Building Momentum in Mediation: The Institutional Edge and the Breakthrough

Mediation. The Institutional Edge. The Breakthrough Moment. The conversation mediation needs. Vienna, 2 July 2026.

Mediation has never had more institutional scaffolding behind it — or more honest conversations about why, even with that scaffolding, deals still stall in the room.

This year's conference sits squarely in that tension: the systems that move mediation forward, and the moments when nothing seems to move at all. Three sessions. Three angles on momentum. One day in Vienna.

KEYNOTE — UNSETTLED in Vienna

A live, podcast-style roundtable. Three leading practitioners take a mediation problem apart in real time — and then, deliberately, leave it open. No tidy resolution. No final word. Just the kind of unscripted, expert thinking you rarely get to overhear.

PANEL 1 — The Institutional Edge

A robust and lively exchange among four international dispute resolution experts on the emerging role of institutions in international commercial mediation. The panel will range across the functions institutions can undertake, case management, the extent to which institutions influence mediation style, and the robustness of the international mediated settlement agreement (iMSA), the impact of digitalisation and AI, and third-party funding. Time for Q&A.

PANEL 2 — The Breakthrough Moment

Parties arrive at mediation by very different routes — choice, contractual obligation, internal policy, external recommendation — and even where a viable zone of agreement plainly exists, mediations stall. This panel goes beneath the surface of impasse. What actually drives it: legal uncertainty, commercial misalignment, relational breakdown, or constraints within the parties' own decision-making processes? Moving past the notion that persistence alone closes the deal, the panel will examine how impasse can be anticipated, understood, and at times constructively engaged — covering the mediator's role in diagnosing different types of impasse, the interaction between counsel and client in moments of deadlock, and the strategic choices available when progress appears to halt. Not a single formula. A range of tested approaches, grounded in practice.

For more information, see our Conference Website.

Join us for the 4th IBA-VIAC CDRC Vienna Mediation Conference 2026 on Thursday, 2 July 2026, Haus der Industrie, Schwarzenbergplatz 4, 1030 Vienna.

Due to capacity limitations, attendance at this event is strictly limited, and registration is mandatory.