After more than 6 years on the ADR Committee of the Victorian Bar, two as Chair and one as Deputy, I have learned a lot about the place that mediation holds within the legal system. In this blog I look at referral to mediation by a Court or Tribunal.
Two good examples of where mediation is making a difference are the County Court of Victoria and VCAT.
Over the last two years as Chair I had oversight of the referrals to barrister mediators pursuant to the Victorian Bar/County Court Commercial Division Mediator Referral Scheme and the Victorian Bar/County Court Family Property List Mediator Referral Scheme. These schemes have operated so successfully, I presented on them as excellent examples of well-designed dispute resolution systems, at the National Mediation Conference in Wellington, New Zealand Aotearoa, in September 2023. If you want to know more about how the Referral Schemes work check out my presentation: Court referral to private mediation: Victorian Bar Mediation Referral Schemes in Action here: 8.2 DR Design GlenPauline final v2
It is encouraging that the County Court has integrated mediation into its processes in these ways.
Another good example is VCAT. As a Mediation Panel Member I have mediated numerous VCAT cases in several Lists using Zoom since 2021. The willingness, or necessity, to adopt online mediation in VCAT was borne of the crisis in its operations caused by Covid. Mediation, via Zoom, is often arranged very early in a VCAT proceeding, for example, in Property co-ownership disputes. Many cases settle at mediation and consent VCAT orders follow, often for the sale of the co-owned property by auction or other sale/buy out arrangements. VCAT’s backlog and listing of cases does however remain far too long for parties to wait for hearings, hence mediation is taking on even more importance and significance in helping reduce backlogs there.