CIIM Volume 4
This is the fourth volume in the widely acclaimed series, "Contemporary Issues in Mediation", and was officially launched on 5 August 2019 at Intercontinental Singapore, Bugis.
CIIM Volume 4 is a collection of the best entries of the 4th Singapore International Mediation Institute Annual Mediation Essay Competition.
The contributors for this volume included a submission from a JD student from the Singapore Management University and a PhD student from the University of Ghent, Belgium. This signifies a growing interest in mediation across different student profiles and a sign of the increasing reach of the book series on mediation students both locally and internally. The essays in this volume fall neatly into three categories: getting to and beyond mediation; mediation obligations and ethics; and mediation skills. The section on Getting to and Beyond Mediation contains the winning entry by Charmaine Yap. The essay explored how the use of nudges and choice architecture can increase uptake of mediation vis-à-vis other dispute resolution methods.
Two entries paid tribute to the Singapore Convention on Mediation. Maryam Salehijam provided some guidance on how to draft enforceable mediation clauses while Chia Chen Wei analysed the draft Convention on international settlement agreements resulting from mediation and its potential impact on both international and local mediation practice.
The first runner up entry by Kuek Kai Liang can be found in the Mediation Obligations and Ethics section. Kai Liang called for a paradigm shift in mediator neutrality towards more nuanced and contextual approach to mediation ethics in Singapore. This juxtaposed his co-contributor, Ivan Ng’s, review of mediator neutrality and how it interacts with self-determination or justice.
The final section has a unique selection of essays relating to Mediation skills. Ho Ting En introduced the idea of negotiating with children to become better mediators, while Therese Ang explored how crisis negotiation skills can help mediators to better deal with emotion or difficult parties. Other essays also included gender roles shaping the power balance in family-related mediation (Lee Kwang Chian), and how different expressions of anger help mediators decide when and whether to elicit emotions during a mediation.