Learning & events
On demand | Webinar | Managing power imbalance in a family mediation context
With Mark MacDiarmid
On demand | Online
Managing power imbalance in a family dispute resolution context
This is the second in a series of webinars to explore managing power imbalance.
In this webinar Mark MacDiarmid offers consideration of the following questions in relation to managing power imbalance in the family dispute resolution context:
- What is power?
- What is our initial purpose in mediating this particular dispute (e.g. are we wanting to arrive at interim parenting Orders in a high conflict case; a final resolution of family property; an improvement in relationship or family alliances)?
- Where does relevant power reside for the purposes of the mediation (e.g. with the parties, mediator, solicitor participants, venue, structure, the Court, the parties’ social, cultural and familial contexts)?
- How might family violence dynamics be reproduced in mediation in ways that are both seen and unseen?
- Having regard to the previous, where on the power spectrum does each party sit?
- Structure as an intervention, and how it influences parties’ interactions, anxiety levels and capacity to reach agreement
About the speaker
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Mark MacDiarmid Mark MacDiarmid has been a lawyer for over 30 years. He is an Accredited Family Law Specialist, a Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner and a registered Family Law Arbitrator. As a lawyer, Mark’s practice is currently focused on Independent Children’s Lawyer appointments, and as a mediator he focuses on legally assisted property and parenting mediations. He holds degrees in Arts & Law from the University of Sydney, as well as a Post Graduate Diploma in Psychology. He was recommended as a Family Law Mediator by Doyle’s Guide in 2021 & as a Parenting & Children’s Matters Lawyer by Doyle’s Guide in 2018 & 2019. Mark holds the following accreditations:
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