Interview with Michael Leathes

• Main Author: ALEXANDER, Nadja
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2006
• Subjects: Conflict of Laws; Dispute Resolution and Arbitration
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/2250; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/4202/viewcontent/InterviewMichaelLeathes_ADR_2006.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Alexander: Can you describe your professional role and how it relates to international mediation?Leathes: I have been an in-house counsel for most of my 36-year career, including general counsel of Pfizer International and of International Distillers & Vintners and general manager of BAT’s intellectual propertycompany. In all these roles I have been responsible for litigation portfolios internationally—in total, thousands of cases. Before I figured out a better way, I’m certain that I must have been responsible for about as many losses as wins. Then, in the late 80s, I discovered mediation…A: And what happened?L: Together with the teams of people I was leading, we resolved the majority of our cases through negotiation, assisted by a neutral or, more frequently, through the application of interest-based negotiation techniques.Often, we proposed settlement talks. This reduced our risk profile considerably and saved a lot of cost. It also earned us a reputation of being people who want to resolve, people you can talk to.A: Tell me about the changes that you have seen in international disputeresolution during the past five years.