Beijing Arbitration Commission

The international seminar “Cultural Differences and Communication in Mediation：Dialogue across the Ocean” was co-hosted by the Beijing Arbitration Commission (the BAC) and Straus Institute for Dsiputes Resolution of Pepperdine Law School (the Straus Institute) through video-conferencing on 30 October 2007.

The seminar commenced at 9:00 am October 30， 2007 Beijing time, (5:00 pm October 29 Los Angeles time). The clear voice and smooth screen were stably transmitted across the Pacific Ocean.

The General Secretary of BAC, Mrs. Wang Hongsong, gave an opening speech at the beginning. Afterward, the vice president of GE China Healthcare Mr. Qiao Gangliang, who is also the arbitrator of BAC, moderated the upcoming sessions.

The Straus Institute has been ranked as the No.1 place for years in the specialty of disputes resolution in America for several times in recent years. The Straus Institute has 20 years’ history for offering the dispute resolution courses, holding a lot of excellent famous experts and professors. The Straus Institute is also well-known for training the mediation talents, and advocating the practice of mediation. In this international video conference, the moderator of American side is Prof. Thomas J. Stipanowich, who is one of the co-directors of Straus Institute. The other three key speakers are Prof. Peter Robinson, the other co-director of the Straus Institute, Mme Nina Meierding, a family law expert and adjunct professor at Pepperdine and Mme Linda Meyer, a well-known mediator in commercial, employment, insurance and real estate disputes, and also an adjunct professor at Pepperdine. They respectively gave the speeches on their topics, for example, the scope of mediation, the role of mediators, the training for the mediators, the function of lawyers in the mediation, and the confidentiality in mediation etc. Then, the Chinese experienced arbitrators of BAC, Ms. Zhang yuejiao and Mr. Yang zaixue, introduced the special characteristics of Chinese mediation culture and system, together with practical techniques and skills in mediation. The two sides exchanged their opinions and communicated actively with the topics above-mentioned.

Mrs. Wang Hongsong also introduced the newly-approved mediation rules and the training programs for mediators, including the training program to be held in Beijing next March by the professors from the Straus Institute with the topic of “The mediators and the DAB dispute resolutions in international construction and engeering”.

The Straus Institute expressed congratulations about the success of this conference and hoped to have more opportunities to hold the video conferences like this to discuss deeply and thoroughly a on specific topics of the mediation system. After the meeting, the American media Los Angeles Daily Journal wrote an article “China Jumps into Independent Mediation” in the remarkable position to introduce this seminar, and detailed :it as “For the first time in its history, China will launch an independent mediation program”.

After the video conference session, two legal experts invited by BAC, Mr. John Bishop, the chief representative of Pinsent Masons LLP Beijing Office (UK) and Mr. Julian Holloway, a famous attorney in British construction fields, gave their wonderful speeches on the mediation system and practice in Hong Kong and UK. The participants of the conference communicated with the lecturers on the problems that existed in mediation practice.

More than one hundred of domestic and foreign arbitrators, lawyers, researchers and other legal professionals attended this seminar, and gave their high evaluations and comments.

This seminar is a valuable attempt. It is the first time that BAC held the international seminar across the east and the west hemisphere through video conference, which widely enlarged the scope and the deepened the international communication and cooperation. The method of video conferencing can rapidly connect BAC with some famous international arbitration and mediation centers and other relative research institutes, as well as make BAC obtain the developing and the researching information up to the minute in the international commercial arbitration and mediation fields so as to communicate and share the achievement with other experts in arbitration, mediation and other relative fields all over the world.

BAC intends to strengthen the international communication and cooperation through video conferencing in future and hopes these efforts could make positive influence on the training of the mediation talents, the innovation of international commercial arbitration.