Family disputes need ‘conversation’

EFFORTS have begun to bring conversation rather than confrontation into the heart of the legal system to ease the level of conflict in family disputes.

As it celebrated its 21st birthday the Family Mediation Service confirmed it is in discussions with the Law Society to establish a relationship between the two sectors.

Traditionally, family mediation has happened in a separate realm to standard litigation destined for the family courts.

Many legal practitioners have felt mediation focuses too much on compromise and does not get the best deal for individual clients.

However, chief executive of the service Pat Bennett said there are moves afoot to improve co-operation between the mediation services and lawyers when both are dealing with separating couples.

“We have had some collaboration with the Law Society and we are in a preliminary stage of developing something with them.

“We would be hoping in the next year we can make some very serious progress towards involving mediation a lot more formally within the family legal system,” he said.

Mediation has already got its first foothold in the Irish legal system with the establishment of a group of solicitors practicing collaborative law.

Both methods operate with a similar ethos of consensus. While mediation can involve solicitors, however, it does not have the contractual agreement between legal teams, which is a feature of collaborative law.

Speaking in Dublin yesterday American expert Gregory Firestone said the international trend is towards a lot more mediation.

He said in places like Florida, civil disputes find it very difficult to get into court without both parties trying to seek a resolution through mediation.

“In a wide range of civil disputes, even looking at landlord and tenant disputes, what has happened is a whole trend where mediation is now the first step. It allows lawyers to be more imaginative and look for what will be a better solution for both parties rather than just their own.

“Judges will not even entertain many cases in Florida unless mediation has been tried first,” said Mr Firestone.