Harmonization of Mediator Qualification Requirements: Mediator and Mediator in Family Disputes

Abstract

The question of the criteria applied to evaluate professionalism of a mediator and a mediator in family disputes is being vigorously discussed in the international professional community. This issue is also relevant after the approval of the Russian professional standard in the sphere of mediation. Based on a comparative legal analysis of the requirements for the theoretical and practical training of family mediators in some countries, including those where the law provides for a compulsory pre-trial conference with a mediator in a number of disputes including family disputes, and standards of skills and conduct systematized by the International Mediation Institute, the author concludes that there is a need to improve the system of qualifications and requirements applied to practical experience of experts in family mediation. Specific requirements for family mediators can be shaped, inter alia, by means of eliminating the concept "non-professional mediator" from the legislation, introducing the system of voluntary accreditation based on the feedback, establishing mediator registers differentiated by their specialization, introducing the system of undergoing compulsory supervision for aspiring mediators, the wide dissemination of the practice of co-mediation conducted by mediators of different specialties.