Interactive Training on Commercial Conciliation was Successfully Conducted at the Beijing Arbitration Commission
Xu jie ^*

From March 28 to 30, 2012, the Beijing Arbitration Commission (the BAC), jointly with the Institute of International Experts (IIE) and the Mediation Center of the Internet Society of China1, successfully conducted the Competitive Training on Commercial Conciliation, with Liang Haiming (Raymond HM Leung）, the founding chairman of IIE and Lu Tinghua (Denys Look), Lecturer of IIE, as the speakers. The training was strongly supported by the Securities Association of China2 and the Beijing Lawyers Association3. There were 24 legal and commercial experts who participated in the training.

In recent years, with the diversification of mediation and its ever increasing influence on business activities, the domestic legal circle has been more and more in favor of mediation. Manifested by the mediation rules of the BAC coming into force in 2008 and the establishment of the Mediation Center on August 1, 2011, the BAC has continuously strived to offer quality mediation services and to train highly skilled mediation professionals, so as to advance the diversification of dispute resolutions.

The purpose of the training was to introduce the experience of senior mediators, publicize research on mediation skills, and strengthen the mediation skills of relevant personnel. Through introducing the concepts of modern dispute resolution, the speakers presented systematically and theoretically the basic flow and usage of commercial conciliation from a brand new perspective, and based on the backgrounds of the trainees, they focused on communication skills in mediation with the assistance of vivid illustrative cases and live demonstrations. The training was conducted in a very effective way and the trainees realized that “It is necessary to mediate with a proper mentality; your sincerity should be demonstrated through your skills and your lack of skills could be compensated by your sincerity”.

Centered on the idea of “creating value” in commercial conciliation, the speakers presented various kinds of mediation skills through humorous and live interaction training activities. The trainees, through case simulations, learned about the skills of communication, asking questions, promoting relationships, active listening, and re-shaping language in commercial conciliation. One of the trainees said: “though I have not had any access to mediation before, I perceive that mediation is everywhere after the training. Different tones, manners, and wording of your speech or the tiny difference in your body language could lead to a different result.” Such change to a person’s concept of mediation reflects the deeper understanding of the ideas of modern commercial conciliation—to defuse conflicts through proper measure; to optimize the allocation of conflicting interest with professional thinking; to create value for both dispute parties by the employment of superb skills.

Impressed by the speakers’ excellent teaching expertise, many trainees expressed “The training atmosphere was properly controlled; the teaching was very interesting, lively, and rich in content.” Some trainees hoped that such kind of mediation training could be extended to benefit more people who wish to be involved in mediation. The speakers also wished that the trainees could make use of the ideas and skills of modern commercial conciliation to create more value in their daily work.

The BAC, as an advanced diversified domestic platform for dispute resolution, has been always dedicated to its job. Please keep an eye on our future training and research programs!