NZ Asian Lawyers Conference: Mediating Between and With Asian Parties in Dispute
Following the conference on “Considering possible settlement: Asian parties in court”, on 19 May 2025, this second conference on “Mediating Between and With Asian Parties in Dispute” tackled the practical obstacles to Asian parties settling when it is in their best interest to do so, by:
- Remedying any information gap about ADR option(s) or lack of knowledge of mediators who have expertise to assist;
- Informing us as to what Asian parties lack knowledge of concerning ADR and mediation to ensure those gaps can be plugged in future; and
- Encouraging Asian lawyers and non-lawyer Asian leaders to train as mediators and in ADR since their cultural and language skills and the respect in which they are held in their own community means they can play a pivotal role in resolving disputes which would otherwise go to court.
Mai Chen chaired the conference, on 14 August 2025 at Chapman Tripp, featuring:
- Hon Kit Toogood KC, former High Court judge and expert mediator
- Panel Discussion chaired by Anna Fuiava, Partner at Denham Bramwell Lawyers, AMINZ 2023 Determinative Scholar with: Margaret Chen, Dr Heida Donegan, Daniel Kalderimis KC and Mark Kelly
- Mervin Singham, CEO of Ministry for Ethnic Communities
- Clayton Kimpton, CEO of The Law Association of New Zealand
- Yvonne Mortimer-Wang, Barrister and Co-Chair of NZBA’s Advocacy Committee and member of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee, NZBA
Read Hon Kit Toogood KC’s remarks here: Mediation-and-how-it-works-by-Hon-Kit-Toogood-KC
Read Mervin Singham’s address here: Mediating-between-and-with-Asian-parties-in-disputes-Conference-Speech
