The title of my presentation at this conference was “Integrating Restorative Justice in the Family Court of Trinidad & Tobago Through the use of Family Decision Making: A Natural Fit”.
Judge Daniel Weinstein is the wonderful man behind the Weinstein JAMS International Fellowship. What an honour to be invited back to JAMS offices in San Francisco to act as a mentor to the 2014 Fellows. What an honour to be invited back to San Francisco to act as a mentor to the 2014 Fellows!
The work on this Pilot Project included design of the system, drafting of the Practice Direction, drafting of all forms, monitoring and evaluation. What made the Pilot particularly exciting was that it combined mediation and settlement conference. My report on the Pilot Project was presented to the Honourable Chief Justice of Trinidad and Tobago on July 7, 2014.
It’s that time of year again–the start of the new academic year for primary and secondary school students. As I sat in traffic on Independence Square in Port of Spain, Trinidad, on the first day of school, I watched the crisp new blouses and shirts, blindingly white sneakers and heavy backpacks hustle by and wondered, again, if there were any tools in those backpacks
On August 29, 2013, the litigation between 4,500 Plaintiffs, all retired professional football players, and the National Football League (NFL) in the United States, was settled at mediation for $765M. That just goes to show that no matter how complex your case seems, you shouldn’t be afraid to try mediation. Read more about this settlement here.
“Win/win is an attitude, not an outcome.” – Don Boyd, Scottish novelist.
A: Making a deposit into another’s “emotional bank account”, as suggested by Stephen Covey in his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, is a good way to reduce fear and create a safe environment in which trust will blossom. Treating clients with courtesy and being honest with them are great ways to make a deposit in their emotional bank accounts. If these “deposits”
Hello all! I’m baaaaaacckk!! I hope you missed me because I really missed you! I didn’t intend to go off the grid after the last issue but when I realized that I had to leave you for a bit, I promised myself that I’d be back with a bang as soon as I could and so, here I am!When last we spoke, I told you
On September 4, 2012, I started my Fellowship year at a gathering of all the 2012 Fellows at the JAMS Foundation, San Francisco, California. My Fellowship project took me to Los Angeles, Napa Valley, Washington D.C. and Miami. Though it was exhausting at times, I learnt about and got great experience with court-annexed mediation, the “multi-door courthouse”, child protection mediation and prisoner re-entry mediation.
A: Arbitration is rarely used outside of the commercial law arena in the Caribbean. However, it is part of the menu of dispute resolutions options for certain types of family law matters in Canada & Australia and there is a now an ongoing pilot project in England. Arbitration is less formal and costly than a trial but offers a binding result unlike mediation.
