Keynote Presenters

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Justice Albie Sachs, South Africa

Justice Albie Sachs, appointed by President Mandela to SA's first Constitutional Court, has recently completed his fifteen-year term on the Court. His book The Strange Alchemy of Life and Law [OUP] deals with the workings of the judicial mind in dealing with complex problems like terrorism and torture, truth and reconciliation, the enforcement of social and economic rights, whether the law has a sense of humour, and same-sex marriages. 

On turning six, during World War II, Albie Sachs received a card from his father expressing the wish that he would grow up to be a soldier in the fight for liberation. 

His career in human rights activism started at the age of seventeen, when as a second year law student at the University of Cape Town, he took part in the Defiance of Unjust Laws Campaign. Three years later he attended the Congress of the People at Kliptown where the Freedom Charter was adopted. He started practice as an advocate at the Cape Bar aged 21. The bulk of his work involved defending people charged under racist statutes and repressive security laws. Many faced the death sentence. He himself was raided by the security police, subjected to banning orders restricting his movement and eventually placed in solitary confinement without trial for two prolonged spells of detention. 

In 1966 he went into exile. After spending eleven years studying and teaching law in England he worked for a further eleven years in Mozambique as law professor and legal researcher. In 1988 he was blown up by a bomb placed in his car in Maputo by South African security agents, losing an arm and the sight of an eye. 

During the 1980s working closely with Oliver Tambo, leader of the ANC in exile, he helped draft the organisation's Code of Conduct, as well as its statutes. After recovering from the bomb he devoted himself full-time to preparations for a new democratic Constitution for South Africa. In 1990 he returned home and as a member of the Constitutional Committee and the National Executive of the ANC took an active part in the negotiations, which led to South Africa becoming a constitutional democracy. After the first democratic election in 1994 he was appointed by President Nelson Mandela to serve on the newly established Constitutional Court. 

In addition to his work on the Court, he has travelled to many countries sharing South African experience in healing divided societies. He has also been engaged in the sphere of art and architecture, and played an active role in the development of the Constitutional Court building and its art collection on the site of the Old Fort Prison in Johannesburg. 

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Alain Lempereur Professor, Public and Private Policy Department Negotiation and Mediation Chair, Founder and Professor Chair ESSEC Business School Paris Singapore, France.

Alain Pekar Lempereur is the Negotiation and Mediation Chair Professor at ESSEC Business School - Paris & Singapore, in the Public and Private Policy Department. Member of the Board of Overseers, and of the Faculty Senate, he coordinates the Interdisciplinary Forum "Questioning the Crisis", which includes more than 50 ESSEC faculty. 

In 1995, he founded ESSEC IRÉNÉ (Institute for Research and Education on Negotiation in Europe) that he headed until the end of 2008; he also served as the Academic Director of the ESSEC Executive MBA (1999-2001).  Former Special Fellow of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), he was a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School, at the University of Mannheim and the Cyprus International Institute for Management.

His books are devoted  to mediation (Méthode de Médiation with Jacques Salzer & Aurélien Colson; La Médiation: Modes d'emploi with Stephen Bensimon; Modèles de médiateurs et Médiateur-modèle), negotiation (Méthode de négociation and Négociations européennes, with Aurélien Colson, and La Négociation, RFG, with James Sebenius; Callières. De la Manière de négocier), communication (Argumentation, Legal Argument), and leadership (Faciliter la Concertation, with Lawrence Susskind and Yann Duzert ; Leadership responsable). He published articles in international journals, such as the European Review, the Negotiation Journal, the Harvard Negotiation Law Review, International Negotiation, etc. His current research is devoted to responsible leadership, reconciliation and the levels of transformation required in post-conflict situations. His new book is The First Move: A Negotiator’s Companion (with Aurélien Colson, Wiley, 2010). 

He has facilitated programs of research, training and consulting on negotiation, mediation and conflict resolution for government and business leaders all over the world; he advised national and international administrations, including the European Commission and Parliament, the OECD, UNDP, and WHO. He helped develop reconciliation and leadership programs in Africa, namely in Burundi and in D.R. Congo, where he served as a senior facilitator. He has also been a consultant for companies, like the Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey.      

A graduate in Law and Philosophy from the University of Brussels and a Fulbright Fellow, he received his S.J.D. from Harvard Law School. He and his wife, Michele, have three children, Daria, Henri, and Emery.   

Featured Presenters

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Associate Professor Dale Bagshaw, PhD, Australia

Associate Professor Dale Bagshaw, PhD, is the inaugural President of the Asia Pacific Mediation Forum (2000-ongoing), a past President of the World Mediation Forum, the inaugural Chairperson of SADRA (1988-1998), and the Convenor of the 1st National Mediation Conference (1993) and the 2nd International Mediation Conference (1996). In 1993 she established post-graduate courses in Mediation and Conflict Resolution at the University of South Australia and was the Program Director until she retired in July 2009. She was also the Director of the Centre for Peace Conflict and Mediation (CPCM) and its precedents at UniSA (1995-2009). Dale has published widely, conducted mediation training programs in 8 different countries and has recently co-edited a book – Bagshaw, D & Porter, E (2009). Mediation in the Asia Pacific Region. Transforming Conflicts and Building Peace. Routledge: London and New York.

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Laurence Boulle, Director, Mandela Institute for Global Economic Law University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

Laurence Boulle is currently Director of the Mandela Institute for Global Economic Law and Issy Wolfson Professor in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He is also Professor of Law in Bond University, Queensland. He is a former chair of Nadrac and member (part-time) of the National Native Title Tribunal. He has practiced and published in mediation and ADR for 20 years, his most recent publication being Mediator Skills and Techniques: Triangle of Influence (with M Nesic, Bloomsbury Professional, London, 2010). He has brought a dispute resolution perspective to international trade and investment law in The Law of Globalisation (Kluwer Law International, The Netherlands, 2009.) He is currently focusing on dispute resolution in the World Trade Organisation and in cross-border investment disputes.

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Jennifer McIntosh, Ph.D Adjunct Associate Professor, La Trobe University, Melbourne Clinical Child Psychologist, Family Therapist, Research Consultant. Family Transitions , Australia

Jennifer McIntosh (better known as Jenn) is a clinical and developmental psychologist, family therapist, and researcher based in Melbourne. She is Director of Family Transitions, a research and clinical practice devoted to the study and treatment of family trauma and transition, and Adjunct Associate Professor at La Trobe University, Melbourne (School of Public Health). Jenn's academic posts include Consultant & Practice Editor of the Journal of Family Studies, and the Editorial Board of the Family Court Review. Jenn is well regarded for her advocacy on the rights of children to psychological safety, particularly in the face of family trauma and change. Her interests as a researcher and educator in childhood trauma arise from studies and work in Australia, the UK and the USA, focussing on the experiences of children subject to family trauma and loss, particularly examining the effects of parental deprivation and conflict in early childhood. Jenn's research over the past fifteen years has focused on children in high conflict divorce. She has pioneered the development of a Child Informed approach to Family Dispute Resolution, and continues to deepen clinical practice in this arena in response to longitudinal research outcomes. She trains, supervises and teaches internationally about this approach to Child Inclusive Mediation, and is involved in replication studies with Indiana University and the UK Children First program. Current research includes studies into the impacts on infant and child development of post separation parenting and care arrangements, and the study of attachment issues in Family Law.

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Barbara Wilson PhD, MSc, CQSW, MCM (UK), United Kingdom 

Barbara Wilson has been a family mediator since 1990 and became a full-time independent practitioner and consultant in 1999. She worked originally in the family, civil and criminal courts and subsequently as a therapeutic social worker. She has conducted over 1,800 family mediations, including multi-party cases. She receives referrals from LSC mediation franchises (http://www.legalservices.gov.uk/), as well as directly from legal practitioners and private individuals. Barbara holds a Doctor of Philosophy by Publication Degree from the University of Portsmouth, a Master of Science Degree in Advanced Professional Development in Clinical and Health Science, a Certificate of Qualification in Social Work and a Diploma in Social Work. Barbara is particularly interested in theory-to-practice issues and writes for a number of professional journals. She teaches various modules of Graduate Certificate and MSc Conflict Resolution courses run by the Institute of Family Therapy, (under the aegis of the University of London), and provides post-qualifying workshops for experienced mediators. Barbara is also registered with Ofsted (http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/) as an Independent Adoption Support Agency, and works with birth parents and others affected by adoption.