Wired

Check out Diane Levin’s latest action packed post today on the rise and rise of law in cyberspace.

Ask most mediators in the male over 40/short/bald/ex law firm partner demographic (I know, if the cap fits...) and we won’t get excited about online dispute resolution preferring to believe that flesh mediations will continue to be the norm, citing the anti-climax of Y2K and George Orwell’s 1984 prophecies in support of the 'it never works out the way the geeks say it will' school of thought.

But in one week in New Zealand, the Office of the Domain Name Commissioner (the controlling body for New Zealand domain names) is assembling a panel of cyber mediators to form the thin blue line in domain name dispute resolution.

At the same time, the Government Agency charged with resolving landlord/tenant disputes (I didn't spill the red wine on the carpet/well, it sure wasn't there when you moved in/yes it was...) is recruiting telephone only mediators who, like their domain name mediator cousins, will never put a face to the name, never breath that intoxicating thick air at the start of a session, never...

The rise of the call centre mediator is gathering speed and as the real time, real person mediator approaches the endangered species list, how long before mediator call centres move to Bangalore?

But in the meantime how the dickens do you mediate over copper wires?