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11 August 2023 / James South
Issue: 8037 / Categories: Opinion , ADR , Mediation
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Integrated mediation: the next step

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Widespread use of mediation could make a valuable contribution to resolving many disputes before the county courts: James South suggests thinking big to reap its rewards

The government announcement of 25 July 2023 is significant: to integrate commercial mediation in contested claims under £10,000 in the county court in England and Wales. However, in its submission to the Ministry of Justice on the call for evidence on mandatory mediation back in 2021, the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) drew on 30 years of experience of mediating and running court-based systems in the UK, as well as assisting other countries to develop mediation within their own court systems, to advocate going further in integrating mediation into the civil justice system, rather than just applying it to small claims.

Mediators know first-hand that human beings largely like to avoid conflict, and that we have been conditioned to hand over disputes to the civil justice system. In this context, the state to date has only provided one option for resolution: adversarial litigation,

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