ADR Mediation

ADR Mediation, Lord Justice Briggs who has an impressive legal career, was appointed Deputy Head of Civil Justice on the 1^st January 2016.

Briggs predicts that mediation will become the norm if plans for a new online court comes into existence, the online court would deal with monetary claims up to twenty-five thousand pounds.

On the 26^th September 2016 Briggs told the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators’ mediation symposium his recommendation for a court with a three stage process, will for civil dispute resolution hopefully bring adr mediation, alternative dispute resolution into the forefront.

It is contended that mediation would not become mandatory, the hope being that it would align, bring closer the alternative dispute resolution, adr mediation community closer together with the court service, with the aim of civil dispute resolution through a suitable and primary route.

It was said that mediators and the courts worked alongside one another providing mediations in fact in many of the county courts on a vast array of civil disputes, indeed the mediation service worked well till the decision to close the National Mediation Helpline in 2011.

To be clear this recommendation is not looking to discourage nor replace pre issue dispute resolution, the intended online courts on line portal will highlight the benefits, options available other than issuing a claim, to claimants signposting them to the providers of adr mediation services.

As always mediation is a last resort before litigation and this would be mentioned on the on line portal, encouraging the use of mediation with the hope it would lead to a resolution for claimants.

One of the reasons for this initiative is the tremendous amount of claims under twenty-five thousand pounds which make up the majority of civil claims in terms of numbers.

Briggs feels that mediators would have a big part to play in this initiative than they originally may have thought.

The uptake, success, publics and mediators views on all of this is yet to be seen, welcomed yet is met with uncertainly by some at present, until it comes into fruition and its results are established, only time will tell?!

Click here to view Lord Justice Briggs full article on this matter.