Smith, Stephen --- "Review: Mediation (Essential Legal Skills Series)" [2001] UTSLawRw 17; (2001) 3 University of Technology Sydney Law Review 237

Michael Noone, MEDIATION (ESSENTIAL LEGAL SKILLS SERIES, ED. J. Macfarlane), Cavendish, London, 1996

Reviewed by Stephen Smith

THE ESSENCE of our lawyer’s craft lies in skills...practical, effective, persuasive, inventive skills for getting things done.’ That advice from Karl Llewellyn seems to be the guiding principle for the Essential Legal Skills series published by Cavendish over the last few years.

Proficiency in alternative dispute resolution is one area that has become an accepted part of preparation for legal practice. Law schools should therefore welcome the publication in the Cavendish series of Michael Noone’s Mediation. It shows how good a practical, skill-oriented legal book can be. Noone was for some years professor of law at Macquarie University and has a lot of practical experience in the mediation field, not least through his membership of the NSW Fair Trading Tribunal.

Mediation is a paperback of 168 well laid-out pages. There is a comprehensive table of contents but no index or case list. This is not a scholarly textbook but a guide to the skills and techniques employed by effective mediators and how to use them. The theoretical side of mediation is discussed but the practice of mediation is much more its focus. The book is divided into three parts: Definitions and Dynamics; Strategies, Tactics and Skills; and Review and Testing Mediation Skills, the first two of about the same length, the last much shorter.

Part One sets out what mediation is, identifies the participants in mediation and explores the way in which the mediation process works, including what it hopes to achieve. Clearly Noone is well aware of the behavioural underpinnings of mediation and he has some interesting cross-cultural insights. Concepts such as ‘active listening’, ‘clarifying’ and ‘reframing’ are introduced in this part and there is a really useful section on body language.

The actual process of mediation is brought into sharper focus in Part Two, where each of its phases is dealt with in detail. Learning skills and applying them is really brought to the fore. There is plenty of advice for the tyro on what to look for and how to deal with all manner of complications in the conduct of a mediation. Chapters in this part discuss all stages, including preparation, opening statements, identification of issues, the use of private/joint sessions as well as the ‘endgame’. Most chapters have a useful summary of suggested tactics and skills and end with an appropriate case study.

The text is well-written—informative, businesslike, pithy, easily understandable but never condescending. At least as good as the text is the organisation of the material. Every chapter is logically laid out and has text boxes of examples, review questions and explanations. A lot of effort seems to have been put into arranging the material so that understanding and learning are easy. Clever diagrams are used to simplify complex ideas.

This book is an ideal practical introduction to mediation. It would be a worthwhile investment for a law student or practitioner who wants a concise and readable introduction to the mechanics of mediation. I recommend the book without reservation.