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Beyond Winning: Successful Mediation Advocacy in Representing Clients

Case Introduction

In May 2008 the European Union adopted the Mediation Directive intended to stimulate the use of cross-border mediation. As a result, more and more lawyers were being confronted with mediation. The skills needed to represent a client in mediation greatly differ from the classical skills lawyers need while representing a client in court proceedings. Many lawyers were not yet sufficiently familiar with mediation, or possessed the specific skills and tools needed to professionally serve a client in a mediation procedure. Therefore specific awareness raising programs, combined with practical material and training in mediation advocacy skills were necessary.

This project had several objectives: professionalizing and facilitating the use of mediation in the EU by teaching lawyers specific skills on client representation in mediation; creating awareness and proficiency in representing clients in mediation; creating European standards for mediation advocacy, interaction and knowledge sharing, especially for cross border cases; facilitating European cooperation of lawyers from several EU countries in the field of ADR, and; stimulating the use of mediation, especially in cross border cases, so that lawyers would become active proponents of effective dispute resolution.

Activities Carried Out

Organized and held 10 trainings and 8 conferences with a total of over 2000 conference participants and 500 training participants across the EU Member States. Each training lasted 2-3 days and was adapted to fit the needs and customs of each Member State.
Wrote and produced a book on using mediation advocacy in Europe in English and translated into Italian, German, Bulgarian, Greek, Slovak and Spanish.

The Result

The project created awareness of and proficiency in representing clients in mediation, an achievement aided by the exchange of experiences and information among training and conference participants representing the different EU countries.
As a result of the project practitioners in the various EU countries began taking the initiative to promote mediation and mediation regulation. In particular, after an event held in Prague a working group under the Czech Bar Association was formed to discuss new national legislation on mediation. The conference aided in this process by galvanizing the national authorities to act on behalf of a mediation regulation.

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