Court-Mediator Interaction in Civil Conciliation Procedures

Abstract

The article highlights key aspects of research-to-practice project “Conciliation in civil and administrative procedure” conducted by the Chair of civil and administrative procedure. Professors of the Chair analyse results of the projects, identify challenges and assign goals for a future reference period. The authors of the article analyse the work on the organization of the mediators’ interaction with the courts and the practice of applying the mediation procedure in court cases in face-to-face and online formats. The advantages of the model, in which the mediator’s duty is organized in the courts on a permanent basis, are revealed. The article analyzes the powers of the court to initiate conciliation procedures in court proceedings, analyzes the right of a judge to appoint a conciliation procedure on his own initiative. The regularities that allow to identify the relationship between the activity of judges in offering mediation procedures to the parties and the successful decision-making by the parties in favor of conducting a conciliation procedure are revealed. The article analyzes the problems of judicial mediation. Proposals have been made to create and legislate an algorithm for the interaction of the mediator and the court during the conciliation procedure after the initiation of proceedings in the case. The authors of the article consider the possibility of using the institution of suspension of proceedings in connection with the use of conciliation procedure. The problem of the mediator’s lack of a special procedural status is analyzed, which deprives him of the opportunity to participate in the proceedings on the case and complicates the process of interaction with the judge. The authors formulated the main tasks set for the implementation of research-to-practice project “Conciliation in civil and administrative procedure” in the next reporting period.