What is actually happening?
Describe the pressure, decision need and what must remain working before selecting a procedure or person.
APPOINTMENT
From a real requirement to a professional appointment that can be explained.
The Appointment system is where TheNeutrals.ORG connects need, role, professional evidence, current standing, conflicts, mandate and the live matter record. It is designed for people who may not know the procedure they need at the beginning. The system starts with what is happening, narrows the professional function, preserves search context, compares profiles, clears the person and records the mandate before substantive work begins.
THE APPOINTMENT CHAIN
Every appointment should be able to show how the next decision followed from the one before it.
What is the Neutral being trusted to do?
Evaluation, mediation, facilitation, chairing, Standing Neutral, determination and other functions carry different authority.
Which public fields support fit?
Practice, sector, jurisdiction, corridor and other verified evidence should narrow the professional search.
Can this person safely receive the matter?
Current standing, conflicts, availability and disclosures belong before substantive professional engagement.
What authority is accepted?
Purpose, information, participation, process, output, effect and retained authority should be written clearly.
Can the appointment be explained later?
The workspace preserves why the role and person were chosen, how conflicts were handled and what terms governed the work.
APPOINTMENT SHOULD NOT BEGIN WITH A DIRECTORY
Names become more useful after the professional question is clear.
A directory is strongest when it receives a search brief that already explains the role, context and evidence that matter.
APPOINTMENT ROUTER
Start from the point where your appointment work actually is.
NEXT ROUTE
I know the problem, not the Neutral role.
Begin with confidential requirement intake and role matching. Do not start by ranking names.
APPOINTMENT STANDARD
Professional standing should be visible. Independence should be checked. Authority should be written.
No one control replaces the others. A certified professional can still have a conflict. A conflict-free professional can still be wrong for the role. A strong fit can still be given a poor mandate. Appointment quality comes from the whole chain.
PROFESSIONAL DISCOVERY
Current public professional records
Only currently published professional records are shown.
PUBLIC PROFESSIONAL RECORD / Lauderdale, United States
Robert E. McKenzie
Arbitrator & Mediator
mediationarbitrationBanking and Finance
Published record: Mr. McKenzie received his J.D. with High Honors from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago Kent College of Law. Experience 2000 - Present:Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP, Predecessor firm,…
PUBLIC PROFESSIONAL RECORD / Pyrmont, Australia
Steve Lanckens
Arbitrator & Mediator
mediationarbitrationBanking and FinanceInformationCommunications and Technology
Published record: Since 1999 I have specialised in arbitration, mediation and negotiation. In 2011 I engaged in advanced study in Peace and Conflict Studies at Sydney University. Various appointments to arbitral and…
PUBLIC PROFESSIONAL RECORD / Mexico City, Mexico
Thomas S. Heather
Arbitrator & Mediator
mediationarbitrationBanking and Finance
Published record: He has lectured widely internationally atleading Mexican and U.S. universities, has published more than one hundred articles and has co-authored several treatises. He is a founding member of the International…
PUBLIC PROFESSIONAL RECORD / Billericay, United Kingdom
Gregory Hunt
Arbitrator & Mediator
mediationarbitrationBanking and Finance
Published record: Gregg held Executive Director roles within all organisations and was CEDR’s first Global Group Director of Dispute Resolution. ?In April 2016 Gregg formed Hunt ADR Limited which is registered with…
SYSTEM ROUTES
Appointment can stay matter-specific or become an enterprise capability.
DEFINE
Appointment begins by making the professional question visible.
COMPARE
Use one brief to compare people through the same evidence.
RECORD
The final appointment should preserve the chain of reasoning.
APPOINTMENT ARCHITECTURE
Build the appointment around decisions that can still be explained later.
A strong system carries the original requirement forward while separating public evidence, conflicts, authority and matter administration.
REQUIREMENT
What is the organisation actually trying to solve?
The appointment should begin from the live business, project or institutional pressure rather than a name or a generic desire for independence.
ROLE
What is the Neutral being trusted to do?
Mediation, Neutral Evaluation, Standing Neutral, Neutral Chairing, Expert Determination and other functions carry different authority.
PERSON
Which published evidence supports fit?
Practice, sector, jurisdiction, corridor, background and standing should be read from the canonical public profile.
CLEARANCE
Can the professional safely receive the matter?
Conflicts, independence, disclosure and information-control questions belong before sensitive material is shared.
MANDATE
What authority is actually accepted?
The engagement should state scope, evidence, process, output, retained authority and any limits before work begins.
END-TO-END PATH
One chain. Six gates. No loss of context.
Each stage should create the minimum information the next stage needs and preserve why the appointment advanced.
APPOINTMENT PATH
One appointment journey. No disconnected leaps.
The reason for the appointment should still be visible when the professional is selected, conflicts are cleared and the mandate is accepted.
01
Start from requirement intake
Record the issue, urgency, parties, market context and what must keep working before selecting a role.
02
Match the Neutral function
Choose the independent professional role from what is missing, not from familiarity with a particular procedure.
03
Discover from published evidence
Use the Register and canonical profiles to compare relevant practice, sector, jurisdiction and corridor fields.
04
Run staged conflicts and clearance
Limit sensitive information until the professional has received enough identity data to conduct a proportionate conflict check.
05
Design and accept the mandate
Write the role, authority, evidence, process, output, confidentiality expectations and retained decision power before substantive work.
06
Preserve the matter record
Keep requirement, shortlist reasoning, clearance, accepted mandate, changes and closure connected inside a defensible matter workspace.
CONTROL BOUNDARIES
Separate relevance, clearance and authority before the matter goes live.
The system should make it harder to confuse discovery, clearance, standing and authority with one another.
THE APPOINTMENT SYSTEM SHOULD
Make the appointment explainable later.
- Preserve the reason each stage advanced.
- Return to the canonical professional record.
- Keep conflict clearance separate from general suitability.
- Make retained authority explicit.
- Record changes after acceptance.
THE APPOINTMENT SYSTEM SHOULD NOT
Collapse discovery, clearance and authority into one step.
- Do not treat profile relevance as appointment suitability.
- Do not send the merits file before conflict review.
- Do not use certification as a substitute for mandate design.
- Do not imply institutional recommendation from directory placement.
- Do not lose the appointment history once work begins.
PROFESSIONAL EVIDENCE
Let the public record inform discovery without turning visibility into endorsement.
The public profile supports discovery and verification. It does not establish conflicts clearance, independence, availability, fees or acceptance for the live matter.
Appointment tools should remain decision aids rather than substitutes for professional judgement, applicable law, contractual requirements or institutional authority. Their purpose is to make the appointment logic visible and reduce preventable process error.
Public professional relevance does not establish conflicts clearance, independence, availability, fees, acceptance or authority. Those questions belong to the live appointment after the canonical profile and current standing have been reviewed.
Where the appointment changes materially after acceptance, the record should show the change and trigger whatever fresh conflicts, disclosure, mandate or professional-fit review is required.
Appointment tools should remain decision aids rather than substitutes for professional judgement, applicable law, contractual requirements or institutional authority. Their purpose is to make the appointment logic visible and reduce preventable process error.
Public professional relevance does not establish conflicts clearance, independence, availability, fees, acceptance or authority. Those questions belong to the live appointment after the canonical profile and current standing have been reviewed.
Where the appointment changes materially after acceptance, the record should show the change and trigger whatever fresh conflicts, disclosure, mandate or professional-fit review is required.
APPOINTMENT PRINCIPLE