Do lawyers make matters worse, or do they provide information, advice and support which can help to prevent disputes arising or manage them when they do? Do mediators enable parties to communicate and reach agreements tailor-made to their needs? Or working outside the legal framework, do they find it difficult to protect weaker parties and access expert advice? What happens when lawyers become mediators? This book will describe the structure of service provision and the day-to-day work of lawyers, mediators, and lawyer mediators, drawing on empirical work carried out between 2013 and 2015 immediately after the recent changes to the management of divorce and separation within the family justice system. The reduction in legal aided help in 2013 and the failure of mediation to fill the gap in 2014–15 have given rise to a difficult debate. This book aims to provide an account of some of the practical effects of these policies through a description of the daily work of practitioners in the sector. It raises the question of whether we need to choose between traditional legal services and the new processes of private ordering or whether intermediate positions might be possible.

This book charts the historical and current interaction between lawyers and mediation in both the common law and civil law world and analyses a number of issues relevant to lawyers’ part in the process. Lawyers have in the past and continue to play many roles in the context of mediation. While some are champions for the process, many remain on the fringes and apathetic, while others are openly sceptical or even anti-mediation in their stance. Yet others may have embraced mediation but, it is argued, for cynical, disingenuous reasons. By reviewing existing empirical evidence on lawyers’ interactions with mediation and by examining historical and current trends in lawyers’ dalliance with mediation, this book seeks to shed new light on a number of related issues, including: lawyers’ resistance to mediation; lawyers’ motives for involvement with mediation; the appropriateness of lawyers acting as mediators and party representatives; and the impact that both lawyers and the increasing institutionalisation of mediation have had on the normative form of the process, as well as the impact that mediation experience heralds for lawyers and legal systems in general.

As the second volume of a two-volume set on mediation in China, this book examines the development of a diversified dispute resolution regime and other major types of mediation in China. Grounded in traditional dispute resolution practices throughout Chinese history, mediation is born out of the Chinese legal tradition and considered to be “Eastern” in nature. This second volume focuses on eight types of mediation prevalent in China in terms of its formation, development, challenges and achievements: people's mediation, court mediation, administrative mediation, industry mediation, commercial mediation, lawyer mediation, online mediation, and a combination of arbitration and mediation. In analyzing these diversified forms of mediation, the authors explain the necessity of integrating emerging forms of mediation with historical ties and traditional practice and thereby reshape a mediation system that incorporates diversified approaches, changing contexts and various dimensions including history and reality, theory and practice, state and society. This title will serve as a crucial reference for scholars, students and related professionals interested in alternative dispute resolution, civil litigation, and especially China’s dispute resolution policy, law, and practice.

This is the authoritative textbook on family mediation. As well as mediators, this work will be indispensable for practitioners and scholars across a wide range of fields, including social work and law. It draws on a wide cross-disciplinary theoretical literature and on the author's extensive and continuing practice experience. It encompasses developments in policy, research and practice in the UK and beyond. Roberts presents mediation as an aid to joint decision-making in the context of a range of family disputes, notably those involving children. Mediation is seen as a process of intervention distinct from legal, social work and therapeutic practice, drawing on a distinctive body of knowledge across disciplinary fields including anthropology, psychology and negotiation theory. Incorporating empirical evidence, the book emphasises the value of mediation in mitigating the harmful effects of family breakdown and conflict. First published in 1988 as a pioneering work, this fourth edition has been fully updated to incorporate legal and policy developments in the UK and in Europe, new sociological and philosophical perspectives on respect, justice and conflict, and international research and practice innovations.

The focus of this book is on practical application of theory. The book is founded in current mediation theory relating to the range of models used in Australia, and includes detailed contextual information including the legislative frameworks for mediation in different jurisdictions. 'Mediation for Lawyers' provides practical advice and tools (checklists) for legal practitioners who represent clients in mediation.

Mediation is rapidly becoming a norm in cross-border dispute resolution among European Union (EU) Member States. Accordingly, an important question for legal advisers to ask themselves is: Which jurisdiction offers the best legal framework to support a potential future mediation of my client’s dispute? This book responds to this question by examining the law on mediation in each Member State on a chapter-by-chapter basis. Each country analysis applies the book’s overarching principle of a specially designed Regulatory Robustness Rating System, which is thoroughly explained in an introductory chapter. This framework offers a highly effective way to analyse the quality and robustness of each of the EU’s twenty-nine national jurisdictions’ legal frameworks relevant to mediation (including legislation, case law, practice directions, codes of conduct, standards, and other regulatory instruments) and factor such an analysis into choices about governing law in mediation clauses and other agreements. Among the issues and topics covered are the following: • congruence of domestic and international legal frameworks; • transparency and clarity of content of mediation laws; • standards and qualifications for mediators; • rights and obligations of participants in mediation; • access to mediation services; • access to internationally recognised and skilled mediators; • enforceability of clauses and mediated settlement agreements; • confidentiality and flexibility; • admissibility of evidence from mediation in subsequent proceedings; • impact of commencement of mediation on litigation limitation periods; • relationship and attitude of courts to mediation; and • regulatory incentives for legal advisers to engage in mediation. This detailed analysis clearly allows users and other regulatory stakeholders to look closely and critically at regulatory regimes for mediation in order to make informed choices and develop appropriate strategies in relation to the law that governs their mediation. This is the first book to consider authoritatively what makes good mediation law and what makes a jurisdiction attractive for cross-border mediation purposes in terms of its regulatory framework. As a resource that identifies potential strengths and weaknesses of each EU Member State’s regulatory regime, it has no peers and will be welcomed and put to use by the alternative dispute resolution community in Europe and beyond.

For reasons of effectiveness, efficiency and equity, Australian law reform should be planned carefully. Academics can and should take the lead in this process. This book collects over 50 discrete law reform recommendations, encapsulated in short, digestible essays written by leading Australian scholars. It emerges from a major conference held at The Australian National University in 2016, which featured intensive discussion among participants from government, practice and the academy. The book is intended to serve as a national focal point for Australian legal innovation. It is divided into six main parts: commercial and corporate law, criminal law and evidence, environmental law, private law, public law, and legal practice and legal education. In addition, Indigenous perspectives on law reform are embedded throughout each part. This collective work—the first of its kind—will be of value to policy makers, media, law reform agencies, academics, practitioners and the judiciary. It provides a bird’s eye view of the current state and the future of law reform in Australia.

Alternatives to Litigation was first published in 1993 when alternate dispute resolution practice was in its infancy. Now in its Third Edition, this book reflects the growth in this field and also the growing interest and in some states mandatory use of ADR. Authors Andrea Doneff and Abraham Ordover explore key concepts and terms, and address practical how-to issues that all attorneys need to recognize and master regardless of their field of expertise. Alternatives to Litigation includes appendices providing sample agreements, checklists, a model standard of conduct, commentary on ethical issues and other useful resources.

Mediation Law and Practice gives a thorough account of the practice of mediation from the perspective of the student and practitioner. Divided into two parts, it deals with both the practice of mediation and the law surrounding mediation. Touching on the theory and philosophy behind the practice, it further describes in a theoretical and practical sense the difference between the emerging models of mediation. Mediator qualities are discussed in terms of issues of gender, culture and power. This book examines the important issue of mediation ethics and, taking into account the developing law surrounding the practice, proposes a code of ethics. It looks at the future of mediation in light of the decline in litigation, the rise in regulatory constraints on mediation and the popularity of online mediation. Mediation Law and Practice provides students and practitioners with the complete text on the practice and law surrounding mediation.

This book compares the different perceptions of legal disputes during litigation and mediation processes. By examining case processing from the unique angle of juxtaposing all actors' understandings of the same issues in ongoing cases, the book provides a novel view of the diversity of lawyer-party realities. The findings reveal inherent problems with the core workings of the legal system.