More Mandatory Mediation…in Italy

Interesting…..Lawyers want to “strike” against a mandatory mediation law in Italy. Read more here…

Not shocking to me but a good sign that our world is looking into more effective means of conflict resolution than just the adversarial process. As of right now, we know justice is for sale on so many levels, we know courts are clogged with all kinds of cases, and we know lawyers have moved far away from their traditional role as counselor. Especially in Europe, we are seeing more and more ADR mandatory laws coming into effect in many different areas of law – most notably divorce in England and now commercial cases in Italy – both done within the last year. Instead of being threatened lawyers should embrace the move into ADR and move with it. Not only will they find more peace at work, less burn-out and more job satisfaction, but their work will take on a more positive role.

A good portion of lawyers can really make good mediators or perhaps, even facilitators. Collaborative law and more mandatory facilitation should become a more common way we settle all kinds of disputes. if our schools start focusing on teaching lawyers as facilitators and neutrals in law school and our State Bars make room for lawyers to practice ADR more commonly in their practice, we can make some real positive change in our society and to our world in the way we handle conflict.