Mediations and How to Get Them

Up until a short time ago, litigants in the county court who either decided or were advised to try mediation, were directed to the National Mediation Helpline which in turn directed the case to a mediation provider.

The system has changed now, and a website points potential mediatees to a list of providers from which they pick one, probably the one at the top.  Individual mediators on these providers' panels, are also invited to sit in a spare corner of the court all day, ready to talk to litigants who drift their way, or more proactively to invite conversations with unwary individuals who might be at court for a variety of matters, some suitable for mediation, some possibly not.

I spent a day as the duty mediator a few weeks ago, at the London's Civil Justice Centre in Regent’s Park.  The good thing about this system is that mediation is manifestly being brought under the justice system’s umbrella.  The court staff were well informed and enthusiastic.  It is not regarded as a fluffy add on, but as something all litigants should at least consider.  The down side of the arrangement, is that many people turning up at the court are arriving for their trials, which in most cases is too late to consider mediation, or are coming to issue proceedings, which is often too early.  It is also expecting a lot from the mediators that we sit in the court from 9.30 to 5, unpaid, and with no guarantee of getting work from it.  Many of the people I encouraged to consider mediation, qualified for the free small claim mediation in any case.  

There are many things about the way the mediation profession is monitored, scrutinised, regulated and governed, that seem to me to be less than perfect at the moment, and I am hopeful that this unfair and cumbersome system for distributing work will be fine tuned one day, along with the other wrinkles.  It is difficult for newly qualified mediators to break in and get experience, and it is difficult for more experienced mediators to find work except through joining overcrowded panels.  

However, cumbersome as the present system is, there is one invaluable by-product which is that individuals, people in conflict, who up till now have had no real options put before them other than the expensive lottery of litigation, can now have a one to one conversation with a professional who can explain an effective and economical alternative.  At this stage in the game, these conversations are possibly the most useful driver to changing the mind set from litigation to mediation.