The Red Velvet Lawyer

10/n An Analysis of UAE's Commercial Mediation Law, Federal Law No. 6 of 2021, Confidentiality in Mediation, Part 1: The  Analytical  Framework In an earlier  post , analyzing party control over process choices, I talked about confidentiality in mediation.  I said:  This topic has confounded many organizations trying to set guidelines for confidentiality in mediation. In 2001, the National Conference on Uniform State Laws in the U.S. produced the Uniform Mediation Act after many drafting sessions occurring over several years. A large part of the draft law applies to confidentiality. After a lapse of 22 years, only twelve states have adopted it. Instead, other states rely on their own laws governing mediator confidentiality. Similarly, various iterations of rules governing confidentiality exist all over the world.  Accordingly, to create some structure to the analysis, I am providing this discussion covering: What are the breakdowns in the process that lead to a desire to bre

  9/n An Analysis of UAE's Commercial Mediation Law No. 6 of 2021, Mediator Impartiality : Using the Firestone Grid as an Analytical Tool Mediator impartiality is one of the core values of mediation. My research revealed that conduct that makes a party believe that the mediator has lost his or her impartiality is the most frequently cited reason for filing a complaint against a mediator in the U.S. states of Virginia and Maine. It appears as the second most frequently raised allegation in Florida, Georgia, and Minnesota. Parties easily perceive bias in the mediator's conduct or attitudes and it can result in disengagement with the process, a failed mediation, and ongoing impasse in the dispute. Introduction Mediator neutrality (or impartiality) gets attention in several articles of the UAE Commercial the Mediation Law . Article 6 of the law provides: The [privately appointed] mediator shall sign a document proving his acceptance of the mediation mission as well as his neutr

  7/n An Analysis of UAE's Commercial Mediation Law, Federal Law No. 6 of 2021, Party Self-Determination, Part 3: Mediator Influence, Process Design, and Process Choices Party self-determination in mediation has both substantive and procedural aspects.  In my last  post , I discussed how the Qatar Mediation Law potentially impacted the parties' substantive self-determination and high-quality decision-making about the outcome. Procedural Self-determination and Party Control of the Process In this post, I look at party self-determination over the process design and process choices during the mediation.  To structure this discussion, I first describe another framework for analyzing the UAE Commercial Mediation Law.   Many steps in the mediation process invite input from the parties or their lawyers.  But, the program design or the interventions of a mediator can undermine that procedural self-determination. The following list provides some of the process decisions in which parties

  6/n An Analysis of UAE's Commercial Mediation Law, Federal Law No. 6 of 2021, Party Self-Determination, Part 2: Substantive Decision-Making In my last post  here , I set out a framework for  analyzing  the provisions of the UAE Commercial Mediation Law  impacting party self-determination, high-quality decision making, and the quality of the process. I used a framework developed by Prof. John Lande in his law review article,  How Will Lawyering and Mediation Practices Transform Each Other? , 24 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 839 (1997), available  here . The Lande Framework Lande identifies seven factors affecting the quality of party decision making: "The factors include: (1) explicit identification of the principal's goals and interests, (2) explicit identification of plausible options for satisfying these interests, (3) the principal's explicit selection of options for evaluation, (4) careful consideration of these options, (5) mediators' restraint in pressuring principal

  5/n An Analysis of the UAE's Commercial Mediation Law, Federal Law No. 6 of 2021, Party Self-Determination, Part 1 So far, in analyzing the UAE's Commercial Mediation Law, I have provided posts covering: An introduction to the law and my analytical focus  here  and here . My interest and expertise in the subject matter  here . A cultural disclaimer  here . The definition of mediation  here , and  The scope of the law  here . I will now turn to how the law supports or undermines the core values of mediation recognized in the U.S. and other countries.  Those core values are: Party self-determination Mediator neutrality, and Confidentiality of communications made during the process. For each of these discussions, I will provide one or more posts to describe the analytical framework I am using. In the next posts, I'll apply that framework to the UAE's Commercial Mediation Law. Lande Analytical Framework for Party Self-Determination In 2006, I wrote the first law review ar