Amity Law School, Delhi (Affiliated to Guru Govind Singh Indraprastha University) is all set to host the 1st Edition of ALSD-PACT Indian Symposium on Dispute Resolution from 15th January to 17th January 2018.

The event shall officially begin on 15th January with Registrations starting at 9:00 AM. Additional Solicitor General of India Mr. Sanjay Jain; Mr. Arjun Natarajan, Advisor, ISDR; Dr. Ashok Kumar Chauhan, Founder President Ritnand Balved Education Foundation & President Amity Law School, Delhi; Dr. (Prof.) D. K. Bandyopadhyay, Chairman Amity Law Schools; Ms. Venu Parnami and Ms. Sanjana, Faculty Conveners shall grace us with their presence at the opening ceremony.

The event will comprise of Training sessions and panel discussions by highly acclaimed Mediators like Mr. Tom Valenti, Ms. Catherine Davidson, Mr. Pascal Comvalius and Mr. Jonathan Rodrigues.

We'll keep you guys updated with latest deets here starting from 9:30 AM on 15th. So please stay tuned! You can follow us on our Facebook page here.

 

Sponsors are the backbone of event and on that note we would like to thank our sponsors for their support.

 

 

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Day- 1

Your bloggers for today are Prafulla Pathak and Teerth Waraich.

9:40 AM

Hey Folks! The registratons have begun and the opening ceremony will commence shortly.

Opening Ceremony

9:55 AM

The inaugral event has begun with the National Anthem.

9:58 AM

The college choir presents a beautiful rendition of Saraswati Vandana and our revered guests light the ceremonial lamp.

10:00 AM

Esteemed guests are being presented Tulsi plant as the momento.

10:05 AM

Inaugral address by Dr. (Prof.) D. K. Bandyoypadhyay, Chairman, Amity Law Schools to the participants, faculty members about the virtues of Alternative Dispute Resolution with particular focus on Mediation.

10:10 AM

Dr. (Prof.) D.K. Bandyoypadhyay concludes his address to a thunderous applause.

10:11 AM

Mr. Arjun Natarjan, Advisor to ISDR, addresses the gathering. He deliberates on the advantages Mediation.

10:13 AM

Mr. Sanjay Jain, the Additonal Solicitor General of India and the Chief Guest of the Symposium, now puts his esteemed views on the state of ADR and Mediation in the Legal Profession right now.

Mr. Sanjay Jain furthur quotes Abraham Lincoln to further espouse his view, "Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser - in fees, expenses, and waste of time. As a peacemaker the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough."

Mr. Sanjay Jain also stresses upon the history of ADR in India, and gives a clear timeline on the History of Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Mr. Sanjay Jain highlights the importance and relevance of ADR, and goes on to classify ADR into several types.

10:35 AM

Ms. Venu Parnami, Faculty Convener delivers the vote of thanks and expresses her gratitude to the Participants, Faculty Members and volunteers. She wishes them well for Symposium and their fututre endeavours.

10:40 AM

High Tea

10:50 AM

Hi folks! We'll begin with training sessions shortly.

11:23 AM

High Tea concludes. The training session commences with Mr. Tom Valenti and Mr. Jonathan Rodrigues are conducting a Training Game for the Students.

11:34 AM

The Training Game concludes, the message of the game was that even a small difference can trigger a huge dispute.

11:40 AM

Interactive session with Adv. Arjun Natarajan and Mr. Jonathan Rodrigues featuring a situational question answer session.

12:00 PM

Questionnaire of 30 Questions given to the participants to assess their conflict style. The aforementioned excercise is called the Thomas Kilman self assessment excercise.

12:30 PM

The interactive session conducted by Mr. Jonathan Rodrigues, Mr. Arjun Natarajan and Mr. Tom Valenti has been concluded. We'll begin with the next session shortly.

12:35 PM

Hi Folks! We have started with the next session. First up, will be a discussion by Ms. Catherine Davidson, a highly experienced mediator with IMI certification, on the topic of, 'Communication Techniques and Tools in Negotiation.' This discussion would entail conversations on the types of Listening, the various Communication tools in Negotiation etc.

12:40 PM

Ms. Catherine Davidson conducts an interactive session in which she lists the 7 elements of Negotiation. She further illustrates how listening, talking, asking questions is fundamental to being a good negotiator. Ms. Davidson then asks the Participants to participate in a listening activity amongst themselves.

1:05 PM

Ms. Davidson instructs that a focus on human emotions is the key to successful negotiation.

1:30 PM

Ms. Catherine Davidson states that the key technique is focus on reframing thoughts, like taking away negative thoughts and twisting it to your advantage. It is being explained with the help of video clips.

2:00 PM

Break for lunch. We'll be back with the next session.

2:35 PM

Welcome back folks! We've started with the next session with Mr. Pascal Comvalius, a IMI-certified in Holland and USA and a Certified Hostage negotiator on the topic 'Negotiaiton 101'. This discussion would entail conversations on how does interest based negotiation stands out from position based bargaining, key elements of a successful negotiation and cross-cultural/gender/generational context in negotiation language.

2:55 PM

Mr. Pascal Comvalius, conducts a mock negotitation to give the participants a taste for it. The Mock Negotiation is between a Teacher and a Student.

3:10 PM

An interactive question/answer session is being conducted. Mr. Pascal Comvalius is putting forward situational questions and the participants have to deliberate upon remframing.

 

3:20 PM

Mr. Rodrigues enlightens the participants about the importance of reframing a sentence, in both a positive way, and a negative way.

3:24 PM

Mr. Rodrigues and Ms. Davidson now tackling the queries of the participants in a friendly yet spirited manner.

3:30 PM

Session has been concluded. We'll be back shortly with Panel discussion.

3:50 PM

We've started with Panel Discussion on the topic 'Does prevalant Indian Law distinguishes between mediation and conciliation?' This panel discussion will cover Analysisof statutory law (Section 30 of 1996 Act, Section 89 of CPC and Order X Rule 1A, 1B and 1C of CPC) and analysis of judgements (Salem (II) and Afcons). This session is being moderated by Mr. Arjun Natarajan and Ms. Ramya Raj.

The Panelists for this session are:-

Sr. Adv. Chetan Sharma :- One of the youngest Senior Advocate designation ever made at the age of 39. He represented Delhi Police in the Kanhaiya Kumar Case for 2 years.

Mr. Arvind Minocha (AOR) :- Among his regular Government clients are NBCC for over 30 years. He has core specialisation in Arbitration and Arbitration related matters.

Mr. Kanti Mohan Rastogi :- Fomer Legal Head (Global) of Hinduja Global Solutions Ltd. and Senior Legal Counsel of Coca Cola India.

Mr. Nalin Tripathi :- He has reperesented DDA, NDMC and the State of U.P. in Supreme Court. He has also been Additional Standing Counsel for MCD in High Court since 2006.

3:58 PM

Mr. Arvind Minocha (AOR) is addressing the Panel and talks about the difference between Conciliation and Mediation, the difference between the roles of Conciliators and Mediators, and also quotes various provisions from the CPC with respect to Meidation.

4:20 PM

Sr. Adv. Chetan Sharma is addressing the Panel, he's discussing Afcons Infrastructure case and a few other landmark judgments.He says that there's no statutory sanction for mediation but there exists a statutory sanction for conciliation.

4:30 PM

Mr. Nalin Tripathi adresses the Panel. He elaborates the details of the mediation process. He talks about benefits of the mediation process elaborates upon the the difference between Mediation and Conciliation.

4:50 PM

Mr. Arvind Minocha reads out the relevant legal provisions and explains their meaning. He reads out Section 74 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act. He further elaborates upon the misuse of mediation and conciliation.

 

5:40 PM

The Moderator, Mr. Arjun Natarajan reiterates the imporatnace of knowing the difference between Mediation and Conciliation and says it would serve as the basis of the dicussion for the next two days.

Mr. Arjun Natarajan presents the panelists with the momentos.

Session concludes.

5:45 PM

We are done with todays sessions. Tomorrow's sessions will begin at 10:00 AM, live blog will resume accordingly.

We'll meet you tomorrow. Have a good night!

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16th January 2017

Day 2

10:10 AM

Your bloggers for today are Prafulla Pathak and Teerth Waraich.

Good Morning guys! Preperations for today's sessions have begun. First session will commence shortly, we'll be updating you soon.

10:35 AM

We have started with our sessions for today. This is a learning and excercise session by Mr. Tom Valenti on the topic 'Preparing for a Negotiation Session. This session will focus on creation of a negotiation strategy, identifying BATNA/WATNA, a healthy research and and importance of having multiple options to drive the negotiation to resolution.

10:37 AM

Mr. Comvalius begins his address to the Participants. He stresses upon Communication in Negotiation and also explains the potential drawbacks.

10:43 AM

Mr. Comvalius dazzles the Participants with grabbing presentations and excellent examples to make the session more interesting.

10:50 AM

Mr. Comvalius talks about Position based and Interest based negotiations. He discusses the key elements of successful negotiation with example of an iceberg.

11:02 AM

Mr. Jonathan Rodrigues explains the future negotiators about the importnace of recognizing and understanding visual cultural differences.

11:13 AM

Mr Tom Valenti now addresses the participants on the scope of negotiation, which he describes as, 'everything.'

11:23 AM

Mr. Valenti illustrates to the Participants the art of good negotitation through a SMART analysis. He also furthers his illustration by conversing about BATNA and WATNA analysis.

11:55 AM

Mr. Valenti enocourages collaborative style of negotiation over competible style as better negotiation tool.

12:04 PM

Sessions conlcudes. High Tea.

12:35 PM

We have started with the next session. First up is a Learning session with excercise and discussion by Mr. Pascal Comvalius on the topic 'Dealing with Difficult Negotiators'. This session session will focus on identifying manipulative, stalling and coercive tactics and tackling them efficiently, learning how to get stubborn negotiators to look beyond their positions and engaging appropriately with bullies and over friendly negotiators.

12:50 PM

Mr. Pascal talks about dealing with difficult negotiators. He elaborates on how high conflict person can easily be triggered.

1:00 PM

Mr. Pascal interacts with the participants in an inquisitive manner. An interactive Question-Answer session is held.

1:40 PM

Ms. Davidson talks about Pre Mediation and Post mediation stages. She emphasises on how a mediator needs to be the energy holder of the table during the proceedings.

2:05 PM

Mr. Jonathan Rodrigues conducts a Q&A session on the process of mediation

2:18 PM

The Session breaks for lunch. Will re-convene in about an hour. Stay tuned.

3:18 PM

The Lunch Break has concluded. The Symposium kicks off again with a session which is being conducted by Ms. Catherine Davidson on Real Life Role Play with the focus on Mediation. This session would entail discussions regarding the process of Negotiation and the result of it. It would also consist of Feedback given by Ms. Davidson to the Participants on their actual prowess at Negotiation.

3:28 PM

Ms. Davidson further explains the process of Mock Mediation to the participants in order to elevate the level of the Mock Mediation being conducted.

4:23 PM

The session draws to a close. Next up is Panel Discussion. We shall provide you with all the details regarding the Panel Discussion shortly.

4:45 PM

We've started with the panel discussion on the Topic 'Private Mediation'. This Panel Discussion will cover the Private Mediation, its scope and functioning. This session is being moderated by Mr. Arjun Natarajan.

The Panelists for this session are:-

Ms. Veena Ralli- Advocate, Delhi High Court and a Mediator, She is the Secreatary of Delhi High Courts' Mediation Centre, Samadhaan.

Mr. Krishan Kakkar- Widely known and respected for analytical and investigative skills, persistence and creativity in reaching settlements and is sought after to implement innovative solutions to resolve complex disputes.

Mrs. Varuna Bhandari Gugnani- Mediator in the Supreme Court Mediation Centre and various other Courts. She has experience of over 25 years as a practicing advocate and has a PG Diploma in ADR from Indian Law Institute.

5:00 PM

The Moderator, Mr. Arjun Natarajan briefs the panel. He talks about Private mediation outside the purview of Section 89 of CPC. He states the importance of mediation and reinstates the opinion of the ASG pertaining to the role of lawyers in mediation.

5:10 PM

Mrs. Varuna Bhandari is adressing the panel. She's talking about the difference between mediation and conciliation and loopholes in them. She says that mediation is varying in nature, to each his own.

5:16 PM

Mr. Krishan Kakkar is adressing the panel. He points out how mediation institutions help overcome the obstacles in mediation and conciliation and also higlights how events like ISDR contribute in the same. He explains that private mediation gives you a choice of mediator as to whodo you want to mediate as well as you can have any other professional on panel.

5:22 PM

Ms. Veena Ralli adresses the panel. She puts forth her views on how private mediation helps overcome the hindrances posed by long drawn battle of litigation.

5:40 PM

Session concludes. We'll be back with the next Panel discussion in a while.

5:52 PM

We have started with the next Panel discussion on the topic 'Court-annexed Mediation'. This session will iclude discussion on functioning of court annexed mediation as envisaged by prevalent Indian Law, functioning of Court annexed mediation and India's stand before UNCITRAL vis-a-vis mediation. The moderator for this session is Mr. Mayank Sapra and Ms. Ramya Raj.

This Panelists for this session are:-

Hon'ble Ms. Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal- Hon'ble Justice, Delhi High Court

Senior Advocate Sudhanshu Batra- Senior Advocate and Mediator, Member of the overseein committee of Samadhan and Vice President of Maadhyam International.

Senior Advocate J. P. Sengh- Founder Member and the Organising Secretary of the Delhi High Court Mediaiton Centre, Samadhan.

5:55 PM

Mr. Sudhanshu Batra addresses the panel. He says it's a very flexible process. Courts can refer the parties to mediation without their consent. He says that people didn't accept ADR before and they saw it as a revenue crashing system.

6:00 PM

Mr. J. P. Sengh takes over. He's speaking about the training of mediators. He mentions Afcons and Salem Bar Association case. He refers to Para 43 of the Afcons judgement where SC laid down the guidelines for court annexed mediation.

6:15 PM

The Panelists are now deliberating on the various aspects of the Afcons Judgement. Hon'ble Ms. Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal discusses various provisions of Lok Adalat

6:20 PM

An Interactive Question-Answer session has commenced.

6:25 PM

Session concludes.

6:35 PM

We are done with today's sessions. Tomorrow's session will commence at 9:15 AM, Live Blog will resume accordingly.

Have a Good Night!

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Day 3

17 January 2017

Your bloggers for today are Prafulla Pathak and Teerth Waraich.

Good Morning on this terribly foggy day in Delhi peeps! The Fog isn't dissipating but neither is the spirit of the Participants. Panelists have arrived. We'll be starting with the sessions soon. We'll be updating you shortly.

9:45 AM

The Symposium kicks off for the 3rd and final day of the hugely successful event. Common information regarding a Mediation problem has been distributed amongst the participants. Mr. Jonathan Rodrigues addresses the participants, clearing doubts from yesterday's session. A presentation on 'Keys to effective advocacy in a mediation setting' follows.

9:54 AM

Mr. Jonathan Rodrigues teaches the pariicipants how to actually facilitate mediation with the help of an exercise.

10:06 AM

Mr. Rodrigues is discussing client consultation and explains the steps to prepare for mediation. He speaks about how mediators have the right to disagree while mediating and this disagreement should take the mediation forward.

10:23 AM

Session commences. We're starting with the next session by Mr. Tom Valenti on the topic 'Mediator's role in Facilitating Coversation'. This interactive session will include discussion on creating and maintaining an atmosphere of trust and control by setting guidelines, making strong opening statement, importance of having an agenda and chemistry between mediator, client and lawyer.

10:55 AM

A real life role play exercise is being conducted. Common information for the role play session has been distributed. Participants are trying to mediate between themselves.

11:15 AM

Session breaks for High Tea.

11:35 AM

We are kicked off with the next Real Life Role play session. This session will focus on Discussion of results and techniques, analysis of challenges and suitable solutions and will include a seperate evaluation and a Question/Answer session.

12:05 PM

A mock negotiation session is being conducted. All the participants have been divided into groups of three and are mediating under the guidance of Mr. Valenti and Ms. Davidson.

12:35 PM

We're done with Mock Mediation excercise. A common discussion and Question-Answer session commences.

1:00 PM

The Session breaks for lunch. Next session will re-convene in about an hour.

2:10 PM

Lunch break has concluded. We have started with the next Exercise and Intercarive session titled 'How to take away the best from a CDR session' by Ms. Catherine Davidson and Mr. Pascal Convelius. This sesion would entail discussion on keys to a win-win conclusion, importance of concluding positively, importance of information gathering, manging the exchange of ideas and options- accepting, rejecting and proposing alternatives.

2:55 PM

Ms. Davidson and Mr. Comvalius are doing a role play situation to explain the stages of mediation- acceptance of an offer, rejection or modification. In the role play situation Mr. Comvalius proposes to Ms. Davidson to marry her to which she refuses. However she agrees to marry Mr. Comvalius with certain conditions. Mr. Comvalius and Ms. Davidson reach a middle ground where she agrees to marry him if he gives up his favourite dessert, Gulab Jamun. 

2:55 PM

An interactive Question-Answer session has commenced. Mr. Comvalius summarises eveything that has been spoken about since day 1.

3:06 PM

A feedback session has commenced Mr. Jonathan Rodrigues is handing out the feedback forms to the participants.

3:12 PM

Participants are being handed over PACT badges as a parting gift as this session approaches a closure.

3:45 PM

Mr. Arjun Natarajan addresses the enchanted audience and presents a vote of thanks to formally close this session.

4:00 PM

The symposium kick off again with the panel discussion on the topic 'Changing mindsets for a better future'. This session would entail discussion on what is holding back mediation in India and what needs to be done to create a legal environment which is conducive to mediation in India. This session will be moderated by Mr. Jonathan Rodrigues and Mr. Arjun Natarajan.

The panelists for this session are:-

Justice (Retd.) M. L. Mehta- Former Justice of Delhi High Court and one of the panelist of the Panel of Arbitrators of Indian Council of Arbitration.

Mr. Anuroop Omkar- A graduate of 2012 batch from GNLU, Gandhinagar. He has earned a lot of repute in the domain of Mediation and Dispute Resolution in a very short period of time. Presently, he is a Partner at K. R. Chawla & Co, the Managing Director of Bridge Mediation India.

Mr. Shashank garg- He started his career with Supreme Court litigation at the chambers of Mr. Harish Salve, the former Solicitor General of India. Currently Mr. Garg is a Partner at Advani & Co. And is in-charge of the Delhi Office where he handles commercial litigation and Arbitration verticals.

Ms. Vasundhara Rao- Advocate and a renowned name in the filed of Intellectual Property Rights.

Ms. Mohini Bhatt- Advocate and a renowned Mediator. She's currently working as a Senior Partner in LawLinks.

4:15 PM

Justice (Retd.) M. L. Mehta adresses the panel. He talks about the scope of mediation in India and deliberates on Section 89 of CPC.

4:20 PM

Ms. Vasundhara Rao addresses the panel. She talks about mediation with reference to technology and how the use of the best technology and help aid the mediation process through it.

4:30 PM

Mr. Shashank Garg addresses the panel. He deliberates on drawnbacks of litigation. He talks about giving correct advice, not the convenient advice.

4:45 PM

Ms. Mohini Bhatt addresses the gathering. She talks about the need to raise awareness about Alternate Dispute Resolution.

4:48 PM

The panelists suggest various positive steps in order to improvethe process of mediation in India. 

5:05 PM

The Panelists discuss at length about the Mediation process and its scope and relevancy in Indian law using the examples of various statutes.

5:28 PM

Session concludes.

5:30 PM

We’ll be starting with the valedictory ceremony in a while where  Sr. Adv.  A. S. Chandiok, Justice (Retd.) M. L. Mehta and Senior Advocate Kirti Uppal, President Delhi High Court Bar Association, will grace the ceremony with their esteemed presence. 

5:58 PM

Valedictory ceremony has started. National anthem is being played.

6:00 PM

Dr. (Prof.) D. K. Bandyopadhyay, Chairman Amity Law Schools, presents momentos to the esteemed guests.

6:03 PM

Dr. (Prof.) D. K. Bandyopadhyay delivers his opening address.

6:09 PM

Mr. Jonathan Rodrigues, Advisor ISDR delivers his address.

6:12 PM

Senior Advocate Kirti Uppal addresses the gathering.

6:20 PM

Justice(Retd.) M. L. Mehta, Chief Guest for the evening delivers his address.

6:30 PM

Dr. (Prof.) D. K. Bandyopadhyay conveys his wishes on behalf of the Founder President Dr. Ashok K. Chauhan. 

6:34 PM

Dr. (Prof.) D. K. Bandyopadhyay felicitates esteemed guests. 

6:35 PM

A valedictory video showcasing all three days of the event is being showcased.

6:49 PM

Dr. Sanjana Sharma presents vote of thanks. She expressed her gratitude to all the sponsors, faculty members, support staff and the volunteers. She applauded all the participants and wished them well for their future endeavours.

6:45 PM

Valedictory ceremony concludes.

6:46 PM

High Tea.

And so with this the 1st Edition of ALSD-PACT Indian Symposium on Dispute Resolution, 2018 comes to an end. Thanks for being with us. We hope all the Participants and Volunteers had a great experience.

Here is the Media Committee signing off!