Court-annexed Alternative Dispute Resolution Programs

Project description

CILC managed this Phare project for the Ljubljana District Court from October 2004 to July 2005. The project provided technical advice and training for Slovenian judges and mediators on the implementation of court-annexed mediation. While the focus was on the Ljubljana District Court’s existing pilot program, the possibility of introducing court-annexed ADR in other courts was also explored. Drawing on the Dutch experience of recent years, experts advised on the development and improvement of such programs in civil and commercial cases, as well as on their monitoring and evaluation, communication strategies for them, and ways to link ADR to legal aid. The training component comprised train-the-trainer courses, mediators’ training, judges’ training on referral to mediation, and mediation awareness training for judges and lawyers. A roundtable discussion was held with representatives of the Slovenian Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Finance and the Supreme Court to discuss a nationwide approach to court-annexed ADR.