The Judicial Reform and Institutional Strengthening (JURIST) Project will support the Barbados judiciary in hosting a two-day sensitisation workshop on Court Connected Mediation.
The workshop will be held from May 14-15, 2019 at the Radisson Aquatica Resort Barbados. The objective of the workshop is to sensitise the bench – Court of Appeal, High Court, Magistracy and the Barbados Bar Association about the role of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), in particular, mediation in the delivery of civil justice in Barbados.
The workshop will be conducted by the Honourable Mme. Justice Charmaine Pemberton, J.A. from the Trinidad and Tobago judiciary and will cover areas such as:
1) Systemic Relevance:
a. Efficiency and effectiveness;
b. Decreased cost to the litigant;
c. Increased case disposal;
d. Case management with a focus on time and resources; and
e. Backlog reduction.
2) Structural Relevance:
a. Increased access to justice by a wider cross section of society and specifically, those vulnerable and at-risk groups including low income single-headed households who are either male or female, children and the disabled;
b. Increased legal topics to explore;
c. Experts contributing to more meaningful dispute resolution;
d. Trained third party neutrals may improve the quality of civil justice;
e. Decreased costs;
f. Client satisfaction;
g. Increasing public trust and confidence;
h. Increased participation in the resolution process;
i. More litigant buy in;
j. Holding attorneys at law more accountable; and
k. Mediation as a planning/management tool.
3) Personal:
a. Enhanced quality of life both on and off bench;
b. Enhanced stature and ability to influence persons on a wider scale;
c. Better use of time;
d. Enhancing extra judicial skills and learnings; and
e. Career development.
4) Skills learnt as a mediator:
a. Active listening;
b. Reframing content and issues;
c. Asking open ended questions;
d. Asking the right questions – open ended questions to get to the heart of the dispute;
e. Reality testing; and
f. More meaningful decision making.
5) Value of mediation:
a. Complete resolution;
b. Partial resolution; and
c. No resolution, at trial gives you a better idea how to plan.
6) Types of matters usually suitable for mediation:
a. Commercial disputes – especially cross border disputes, debt collection;
b. Land matters – title matters, boundary disputes;
c. Motor vehicle accidents;
d. Construction matters; and
e. Medical malpractice.
