Nor did it bring the capitals of the world to a standstill on new year's eve. Happy millennium year to you all. We can now breathe a collective sigh of relief and move on from all the hype. As we go to press, the talks in Northern Ireland appear to have hit another stalemate, despite the best efforts of Senator George Mitchell, who in his efforts to bring consensus to the peace process showed us that the real skill of mediation lies in the ability to weave together the discordant threads of different interest groups, each representing a different viewpoint. Litigation, it could be argued, does the same thing, but runs the risk of irretrievably damaging the business relationships of those involved.
Mediation has clear commercial advantages.
In this issue, you will find a special feature on the role that mediation has to play in the maritime business community. Suzanne Starbuck looks at why the UK has been slow to follow Australia, Canada and the US, but says that, with the help of the Woolf reforms, inroads are now being made. It has to make sense to preserve business relationships, with the added bonus of potentially saving thousands of dollars in legal fees. This may be the hub for some maritime lawyers. Elsewhere in this issue, Dr Adrian Dabinovic looks to the advantages of new government reforms in mediation, port privatisation and multimodal law to commercial operations in Argentina.