As of October 6th 2021, 89% of New South Wales residents and 83% of Victorian residents have had their first COVID-19 vaccination.[1] With two of Australia’s most populous states scheduled to exit lockdown by December, face-to-face Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) sessions will once again be an option for many Australians. The question for practitioners is whether clients will return to traditional ADR post-lockdown, or is Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) here to stay? Our special rapporteur on the impact of COVID-19 explores [...]

The Hon. Justice Julie Ward 4th Annual ADR Address of the Supreme Court of NSW Rapporteur - Aaron Zou The Hon. Justice Julie Ward, Chief Judge of Equity in the Supreme Court of New South Wales, presented ADC’s 4th Annual ADR address of the Supreme Court of NSW last Thursday, 30th September. Having spent the majority of the year in lockdown and in virtual hearings, Justice Ward’s annual address was topically on the future of Online Dispute Resolution [...]

With opening itself to globalisation and foreign investment, India is eying to become a global hub for commerce. Arbitration, as a quasi-judicial system, is increasingly be used in responding to the concomitant commercial disputes that arise from this increased trade and investment. In this fascinating article Rajat Singla, an India-based engineer and Masters of Law candidate at UNSW, interviews users and experts of arbitration. The focus is on professionals from the Indian civil infrastructure industry who have experience in dealing [...]

Following submissions made by the Australian Disputes Centre in conjunction with members of the Council for Australian Dispute Resolution (CADR) to the Federal Attorney-General earlier this year in support of the signing of the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation (‘Singapore Convention on Mediation’), Australia has become the latest country to sign the Singapore Convention on Mediation. On 10 September 2021, Australia joined a list of 52 countries who have so far signed the Convention.[1] Afghanistan [...]

  Supervising mediation sessions for the 2021 ADC-ICC Asia-Pacific Commercial Mediation Competition was an incredibly rewarding experience. It provided a rare opportunity to witness contestants from across the world come together to find creative solutions to difficult problems. One of the strengths of mediation is that it can lead to outcomes that address each party's underlying interests. I enjoyed watching contestants propose and negotiate remedies that went beyond damages and focused on the relationships underpinning the dispute. This was a [...]

Congratulations to our semi-finalist teams who did an amazing job in their rounds this morning. Well done to the University of Auckland (Team 801), National University of Singapore (Team 827), UNSW (Team 817) and West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (Team 822) we commend all teams for your tremendous efforts. Two teams can go through to the Grand Final. We congratulate our APCMC 2021 Grand-finalists: University of Auckland (Team 801) West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (Team 822) [...]