The March Breakfast Seminar of the year, “The Role of Lawyers in Mediation”, was delivered by Dr. Mohamed S. Abdel Wahab, Founding Partner and Head of the International Arbitration and Project Finance Groups, Zulficar & Partners; CEDR Accredited Mediator; and Professor of Private International Law and Dispute Resolution, Faculty of Law – Cairo University. The lecture was divided in four phases starting by presenting the facts and priorities in mediation then analyzing lawyers’ receptivity of mediation which develops from a state of reluctance (“medio-phobic lawyers”) to a state of acceptance in the international level.
The Speaker explained the role of the lawyer throughout the mediation process, which does not only cover the mediation phase, but also the preparation for mediation and the review/drafting of the settlement agreement. The Speaker demonstrated, by reference to international statistics, that mediation can indeed be a lucrative profession for lawyers, and invited lawyers, in conclusion, to embrace mediation as a constantly rising ADR technique and to accept it as a revolutionary legal change.
The majority of participants were in-house counsels of both public and private companies in different fields including steel industry, construction, petrochemicals industry, telecommunications, mass media and petroleum. A number of private lawyers were also in attendance as well as representatives of the administrative prosecution.
