The Use of Mediation Will Have a Positive Effect Both for the Parties to the Dispute and for the Judiciary - Vsevolod Knyazev

Representatives of the Supreme Court took part in the 6th International Forum "Mediation and Law". The event organized by the Council of Europe Project "Support for judicial institutions and processes to strengthen access to justice in Ukraine", the Ukrainian Academy of Mediation and the EU Project Pravo-Justice took place on August 27, 2021.

During his speech in the framework of the expert discussion "Mediation: a Fashion Trend or a Pressing Need?", Vsevolod Knyazev, Secretary of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court, noted that the full implementation of the institution of mediation would have a positive effect both for the parties to the dispute and for the judiciary.

Thus, a total of 3.7 million cases were received by the courts of Ukraine last year, which led to an excessive burden on judges. In addition, chronic underfunding and understaffing significantly complicate the work of the judiciary. "Therefore, the main positive effect expected from the introduction of mediation is to relieve the courts of cases where a dispute can be resolved at the negotiation stage. Therefore, judges will have more time to consider complex cases which do require the court intervention,” the Secretary of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court explained.

According to Vsevolod Knyazev, the use of mediation is one of the most important steps to improve the situation with the administration of justice in general, as the use of such a dispute resolution tool will help to reduce the time frame and improve the quality of the consideration of cases by the courts, as well as facilitate citizens' access to justice.

At the same time, as the speaker noted, the use of this procedure before going to court would in any case have a positive effect for considering the case directly in court. So, if the conflict is resolved as a result of mediation, the case will not go to trial. Otherwise, in the negotiating process, the parties have the opportunity to agree on details, to discard the unnecessaries and to specify issues on which they have not reached agreement. Such a development of events, according to Vsevolod Knyazev, will positively affect the determination of the subject of evidence and speed up the consideration of the case by the court.