Mediation And Dispute Resolution

Throughout hundreds of years of modern history disputes have been heard before a court and a judge, presiding over the matter to give a decision. However, times are changing in the last 30 years there has been greater use of alternate forms of dispute resolution that do not involve a court or judge in such a formal process. These alternate dispute resolution processes have allowed greater access to the settlement of disputes than ever before. Some of these methods include Direct negotiation and Mediation and also the establishment of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) which has provided a body to settle disputes outside the courts. Throughout this essay I will discuss the recent movement towards using alternate dispute resolution …show more content…
Most if not all civil cases are sent to mediation as a pre-trial procedure to encourage an out of court settlement. This is to offer a quicker and cheaper resolution to a dispute. Mediation involves two parties in an informal setting negotiating to reach an agreement which is mutually beneficial to both parties and eliminates the need to go to court. The mediator who is a third party present to the negotiation assists to maintain open communication however does not offer solutions or make a judgment on the dispute. The two parties must reach a settlement themselves. Mediation is able to provide greater access to alternative dispute resolution simply by being a cheaper process than the courts. For example, the dispute settlement centre of Victoria offers free mediation services to resolve a dispute. This alone gives many more people the opportunity to pursue the resolution of their dispute rather than leave it because the cost is too expensive. Furthermore, the majority of disputes that arise between parties are in fact settled before the case can even go to trial this is in large part due to the greater access to the use of mediation. According to the article ‘Alternative Dispute Resolution’ written by West’s encyclopedia of American Law, ‘In reality, fewer than 5 percent of all lawsuits filed go to trial; the other 95 percent are settled or otherwise concluded before trial. This indicates how crucial alternate dispute resolution processes such as mediation are in the legal system, dealing with the majority of disputes that arise. Moreover, another process of alternative dispute resolution which differs in some aspects to mediation is