The Asian Journal of Law and Society recently published a review written by Professor Eric Feldman of University of Pennsylvania of Court Mediation Reform: Efficiency, Confidence and Perceptions of Justice
Book Review: Court Mediation Shahla Ali, Court Mediation Reform: Efficiency, Confidence, and Perceptions of Justice (Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2018) pp 298. Hardcover: $135.00.
“Where there are people, there is conflict; and where there is conflict, there are conflict resolution institutions. In many societies, including the ten countries that form the heart of this book, the government-run institutions charged with resolving conflict are called courts. Yet, in all ten countries, experts and the populace more generally believe that courts are to some degree failing. In response, they have created alternative dispute resolution (ADR) institutions to handle at least some of the conflict bubbling throughout society. In addition, country by country, they have retooled their courts and introduced court-based mediation in an effort to provide an attractive venue to disputants.
Professor Shahla Ali’s book, Court Mediation Reform: Efficiency, Confidence, and Perceptions of Justice, takes a careful look at whether mediation provides a solution to the various problems that allegedly are endemic to courts around the world. Is mediation less expensive than litigation, for litigants themselves or for the state? Does mediation reduce the caseloads that so often overburden the civil-litigation system? To what extent does mediation serve to mend, or even enhance, relationships that might be permanently frayed by litigation? Does the relative informality of mediation improve the experience of those who engage in conflict by involving them more thoroughly in the process of dispute resolution? Might mediation offer social benefits that elude litigation, like creating a shared sense of harmony? By looking systematically at court mediation in a variety of national settings, Ali provides insight into how mediation currently functions, as well as its successes, failures, and continuing challenges.
Ali, a law professor at Hong Kong University, has carefully constructed this comparative study. Because of differences between civil-law and common-law jurisdictions, she explores mediation in both types of legal systems. She also accounts for gaps between more and less economically advanced countries, and for differences between mandatory and voluntary mediation systems. The result is a book with ten case-studies, five of which focus on voluntary mediation (UK, Hong Kong, France, the Netherlands, Malaysia) and five on mandatory mediation (the US, Australia, Italy, China, and India). The studies are centred on the five years following the introduction of mediation in each jurisdiction. A survey of 83 practitioners provides a complementary, qualitative assessment of mediation.
The tight, rigorous construction of Ali’s comparative project belies the far-reaching, multifaceted nature of the questions it addresses. As her review of the theoretical framework of the project makes clear, her aim is to put some empirical meat on the bones of the debate over the strengths and weaknesses of ADR. What happens, she asks, when conflict resolution bypasses formal, state-sponsored, judicial decision-making, and is instead managed through ADR? Does ADR serve as a venue for the public airing of values? Does it establish precedent for future cases? Does it damage the authority and credibility of courts? To what extent does it diffuse the legitimate claims of parties? How well does it serve justice? As Ali makes clear, defenders of ADR generally (and mediation more particularly) argue that it enhances participation in the legal process, empowers participants, strengthens values like dignity and empathy, underscores relationships, and promotes justice. Does it? Or do the critics of ADR have a long list of legitimate gripes? Against this ideologically charged debate, Ali insists that we put aside the rhetoric and look carefully at how mediation is working on the ground.
