Nominations Sought For Court Ordered Mediation Pilot

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Last month Justice Minister Simon Power and Courts Minister Georgina Te Heuheu announced that the High Court in Auckland would introduce a pilot scheme that would see private mediators undertake court-ordered mediation in some civil disputes.

The pilot will commence on November 1 this year and will enable the equivalent of 50 one day-long mediations to be carried out. The Ministry of Justice will pay mediators at the rate of $1500 plus GST for half-day mediations and $3000 plus GST for whole day mediations.

A memorandum issued by J.Stevens, Working Group Chair, states that nominations may be submitted either directly to the office of the Chief High Court Judge, Justice Randerson, or through the Auckland District Law Society Inc, NZ Bar Association, NZ Law Society and LEADR.

Candidates who are members of more than one of these organisations need only submit on application. A brief CV with relevant qualifications and experience is all that is required and the names of suitably qualified candidates will be forwarded to the Chief High Court Judge for consideration. The closing date for nominations is August 21.

Currently, mediations via judicial settlement conferences are conducted by Associate Judges, and in some cases High Court judges. Although such conferences have a high success rate, Associate Judges are now spending large amounts of time mediating, rather than on fixtures.

A panel of betwenn 12 and 15 mediators will be established and the Chief High Court Judge will, at his sole discretion, select the members of the panel from those nominated. It is intended that membership will be reviewed from time to time and membership rotated as necessary. It is expected that, generally, private mediators will have the following qualifications:

hold a certificate from a recognised mediation training provider;
experience in conducting a reasonable number of mediations;
experience in litigation and/or arbitration generally; and
operate at a senior or intermediate level of legal practice.
Mediations will be conducted in accordance with a protocol and mediation agreement currently being prepared. The pilot will be reviewed in June 2010. Depending upon the success of the pilot, it may be extended into the future and, possibly, to other parts of the country. The future of the scheme will also be dependent on the availability of Government funding.

Nominations may be sent directly to Justice Randerson, Chief High Court Judge, P O Box 60, Shortland St, Auckland 1140.

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