Wicklow Times 20th April 2010
A top world position in alternative dispute resolution has gone not only to an Irishman, but also to a local man from Greystones
Joe Behan, a leading independent ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) practitioner and consulting engineer, has been elected world president of the 12,000-strong Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) for the year 2010. An experienced practitioner with extensive knowledge in all forms of alternative dispute resolution, Joe Behan FCIArb, FIEI, BE has a wide ranging practice profile in mediation, arbitration and conciliation both in Ireland and internationally. He heads up the Dublin-based ADR practice of Behan Dispute Resolution. He is also well-known as an adjudicator and mediator for the PRTB (Private Residential Tenancies Board).
A consulting engineer by profession who has worked in this field for many years, Joe Behan has acted as an expert witness in various cases. A Fellow of Engineers Ireland, he heads up his own Dublin-based practice of J P Behan Associates Consulting Civil & Structural Engineers.
Mr. Behan has been a driving force in moving the fast-growing profession of mediation and arbitration to the point where many commercial organisations and private individuals choose these much less costly and faster resolution options than going through the courts.
Commentating on current trends in the profession in Ireland, the new CIArb World President Joe Behan noted that although arbitration is utilised in the majority of disputes, the use of the mediation and conciliation processes are on the increase.
Dedicated to furthering the profession in Ireland, Joe Behan is active in education. He is a course director and tutor for the CIArb Mediation and Arbitration Entry Courses and also acts as faculty and assessor on the Mediation Accreditation Training Course.
Mr. Behan delivers private mediation training programmes, including modules at Maynooth University, through his own practice. Behan Dispute Resolution designs systems for the avoidance of disputes in business organisations and public bodies and carries out risk assessment and management for public bodies.
Joe Behan is a council member of the Irish Commercial Mediation Association, certified mediator with the International Mediators Institute and a practitioner member of Mediators Institute Ireland. He sits on a number of institutional and industrial panels of mediators and arbitrators, including those for Engineers Ireland, The Law Society, The Construction Industry Federation and CIArb.
He believes that the current economic climes are giving rise to more conflicts and disputes than ever in Ireland across all commercial and industry sectors and never has it been timelier for the public to become more aware of alternative dispute resolution processes.
Commenting on his election at the CIArb, Joe Behan said, "it is a great honour to have been elected president of the world's leading ADR institution. I shall dedicate this time to the furthering of global standards in the profession and to the promotion and facilitation globally of disputes by the more contemporary methods of arbitration, mediation and alternative means of non-court dispute resolution".