Mediation has to do with liberal education and experience, Fedor Krasheninnikov of MediaConsulting says
4 May 2007 (14:36)
The State Duma is about to consider a bill on mediation, a kind of activity quite new to the country that poses a number of challenges Russian mediators will probably have to face.
One issue has to do with the lawyers’ community attempt to monopolize the yet fledgling but a very promising market. A great many experts, however, are positive a mediator needs to be a good psychologist with a good deal of experience in the humanities rather than a legal expert, for his or her task is to facilitate the out-of-court settlement of a dispute that satisfies both parties’ interests. This is equally true of individuals with their relatively small-scale problems and large businesses who may be fighting over million-dollar deals.
MediaConsulting CEO Fedor Krasheninnikov is inclined to think that this new field of business offers excellent opportunities for people with majors in humanities, and, besides, allowing lawyers to take over this market segment could be bad not only for mediation itself but for people interested in out-of-court settlements as well. In the meantime, the service is largely available only at law offices that just see it as a complement to the rest of their highly specialized offers.
‘I believe mediation does have a future in today’s Russia, and this future looks bright. Our legal system is well known to be experiencing problems because of failing to comply with the modern demands. Even the legal community itself admits that courts need to have some of their burden taken off their shoulders. Introducing more Justices of the Peace is one solution to the problem. I hope mediation is, too. In order to make this happen, however, all those interested should keep an attentive eye on how the principle is implemented in this country to avoid its possible misuse, that is, turning mediation in a sort of legal service,’ Mr. Krasheninnikov says.
‘Mediation is not about legal expertise, it’s about having some liberal education and experience. As for lawyers claiming monopoly over it, they are probably only interested in the financial benefits implied. If they do manage to capture this niche, lawyers will be able to assume total control over any dispute from the beginning throughout, and mediation will simply be limited to pre-trial negotiations, with the lawyer/mediator interested in actually bringing the case to court into the bargain (which goes against the very idea of mediation). Then the parties meet in court and possibly go through appeals procedures. Any law office is naturally interested in having its employees control all the stages of an unfolding dispute, whereas the clients end up paying for all of this (including the mediator),’ he observes.
One issue has to do with the lawyers’ community attempt to monopolize the yet fledgling but a very promising market. A great many experts, however, are positive a mediator needs to be a good psychologist with a good deal of experience in the humanities rather than a legal expert, for his or her task is to facilitate the out-of-court settlement of a dispute that satisfies both parties’ interests. This is equally true of individuals with their relatively small-scale problems and large businesses who may be fighting over million-dollar deals.
MediaConsulting CEO Fedor Krasheninnikov is inclined to think that this new field of business offers excellent opportunities for people with majors in humanities, and, besides, allowing lawyers to take over this market segment could be bad not only for mediation itself but for people interested in out-of-court settlements as well. In the meantime, the service is largely available only at law offices that just see it as a complement to the rest of their highly specialized offers.
‘I believe mediation does have a future in today’s Russia, and this future looks bright. Our legal system is well known to be experiencing problems because of failing to comply with the modern demands. Even the legal community itself admits that courts need to have some of their burden taken off their shoulders. Introducing more Justices of the Peace is one solution to the problem. I hope mediation is, too. In order to make this happen, however, all those interested should keep an attentive eye on how the principle is implemented in this country to avoid its possible misuse, that is, turning mediation in a sort of legal service,’ Mr. Krasheninnikov says.
‘Mediation is not about legal expertise, it’s about having some liberal education and experience. As for lawyers claiming monopoly over it, they are probably only interested in the financial benefits implied. If they do manage to capture this niche, lawyers will be able to assume total control over any dispute from the beginning throughout, and mediation will simply be limited to pre-trial negotiations, with the lawyer/mediator interested in actually bringing the case to court into the bargain (which goes against the very idea of mediation). Then the parties meet in court and possibly go through appeals procedures. Any law office is naturally interested in having its employees control all the stages of an unfolding dispute, whereas the clients end up paying for all of this (including the mediator),’ he observes.
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