A controversial idea is in play: Should commercial mediators be invited to apply for competency certification granted and administered by an international institute? The International Mediation Institute, a nonprofit public-interest foundation established in April 2007, in The Hague, Netherlands-a joint initiative of the American Arbitration Association, the Netherlands Mediation Institute and the Singapore Mediation Centre/Singapore International Arbitration Centre-has posted draft standards, criteria and rules for public comment through the end of this month. (Available at www.imimedi-ation.org.) The certification initiative comes not from mediators, who have never had a penchant for putting hurdles in their own path, but from corporate mediation users of mediation. The IMI board chairman is Wolf von Kumberg, London-based assistant general counsel of Northrop Grumman Corp. The IMI Independent Standards Commission joint Vice Chair is Michael McIlwrath, Senior Litigation Counsel at GE Infrastructure-Oil & Gas in Florence, Italy.
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