From Patrick Boylan, Chairperson, ICOM Legal Affairs Committee E-mail:
<[log in to unmask]>

Subject:  Are you an experienced professional who is good at listening and
communicating? Perhaps you could become an ICOM Mediator?

ICOM has viewed with concern the rapid growth in legal actions against
museums and galleries concerning disputes relating to a range of questions,
but particularly the legal (and in some cases moral) ownership of objects in
the collections of various museum. These legal actions are frequently very
expensive in terms of legal costs, damaging to the reputation of museums,
and in the end quite often these cases cannot be satisfactorily resolved in
the law courts because of technical problems, such as legal time limits for
bringing a case to court.

After extensive consultation, ICOM has now adopted a policy of encouraging
the use of a mediation procedure and system which is being established with
ICOM's help and strong encouragement.  Using mediation, if this is agreed to
by the two or more parties in dispute (for example someone claiming to be
the true owner of a work of art or object in a museum and the museum in
question), one or more Mediators would be appointed by those in dispute.

To help in the process ICOM is establishing a register of suitable persons
willing to try to promote a resolution of the conflict without the need to
go to court.  The detailed procedures and practical arrangements in each
case, including the payment of expenses and any fees, would be a matter for
the parties to agree between themselves and with the mediator: ICOM itself
will only facilitate the mediation and will never become a party to it.

Mediation is increasingly used across many areas of dispute resolution
nowadays.  Mediators need to have a good understanding of the field, but do
not need to be trained lawyers: in many fields there are far more
experienced specialists than lawyers on the panels of mediators. However, a
mediator needs to be able to listen to and understand the arguments, claims
and concerns of each side to the dispute, and try to build bridges between
the different positions, with the aim of reaching an acceptable resolution
of the question without all the delays and major expense that court actions
usually involve.

Being a mediator requires good judgement and communication, but can be very
rewarding.  Perhaps this is a way in which you could contribute to the
further development of the profession and professional ethics?  For further
information please check out the mediation working papers on the ICOM Legal
Affairs Committee website at:

	http://icom.museum/legal_committee.html

and the special issue of ICOM News on Mediation (2006 no. 3), which is also
available on line at:

	http://icom.museum/mediation_eng.html

For those attending the ICOM General Conference in Vienna there will be an
information session for those interested in any aspect of the ICOM Mediation
Policy at the University of Vienna on Saturday 18th August 2007 from 2.30pm
to 5.30pm, open to everyone who may be interested.

Either way, if you are interested in serving as an ICOM Mediator please
e-mail me attaching a short CV if possible) at:
<[log in to unmask]>.


Patrick Boylan
(Chairperson, ICOM Legal Affairs Committee)

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