Happy New Year!

As we approach the New Year, I wish everyone a truly happy and fulfilling New Year! May 2025 be a year filled with prosperity, abundance, and, most importantly, love. I hope it brings joy and happiness to you and your loved ones.

Throughout my 15-year career as a solicitor, barrister, and mediator, I have conducted over 1,000 mediations and have acted as counsel for parties in many mediations conducted by other mediators. In over 90% of these cases, parties reach some form of settlement during mediation. However, it is still uncommon for the parties and their lawyers to fully benefit from the mediation process. This is primarily due to how mediations are conducted and the general lack of understanding of mediation's full potential.

Therefore, my New Year’s resolution is to make a humble effort to foster more dialogue about mediation's full potential and how we—clients, lawyers, and mediators—can collectively create greater prosperity, abundance, and wealth through mediation.

As the dialogue may evolve organically, I plan to contribute periodic discussions on the following topics:

1. What is mediation, and what is its scope?
2. Why might mediation be the best response to a conflict?
3. How can we transform conflict into opportunity through mediation?
4. Is mediation merely a process of negotiation, compromise, and commercial dealings? What potential does mediation hold beyond these aspects?
5. Why should companies and business owners learn more about mediation? How can mediation generate prosperity and wealth for their businesses?
6. How can mediation lead to more fulfilling work for lawyers, potentially increasing their revenue?
7. Any other topics related to mediation.

I encourage all mediation experts, business owners, and lawyers to join this dialogue and share their experiences in this field. Though this may be a naïve hope, this discussion may contribute to improving the dispute resolution process needed in the future.