Mediating a complex, multi-party case is a lot like baking a cake. It's not enough to have the right ingredients. You need to observe careful direction and patience to blend the ingredients in the right quantities and at the just the right time to produce...
From beginning to end, taking part in a civil lawsuit can be similar to competing in a grueling marathon. Prior to attending mediation, the parties have likely spent several years in litigation. Throughout this period, they have spent money and expended energy to strengthen their...
If two is company, three is a crowd, and four is a party, what is more than a dozen? The answer, as I recently learned when conducting a multi-party mediation for a complex claim, is that more than a dozen is a challenge (and that...
It’s been said that there are no traffic jams on the extra mile. Putting in a little more effort in what we are doing is rarely a big sacrifice, and yet it can pay huge dividends. Consider the benefits of holding a pre-mediation caucus, for...
“Read the room!” Have you ever heard that phrase? When you enter a space, even without hearing a single word spoken, most people will get a sense of what people are feeling just by surveying the faces and body language of people present. It’s a good...
You’ve heard the old saying: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, but teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Did you know there was more to that story? One day, that fisherman had to move...
Human behaviour is fascinating. Whether you think someone’s outlook on life and actions are related to nature or nurture, if we can better understand why we do what we do, it can help us to make better decisions - or at least know why we...
Cooper Mediation is pleased to announce that mediator Jonathan Cooper has been inducted to the Ontario Chapter of the Canadian Academy of Distinguished Neutrals (CADN). Jon was welcomed to the CADN following a peer-vote review and completion of due diligence client interviews. CADN is an organization...
In a recent newsletter, I noted that as the calendar year was drawing to an end, we were also at the beginning of the holiday season. Many people around the world happened to be celebrating special days or periods that shared a common feature -...
It’s been said that necessity relieves us from the embarrassment of choice. In March 2020, the emerging COVID-19 pandemic made it imperative for much of the world to stay home when at all possible – whether we wanted to or not. If mediators desired to continue...