It was during late March 2020, soon after the pandemic first made global headlines, that a group of leading mediators and mediation trainers realized on a Zoom call that the ONLY mediation then taking place in the U.S. and around the world was suddenly "online mediation." Further, we also realized that ALL mediation training was also then remarkably taking place online.

Considering how strange this year has been, it was still an unusual day at work, last week – two zoom meetings rescheduled, a mediation called off and a no-show at two consecutive mediation pitches by participants with prior registration.

2020 has been a difficult year for many of us.  From the pandemic to shutdowns to political chaos, it has been challenging to find any sure footing.   Every time we think we've got the last crisis under control it seems a new one popped up in its place.  I'm guessing that our great-grandkids will one day ask us what it was like to live through the covid-19 crisis, and we’ll just shake our heads and say, “Well, it was a pretty rough time.”

Many South African Schools are facing demands to change and even to radically transform themselves. Some of these demands relate to the ‘isms’ such as racism, and other identity related issues. Schools are responding to the demands in different ways, some more successful than others. The following is one way to respond.

John Barkai has published a cartoon book with over 50 cartoons and 500 original captions on the topics of negotiation, mediation, and arbitration. The materials come from a cartoon captioning contest he ran for over 14 years for the ABA’s Dispute Resolution Magazine.

I am one of the founding coordinators of the Bangalore Mediation Centre, the Court annexed program of the High Court of Karnataka. A few months after we started the mediation program, a young advocate walked into my office and could not contain her excitement.