Presented on behalf of the Victorian Bar by:

Mark McKillop
Barrister and Mediator
Clerk Foley’s Owen Dixon Chambers

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I have the pleasure to represent the Victorian Bar.

Congratulations to the winning team of the 2024 Asia-Pacific Commercial Mediation Competition!

Congratulations also to the runners up.

I congratulate the competitors in tonight’s Grand Final which I have watched with great interest on Zoom. The standard was excellent.

I must say I was tempted to duck out for a glass of Francorian red during the session, but I resisted.

I was impressed with:

  • the obvious high level or preparation
  • the structure of the negotiations,
  • the succinct identification of issues
  • the clarity of the communication.

Congratulations to the judges who gave their time and wisdom to the teams, and to the supervisors, the question writers and professional mediators who have given time and effort to make the competition happen.

The Victorian Bar has awarded the Henry Jolson Prize since 2017 to the winners of this competition as recognition of the outstanding performance of each team member involved.  The naming of the award after Henry Jolson is intended to be a great honour to the winning team tonight.

A few brief words about the late Henry Jolson QC OAM:

  • Henry was a pioneer of mediation in Victoria.
  • Henry was called to the bar in 1973 and took silk in 1991.  He passed away in 2013 after a long illness.
  • He was an outstanding mediator, barrister and community leader.  He was for many years:
    • a board member of the Western Bulldogs AFL team,
    • a Judge and Arbitrator of the International Court of Arbitration for Sport
    • an highly reputed International Arbitrator
  • He was a pioneer of mediation in the legal profession in Victoria from the mid-eighties, which has seen mediation become an essential part of the Victorian justice system
  • When I started in practice as a solicitor in the mid 1990s mediation was still developing.  Henry was one of its champions at that time and I recall him being:
    • approachable
    • empathetic
    • a clear communicator
    • constructive;
    • perceptive;
    • patient;
    • persistent.

These are the qualities of a good mediator and I have observed them tonight in the competition.

In 2012 Henry recorded an interview in which he gave some thoughts on mediation which are useful to budding and seasoned mediators alike.

On persistence:

“The mediation usually starts with the parties and their lawyers not willing to give anything away, with fixed positions, and aggressive attitudes. Gradually, as the day unfolds, they open up, and you get to a meaningful discussion. I never give up because I am no longer surprised by a sudden change in mood or direction by just one sentence or comment that can open the door to a resolution. I found that human behaviour quite stimulating.”

And on communication to break down barriers:

“Clearly people in a commercial dispute had a relationship at one stage. They could talk to each other. They did a deal, they worked together, and then they fall out, and find they are unable or unwilling to talk to each other effectively in order to resolve the dispute. So they go off to independent lawyers, and then it’s the lawyers who are talking, not the clients. The lawyers have their own language and they filter things unwittingly, or wittingly… In my mediations, and I’m thankful that the legal profession, barristers and solicitors, trusted me enough for me to say, at a particular point in the mediation “Let me speak with the decision-makers alone without lawyers”, and they let me go off and have a chat with the decision makers …who I bring to a full circle, where I assist them to listen and talk to each other…and other things come out when the clients talk directly with each other which shifts the dynamic and can produce an unexpected resolution.

I would again like to congratulate the winners of the Henry Jolson Price and all participants in the competition.

 

On behalf of the Victorian Bar I wish you well for your bright futures ahead.