Meet Anne Dick, of Family Law Matters, Glasgow

10/07/15 • -1 min

Meet Anne Dick, of Family Law Matters, Glasgow. Although she would never accept it, Anne is a true pioneer of mediation in Scotland. Some decades ago she helped introduce it to our country, whose preferred system of determining family law disputes until then had been solely adversarial. Anne became the founding convener of CALM Scotland and the very first lawyer accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a family mediator.
In this interview, Anne talks about the development of mediation in Scotland, how it helped shift the focus of family law onto children, reflecting a new understanding of a more equal status for parents and a responsibility to get it right for the children. She makes it clear that although it has been a real challenge to get the message out about mediation, to overcome the public perception of family lawyer mediators in the midst of huge financial settlements still grabbing the headlines, and she tells us in fact, that very few separation and divorce cases actually need to be decided in court these days, and that the legal system we now have runs quite complimentary to the self-determining approach mediation can bring to the table.
Thankfully Anne sees this development progressing, and looking into her crystal ball she leaves us with her vision on how mediation will look in the future in Scotland. We hope you agree that this is a fascinating interview, and remember to subscribe for more of the same.

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Meet Helen Hughes

Meet Helen Hughes, of McAuley McCarthy & Co, Solicitors, Paisley, and the current convener of CALM Scotland, in this, the very first #audioCALM interview with our accredited mediators. In this fascinating discussion, Helen talks with our Scott Docherty about what mediation actually is, how it's different from other forms of sorting out your separation disputes, and how to go through the process. She gives some valuable information about costs and the types of approach you can expect when coming to mediation.
Scott (who is an accredited CALM mediator, partner at McArthur Stanton, Solicitors, Dumbarton & Helensburgh, and author of How To Talk To Your Kids About Separation) will be recording more interviews with our mediators, so to keep in touch please subscribe on iTunes and follow us at calmscotland.co.uk or on all the usual social media channels @calmscotland.

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Meet Ewan Malcolm

Meet Ewan Malcolm, Chief Executive of Relate London North West, in this wonderful interview about online mediation recorded via Skype. If you push to one side the slightly dodgy resolution in the audio, you'll have the opportunity of listening to the thoughts of a genuine guru and pioneer of mediation in Scotland and beyond. Ewan established the Scottish Mediation Network here before working in New York and England, but still plays a major part in training and accrediting mediators in Scotland.
Here he chats about online mediation, something being developed with more emphasis as time goes on and as the technology begins to improve and shape itself around the dreams of its creators, bringing dispute resolution, the chance to resolve differences in a civil, meaningful way, to more people than ever no matter their location or technological know-how.
He talks passionately about his part in developing guidelines to make sure those entering into online mediation feel safe and confident, and how he sees this amazing service develop in the next few years.