Consultation Paper on Alternative Dispute Resolution - Law Reform ...

mediation rooms and the Mediation Co-ordinator works out of the Citizens
Advice Bureau office in the court building. 44
3.43 Following on from the success of the Edinburgh Sheriff Court in-court
advice service, further in-court advice services were established in Aberdeen,
Airdrie, Dundee, Hamilton and Kilmarnock in 2002 and 2003. 45
(iii) The Netherlands
3.44 The Dutch civil justice system has a long-standing tradition of
informal resolution of civil disputes. More recently, the Netherlands has
developed a mediation project on a pilot basis, slowly expanding to incorporate
a larger number of courts. In court-annexed mediation in the Netherlands,
mediation sessions are coordinated by a non-judge coordinator. Parties choose
a mediator from the court‘s register and mediations proceed at a specified date.
As mediation in the Netherlands is entirely voluntary, judges do not refer cases
to mediation, but are able to explain to parties the extent of their options and the
advantages of pursuing ADR. 46
3.45 In 2000, the Netherlands introduced a project entitled Courtconnected
Mediation in the Netherlands. Its aim was to examine whether a
permanent system of referral to mediation was justified within the judicial
infrastructure and how this could be organised most effectively. The project was
carried out in five district courts (Amsterdam, Arnhem, Assen, Utrecht and
Zwolle) and one court of appeal.
3.46 Various methods of referral were prepared and tested in the project:
Oral referral by the judge at the hearing;
Written referral on a selective or non-selective basis:
o Selective : cases were chosen on the basis of file selection and
parties were sent a customised letter offering them mediation
o Non-selective : parties were approached on the basis of a
random sample and asked by letter to consider mediation,
44 See Mantle ―Overview of the Sheriff Court Mediation Scheme in Edinburgh‖
(2007). Online article available at
http://www.mediationworld.net/ukscotland/schemes/full/13.html.
45 Scottish Civil Courts Review: A <strong>Consultation</strong> <strong>Paper</strong> (Scottish Civil Courts Review,
November 2007) at 13. Available at http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/.
46 De La Campa & Rozdeiczer Alternative Dispute Resolution Manual: Implementing
Commercial Mediation (The World Bank Group, November 2006). Available at
http://rru.worldbank.org/Documents/Toolkits/adr/adr_appendices.pdf.
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