Headlines:
| More mediation services needed in courts |
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| Tuesday, 09 September 2008 | |
 Justice Minister Dorothy Lightbourne is promising greater
use of court appointed mediation services to settle disputes which come before
the Supreme Court.According to Senator Lightbourne, mandatory mediation, which was introduced for civil cases, has proved to be quite successful. She says the programme will be expanded to include some criminal matters. "The use of mediation in the Supreme Court-civil jurisdiction is expected over the next five years to increase early disposal of both civil and criminal matters as along with our strategies to increase the number of Supreme Court judges, provide additional Supreme Courts rooms downtown among others things," she said. She was speaking at a seminar for mediators, convened by the Dispute Resolution Foundation. Chief Justice Zaila McCalla confirmed that the use of mediators in alternative dispute resolution had resulted in significant reductions in the number of civil cases going to trial. She stressed that clients are now seeing the benefits of reduced litigation costs and the timely disposal of cases, arising from this initiative. Additional mediators were presented with certificates of competence to facilitate their participation in the Michaelmas court session during Tuesday's seminar. |