Mediation and Arbitration Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends In-house Counsel, Commercial Lawyers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-L-063

Before you join: Participants should have practical familiarity with commercial contracts, legal claims, dispute correspondence or contentious matters.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Commercial, construction, employment, banking and public-sector disputes often require a faster, more confidential and more controllable route than litigation. Legal professionals must advise clients on whether mediation or arbitration is suitable, draft workable dispute-resolution clauses, prepare persuasive case materials and protect settlement opportunities without weakening the client’s legal position. Poor process choices can increase cost, delay recovery, damage relationships and create enforcement problems across borders.

This course examines mediation and arbitration as distinct but related dispute-resolution processes. Participants assess dispute suitability, select institutions and procedural rules, prepare mediation briefs, identify interests and settlement ranges, negotiate through counsel, draft settlement terms and manage confidentiality. They also analyse arbitration agreements, jurisdictional objections, tribunal appointment, pleadings, evidence, hearings, awards and award enforcement under the New York Convention. The course addresses the practical choices legal teams make before and during disputes rather than treating alternative dispute resolution as a theoretical subject.

Instruction combines focused legal briefings with case analysis, clause review, group drafting, negotiation simulations and arbitration process planning. Participants work with realistic disputes involving delayed infrastructure works, unpaid lending facilities, shareholder disagreements and cross-border supply contracts. They leave with a reusable dispute-resolution decision framework, mediation preparation pack, arbitration clause checklist, procedural planning model and settlement drafting tools that can be adapted to their jurisdiction and organisational policies.

The course is suited to lawyers, in-house counsel, contract managers and dispute specialists who already work with commercial agreements or contentious matters and need greater confidence directing mediation and arbitration processes.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess dispute suitability using mediation, arbitration and litigation selection criteria
  • Prepare a mediation brief, issue map and settlement authority plan
  • Apply BATNA, WATNA and ZOPA analysis to settlement negotiations
  • Draft enforceable mediation settlement terms and confidentiality provisions
  • Review arbitration agreements for scope, seat, rules and appointment mechanisms
  • Plan an arbitration from notice through pleadings, evidence, hearing and award
  • Analyse jurisdictional, evidential and procedural issues affecting arbitration strategy
  • Develop an award enforcement assessment using the New York Convention framework

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Advise clients and internal stakeholders on the appropriate dispute-resolution route
  • Prepare mediation positions without exposing unnecessary concessions
  • Draft clearer arbitration clauses before disputes arise
  • Manage external counsel and tribunal timetables with greater control
  • Assess settlement and enforcement risks in cross-border disputes

For your organisation

  • Reduce avoidable dispute costs through earlier process selection and settlement assessment
  • Improve contract clauses that prevent procedural deadlock after disputes arise
  • Strengthen consistency in mediation authority, confidentiality and settlement documentation
  • Improve oversight of counsel, tribunals, evidence and procedural expenditure
  • Protect recovery prospects by identifying award enforcement risks early

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can select and justify an appropriate dispute-resolution process for a commercial dispute.

  • Litigation, mediation and arbitration compared through cost, control and enforceability
  • Dispute triage using legal merits, relationship value and commercial urgency
  • BATNA, WATNA and ZOPA identified before selecting a resolution route
  • Escalation clauses mapped from negotiation through mediation and binding determination
  • Confidentiality, precedent and publicity assessed as strategic process considerations
  • Multi-party disputes analysed for joinder, coordination and settlement complexity

Participants can explain mediation stages and manage key process, ethical and confidentiality issues.

  • Facilitative, evaluative and transformative mediation models distinguished for case suitability
  • Mediator neutrality, impartiality and conflicts assessed before appointment
  • Opening joint sessions structured around issues, interests and working relationships
  • Private caucuses managed without compromising confidentiality or party autonomy
  • Mediation privilege and without-prejudice protections examined under applicable law
  • Good-faith participation obligations considered without compelling settlement outcomes

Participants can prepare a focused mediation case theory, brief and decision-authority plan.

  • Issue trees separate liability, quantum, evidence and commercial interests
  • Mediation briefs present factual chronology, legal analysis and settlement context
  • Chronologies, key documents and damages schedules assembled for mediator review
  • Decision-makers identified with settlement authority and approval thresholds
  • Risk matrices quantify litigation exposure, delay and reputational consequences
  • Opening statements drafted to frame interests without hardening positions

Participants can conduct structured settlement negotiations and respond effectively to bargaining tactics.

  • Interest-based negotiation separates positions from underlying commercial needs
  • Objective criteria used to test offers, valuations and proposed concessions
  • Bracket offers and conditional proposals managed without accidental commitments
  • Anchoring, reactive devaluation and deadline pressure recognised during bargaining
  • Package deals constructed across money, timing, confidentiality and future performance
  • Impasse techniques include mediator reality-testing, adjournment and issue sequencing

Participants can draft settlement terms that record obligations, releases and implementation controls.

  • Term sheets convert negotiated principles into clear contractual obligations
  • Release clauses define parties, claims, unknown matters and reserved rights
  • Payment schedules specify amounts, currencies, taxes, interest and default consequences
  • Confidentiality and non-disparagement terms balanced against legal disclosure duties
  • Enforcement provisions address governing law, jurisdiction and consent awards
  • Post-mediation action plans assign filing, payment and communication responsibilities

Participants can review and draft arbitration agreements that reduce jurisdictional and procedural risk.

  • Arbitration clauses tested for consent, scope, seat and governing law
  • Institutional and ad hoc arbitration compared using administration and appointment mechanisms
  • ICC, LCIA and UNCITRAL approaches compared for common procedural decisions
  • The seat of arbitration distinguished from hearing venue and contract law
  • Multi-tier clauses drafted with workable negotiation and mediation preconditions
  • Pathological clauses identified through ambiguity, inconsistency and unavailable appointing authorities

Participants can plan arbitration commencement, tribunal appointment and early jurisdictional strategy.

  • Notices of arbitration frame parties, claims, relief and arbitration agreements
  • Responses identify admissions, counterclaims, jurisdiction objections and proposed arbitrators
  • Sole arbitrator and three-member tribunal appointments compared for disputed cases
  • Arbitrator disclosures assessed against independence and impartiality standards
  • Challenge procedures mapped for conflicts, delay and tactical objections
  • Emergency arbitrator and interim relief options evaluated before tribunal constitution

Participants can organise an arbitration case through pleadings, evidence and procedural orders.

  • Statements of claim and defence align facts, causes and remedies
  • Procedural timetables sequence pleadings, documents, witnesses and hearing preparation
  • Redfern schedules structure document requests, objections and tribunal decisions
  • IBA Rules on Evidence applied to relevance, materiality and production
  • Witness statements distinguish factual evidence from expert opinion evidence
  • Confidentiality orders protect commercially sensitive documents and hearing materials

Participants can prepare for hearings and assess the content, costs and risks of arbitral awards.

  • Hearing bundles organised around disputed issues, witnesses and legal authorities
  • Opening submissions present a coherent theory without repeating written pleadings
  • Witness examination plans use chronology, documents and controlled questioning
  • Experts managed through reports, conferencing and assumptions testing
  • Award requirements address reasons, relief, interest, costs and corrections
  • Costs submissions distinguish tribunal fees, legal costs and recoverable expenses

Participants can assess enforcement risks and create an internal plan for managing future disputes.

  • New York Convention grounds assessed before seeking recognition and enforcement
  • Award set-aside risks linked to due process, jurisdiction and public policy
  • Asset mapping informs enforcement forum selection and recovery sequencing
  • Cross-border enforcement plans coordinate local counsel, translations and limitation periods
  • Dispute registers capture claims, exposure, milestones and settlement authority
  • Application plans prioritise clause improvements, protocols and immediate case actions

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Dispute-resolution process selection matrix
  2. Mediation preparation and authority template
  3. BATNA, WATNA and ZOPA analysis worksheet
  4. Mediation settlement agreement checklist
  5. Arbitration clause drafting checklist
  6. Arbitration procedural planning model

Who should attend

  • In-house Counsel — advise business teams on dispute clauses, settlements and proceedings
  • Commercial Lawyers — manage client disputes outside court proceedings
  • Litigation Associates — build transferable mediation and arbitration case skills
  • Contract Managers — identify dispute risks and administer escalation procedures
  • Claims Managers — evaluate settlement options and evidence for contested claims
  • Procurement Leaders — negotiate dispute-resolution provisions in major supplier contracts

Skills and tools covered

Mediation preparationSettlement negotiationArbitration clause draftingProcedural case managementEvidence planningAward enforcement

Tools and standards

BATNA, WATNA and ZOPA, IBA Rules on the Taking of Evidence in International Arbitration, UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration, New York Convention

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to establish legal principles and procedural choices, followed by guided analysis of commercial dispute scenarios. Participants review dispute clauses, prepare mediation documents, assess settlement ranges and work through arbitration timetables and evidential issues. Group exercises test counsel-client decision making, mediator communications and tribunal procedure. Simulations focus on realistic negotiations and case-management choices. Each participant completes application planning using their own contract types, dispute procedures or current case responsibilities where appropriate.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical familiarity with commercial contracts, legal claims, dispute correspondence or contentious matters. They should understand basic contractual concepts such as breach, remedies, governing law and jurisdiction, and be able to read a dispute clause critically. Prior attendance at mediation or arbitration is helpful but not required. The course does not require advocacy qualifications, prior tribunal experience, detailed knowledge of any arbitral institution’s rules or a specialist litigation background. It is jurisdiction-aware but does not provide legal advice for a particular matter.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should understand basic commercial contract concepts and have some exposure to legal claims, contract administration or disputes. Previous mediation, arbitration or advocacy experience is not required.

Bring examples of dispute clauses, internal escalation procedures or anonymised recurring dispute issues if your employer permits. Course materials and case documents are provided, and no specialist software is needed.

It is designed for in-house counsel, commercial lawyers, litigation associates, contract managers, claims professionals and procurement leaders. Participants benefit most when they influence contract terms, dispute strategy or settlement decisions.

Litigation courses focus on court procedure, while negotiation courses may not address mediator process, tribunal jurisdiction or award enforcement. This course connects settlement strategy with arbitration procedure and cross-border enforceability.

Participants can use the decision matrix when a dispute arises, improve clause drafting during contract review and structure instructions to external counsel. The templates also support mediation preparation, settlement approvals and arbitration case planning.

The programme contains ten modules taught in sequence across five instructor-led days, with approximately 6.5 contact hours each day. Time is divided between legal briefings, case analysis, drafting, group work, simulations and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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