Speech by Mr John Budge SBS, MBE, Chairman of HKMAAL at Opening Ceremony of HKMAAL

2 April 2013

I would like to thank you all for attending this evening to mark the official launch of our website and the commencement of business today. We chose the 2nd of April, not just because yesterday was a public holiday, but for the obvious reason that we did not wish to start business on April Fool’s Day. There was a precedent for this since I understand that our Chief Justice when he was Chief Judge decided that the Civil Justice Reforms should also begin on the 2nd of April rather than the 1st of April.

I would like to report on progress of HKMAAL todate.

1. Today marks the first stage of the work of HKMAAL. Letters will/or have been sent by the Founder Members to all those on their panels advising them that they have the right to apply to become HKMAAL Accredited Mediator.
2. We have also written to 9 other organisations inviting them to become members of HKMAAL.
3. In order to standardize the assessment procedure, I have asked Mrs. Robin Hooworth to convene a meeting of assessors to work on a common standard of assessment. I am hopeful that this will be completed in a matter of a few months. After this has been done, HKMAAL will be in a position to commence its own Stage 2 assessments.
4. I am expecting various organisations to apply to be a member of HKMAAL and I am grateful to Thomas So who has agreed to chair the Working Party on Membership.

As you are all aware, we wish to create the premier accreditation body for mediators in Hong Kong discharging both accreditation and disciplinary functions. It will not however be our intention to provide training courses. Our long term aim is to eventually form a single accreditation system in Hong Kong. I believe that we have made good progress todate but we still have a long way to go.

I am particularly grateful to my fellow directors on the Council, Francis Law from the Mediation Centre, Dieter Yih from the Law Society of Hong Kong and Kumar Ramanathan from the Hong Kong Bar. I am also grateful to the members of the HKMAAL Accreditation Committee for their guidance. I would also like to thank Mr. Rimsky Yuen, Mr. Wong Yan Lung and the Chief Justice for their encouragement. Simon Lee, Angela Ho and Venus Cheung from the DOJ Mediation Team have also been very helpful. Finally I would like to thank Ms. Erica Chan and her team from the Secretariat for their major contribution during the last few months. I would now like to call on Mr. Benedict Lai, Law Officer (Civil Law) to say a few words.