The Arbitrators’ and Mediators’ Institute of New Zealand, known as AMINZ, is an international institute of arbitrators, mediators, adjudicators, conciliators, facilitators, investigators and expect witnesses from the private and public sectors. AMINZ offers student, affiliate, associate, and fellowship memberships, alongside breakfast meetings, seminars, webinars, support groups and further educational training. Its website, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn are all multifaceted, offering a broad range of engaging information for dispute resolution practitioners and members of the public alike. AMINZ premises itself on education, training, connectivity, consistency, respect, and a high ethical and moral standing. However, despite providing an excellent environment for growth and development, AMINZ has little traction amongst the younger generation. The question is: Why?

At 24-years-old, I often catch myself forgetting that I still am (or at least I hope that I still am) the “younger generation”. Sure, sometimes I tuck myself into bed before 8pm on a weekend instead of partying as a large proportion of young people do and I feel as if I have aged beyond my years, but I cannot skip past the impact that being raised in the 1990s and 2000s has had on my perspective and worldviews. At the Wellington AMINZ Breakfast on 25 February 2021, I presented my views and recommendations for AMINZ moving forward with the younger generation. I will summarize these here:

• Online Presence: whether it be a website, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Tik Tok, or some other platform, businesses benefit from having an online presence. AMINZ, in my opinion, has an excellently balanced online presence. My only recommendation in this area was to make updates to the AMINZ website to increase the accessibility and simplicity of information, make navigability easier, and to create a more aesthetic and enjoyable experience for the viewer. I understand that AMINZ is in the process of a website update as I complete this post. [Edit: the AMINZ website updates are now live, and I am extremely impressed. They are well thought out and are an incredible step in the right direction in respect of usability and accessibility. The editors must be commended for this work].
• Accessibility: one of my primary concerns for AMINZ was the accessibility of information for members of the public, particularly those who have lower set literacy or comprehension skills. My recommendation in this area was for modifications to include an explicit definition of dispute resolution, to simplify the definitions of the types of dispute resolution, to define the expectations of dispute resolution practitioners and to better define the step-by-step complaints process. These recommendations were taken on board openly, and I hope to see modifications that make the important services offered by AMINZ more accessible to the general public. [Edit: As above].
• Marketing and Exposure: One particular concern was my exposure (or more accurately, lack of exposure) to AMINZ whilst at Victoria University of Wellington, which was limited to a short five minute presentation in a LAWS379 Dispute Resolution Course sometime during my third or fourth year. There is a lot to gain both for Victoria University and AMINZ is collaborating to provide additional courses or information to students to open them up to the world of dispute resolution.

So, what can AMINZ do about this? Although admittedly not researched in depth for their viability, I made the following suggestions:

• Outreach to Institutions: An AMINZ outreach program focused on engaging University students, high school students, or young lawyers would be an asset to AMINZ, educational institutions and the public alike. This could occur in a range of different ways, including: making short presentations in lectures or classes, holding information evenings or competitions, or posting information flyers in common areas.
• Taster Courses: The minimal number of “taster” dispute resolution courses available has left open a gaping hole that AMINZ could so easily fill. Most courses available are lengthy, ranging from 40 hours to four semesters, and costing anywhere from $500 to $12,000. The establishment of a 3-hour taster course aimed at providing baseline information and practical examples for interested individuals will increase the accessibility to dispute resolution and will allow participants to determine whether dispute resolution is the most suitable career for them. Such a course could be relatively inexpensive, causal, and organised in a fashion that makes it available and accessible to all. A further course of half to a full day could also be offered, involving negotiation with universities, the Ministry of Education, and the New Zealand Law Society, to make attendance with course, NCEA or CPD points. After all, young people simply cannot engage with AMINZ or dispute resolution generally if they are not aware of its existence or do not know what it entails.

I therefore pose this question to the reader: does AMINZ spark an interest in dispute resolution that you did not know you had? Does AMINZ provide easily accessible, understandable information, or is there more work to be done? 

See: https://www.aminz.org.nz/ 

J Cooper

(employed) Barrister