Hazel Genn
1999

Bw illus
ISBN 978 0 903319 85 0

In this booklet Professor Hazel Genn describes and evaluates a new legal mediation scheme which has been successfully established at the Central London County Court for defended cases involving more than £5,000. Costing only £25 for each party, mediation is quick, cheap, informal, flexible and, more often than not, leads to an amicable settlement that avoids the time, expense and stress of a trial. Mediation can achieve more creative solutions than are possible in court and is also much more likely to help repair relationships between disputing parties.

Professor Genn considers what mediation can offer in the light of the experiences of people who tried the CLCC mediation scheme, explains the role a solicitor can play in mediation; provides practical guidance on how to arrange mediation; looks at future developments and lists the main mediation organisations.

As a result of Professor Genn’s positive report of the CLCC scheme for the Lord Chancellor’s Department (published in 1998), mediation schemes are likely to be developed in other County Courts, and are also being encouraged for large commercial disputes in the High Court and in some cases in the Court of Appeal. As part of changes being made to the way that civil disputes will be dealt with in court in the future, there will be much greater emphasis on trying to settle cases by mediation.

‘This book should prove a valuable resource for anyone interested in the quick, cheap and constructive resolution of disputes.’ Lord Woolf MR

Hazel Genn is Professor of Socio-Legal Studies in the Law Faculty at University College London. She has a long-standing interest in access to justice and civil litigation and has published widely on these subjects. Her previous publications include Hard Bargaining (OUP 1988), Personal Injury Compensation: How much is enough? (Law Commission 1994), Survey of Litigation Costs for the Woolf Inquiry into Access to Justice (LCD 1996), Understanding Civil Justice (OUP 1997). She is author of companion volumes Paths to Justice: What People Do and Think About Going to Law (1999), and, with Alan Paterson, Paths to Justice Scotland: What Scottish People Do and Think About Going to Law (2001), which report the findings of two major national surveys into public use of and attitudes to the legal system.