LEADR South Australian Event

A working model for commercial mediation
The value of commercial mediation for resolving money disputes
with Geoff Sharp

For large commercial disputes that would likely find their way to arbitration or even the court room – what is the value of mediation?

What can commercial mediators bring to the table over and above what an experienced lawyer offers?

What can lawyers bring to the mediation to support the process?

Geoff’s presentation will look at the elements which contribute to an efficient and effective mediation for settling a commercial dispute. This includes looking at the advocacy skills that lawyers can bring to the mediation -- skills that are different to advocating for the client in an arbitration or court room.

As part of the presentation, Geoff will ‘walk’ through a well-run commercial mediation from opening to closing. He will look at how the mediator works with counsel to maximise counsel’s effectiveness and avoid prejudicing their client’s strategic trial interests or undermining the attorney-client relationship.

Geoff Sharp is a commercial mediator working in the main centres in New Zealand and more recently as needed in Sydney.

Geoff is known for his professional and innovative contribution to mediation at a global level, his vigour in promoting alternative dispute resolution and the personal integrity that underpins his efforts.

He is the third LEADR Fellow and is the first Australasian to be elected to the International Academy of Mediators (USA).

Acknowledged as one of the pioneers of New Zealand mediation, Geoff was invited to join the visiting faculty of California’s Pepperdine University Law School in 2008 as part of its Annual Summer Professional Skills Programme for Mediators. Geoff has also participated in Bond University’s Distinguished Practitioner in Residence program and is a Vice-Chair of the Independent Standards Commission of the International Mediation Institute (IMI) in the Hague currently setting global mediator credentialing standards.

In 2009 Geoff joined the International Advisory Board of Singapore Management University’s newly founded Centre for Dispute Resolution located in SMU’s School of Law Singapore.

Geoff remains as a barrister admitted to the New Zealand Bar, is an accredited mediator in Australia under the National Mediator Accreditation System and in New Zealand, he is on the advanced mediation panels of both LEADR and AAMINZ.

Geoff has trained mediators and lawyers in New Zealand, Australia, USA, Malaysia and Thailand and has consulted widely to the New Zealand Government on aspects of public sector mediation.

Prior to committing to a full-time mediation practice a decade ago, Geoff was a litigation partner at Bell Gully, one of New Zealand’s largest national commercial law firms. Before that his early career was at Mallesons (Melbourne) where he is admitted to the Supreme Court of Victoria and the High Court and Federal Court of Australia.