This is my final โDrawing from the Pastโ post, and I chose this drawing to illustrate something I believe holds a special place in dispute resolution:
Experience.
The other day, I had a conversation with a seasoned ๐ colleague whose firm primarily advises clients in the venture capital and private equity industries.
He said:
โ๐๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฅ, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ข๐ธ๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ท๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐จ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ถ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ค๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฏ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฃ๐ช๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต.
๐๐ง ๐ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐น ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ, ๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ช๐ง ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ.โ
I think he has a point.
Not because experience guarantees success. It doesnโt.
But because every hearing, every witness examination, every document production, every procedural crisis, every settlement discussion, and every unexpected turn teaches you something you simply cannot learn from a textbook.
The challenge, however, is not merely to accumulate experience. It is to reflect on it. To understand what worked, what didnโt, and why.
To my younger colleagues entering the field: despair not!
Be patient and collect your experiences one by one. They will come. The important part is to acknowledge them, analyse them, and carry them forward into the next case.
At the same time, experience should never become rigidity. Our profession needs curiosity just as much as experience. The younger generation constantly challenges established thinking, embraces innovation, and reminds us that there is rarely only one good way to solve a problem.
Because even after hundreds of casesโฆ
โฆSanta may still crash his sleigh on the way down the mountain.
DrawingFromThePastExperience ConflictResolution Arbitration MediationLearning
๐๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด:๐๐ณ๐ข๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณโ๐ด ๐ค๐ข๐ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด๐๐ฏ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด. ๐๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ข๐ญ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฐ๐ญ๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏโ๐ข๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ, ๐ข๐ณ๐ฃ๐ช๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ฐ๐ณโ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ข๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด. ๐๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ข๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ. ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ.
