During his speech at the Opening of the Legal Year on 12 January, 2022, the Chief Justice Sir Brian Moree, KT, QC shared details and plans of upcoming court reforms. One of those reforms that is likely to affect you as a litigants was raised in the following extract from his speech:
“A new system of court connected mediation will be introduced into the Family and
Commercial Divisions during the first quarter. I have circulated a draft of the
Practice Direction and Schedules to the key stakeholders and will be proceeding
with this project during the first quarter. I have no diffidence in stating that a
modern court system must have a mediation component as an alternative method
of resolving disputes to reduce the number of cases which proceed to trial.” (emphasis mine)
In my blog dated 3 November, 2020, I shared some of the the benefits of Mediation with you. If you are a litigant or a potential litigant then you should take the time and learn a bit about Mediations. In my view they are not complicated and can be very useful for litigants who are open to exploring settlements.
Please note that this change in the Family and Commercial Division is expected to be implemented during the first quarter of this year, 2022.
So start informing yourself about this upcoming change and ask questions.
Please feel free to direct any questions or comments to me, Kean Smith at kean@smithkas.com
Wonderful insight my friend. Hopefully on the family side those with relational skills become mediators.
Yes hopefully because engaging that subject matter expertise in mediation will benefit both the litigants and the court system. I remain very hopeful.