisms. All three have some characteristics in common in that they are:

1. informal
2. voluntary
3. flexible
4. consensual (the result is reached by agreement between the parties)
5. Private

Negotiation is often the first step in attempting to resolve a dispute. It involves the parties attempting to resolve their differences personally by agreement.

Mediation is similar to negotiation in that the parties themselves work to find a solution through a process of negoatiation, only here they are assisted by a third party, or "mediator".

Arbitration involves the parties voluntarily and jointly asking a third party, the arbitrator, to hear both sides of the dispute and then make a decision, or "award". This award is legally binding on the parties and is imposed on the parties.

In time we will look at the benefits of the above three forms of dispute resolution, as well as at the types of disputes that are suited to each mechanism.

I would love to hear back from you, especially your questions or suggestions relating to specific aspects you would like to see covered.

Until we meet again, and as always...peace.

Why ALTERNATE dispute resolution?

noreply@blogger.com (St. Clair Jonker Mediators and Arbitrators) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:48:00 +0000

Welcome to my first followers!

As I said yesterday I will be sharing something of myself and my own experience as well as knowledge, thoughts and ideas relating to dispute resolution.

In terms of my own background, when I was very young I wanted to be a doctor. That dream however started to fade when I began to realize that I really couldn't handle blood. Also from the age of 14 onwards I started to develop a penchant for public speaking, debating and...politics. From then I knew I wanted to be a lawyer, although I think I really idealized my future ability to make the world a better place!

At 17 I went to 'Maritzburg Varsity and went on to complete a BA in Law and then an LLB. I served articles and was later admitted as an attorney at 24, and then, as a conveyancer, later that year. At the same time I took a BIG step and started my own practice which I ran for the next nine years and gained wonderful legal experience in both general practice and property law.

Six years into practice, I ran into some, shall we say, "brutal" life experience: my marriage hit the rocks in a big way and I was diagnosed with major depression. The next three and a half years would see me land in hospital seven times relating to depression, and also warring against a serious prescription drug addiction.

Through all this I tried to navigate the quagmire of a nightmarish divorce which took more than two years to conclude and seriously stripped me of just about everything emotional, physical and spiritual.

It was only after I stopped practising law and had healed to a certain extent from the brutality of the preceeding years, that I yearned to do something positive with my education, my legal background and my life experience.

Enter mediation...Watch this space.

Thanks again for joining me. Until next time...peace.

A better way to resolve disputes

noreply@blogger.com (St. Clair Jonker Mediators and Arbitrators) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:05:00 +0000

This is my very first entry, and just a quick note to say that I hope you will follow me on this journey, and enjoy it with me.

It is my intention to both share some of my previous journey with you as well as to plot my path over the next months and years relating to this thing I really believe in-a better way to resolve disputes. I hope to inform you, perhaps educate you and definitely learn from you on this journey. I hope this makes sense.

Over the next few entries, I'll be sharing more about myself and my own experience. And then having a look at the world of conflict, and how disputes are usually settled. Then will be having a look at the alternatives-Mediation and Arbitration.

I hope to make some of your life struggles easier and am also so open-minded to your input, so would love to hear your thoughts and about your own experiences.

We deal with so much conflict in life-from the odd office spat to the really hectic stuff like divorce, dismissals, business diputes, to name a few. HOW we deal with that conflict is key, and there are choices-maybe more than you think.

Thanks for reading this and I hope you'll come back and visit again, maybe even let me know who you are, leave a thought or two.

Until next time...peace out!