DIPLOMATIC SOLUTIONS

Originally uploaded by Kelvin Ong

In between all those Change of Name Deeds I was drafting today (see yesterday’s blog), my mind wandered to other aspects of my work and particularly the complex manner of resolving disputes over finance. It now seems well established that court proceedings are frequently traumatic, lengthy and expensive, but what are the alternatives? Mediation and collaborative law both spring to mind, whilst earlier in the week I attended a presentation by a set of barrister’s chambers with their own novel alternative solution based on the three room conference formula. The trouble is that, without commitment from both participants, it is still only court proceedings that are guaranteed to deliver a result. However, I am waiting to see if any inspiration can be drawn from activities across in Bali. Does the background of a tropical island bring inspiration where conference rooms in post industrial Britain fail?

The UN chief, Ban Ki-Moon has demanded a breakthrough but the world’s Environment Ministers now have only until Friday to agree a framework for tackling global warming after the pledges under the Kyoto pact expire in 2012. With the USA and Europe swiping at each other and the developing world refusing to be drawn in, it presently looks as though an agreement to meet again next year might be the most that can be achieved. Still even that’s better than threatening to see each other in court, so maybe my next client offer will be pre-application talks in the Tropics, limited to those clients called Mary and Joseph , of course!