Enthusiasm – is it enough to promote mediation? by E. Georgiev
Enthusiasm – is it enough to promote mediation?
I. An Introduction
[1] Several years ago a few judges of the Regional Court of Sofia got inspired by the idea to use mediation techniques in their everyday judicial activities. They were not the first Bulgarian judges involved in mediation projects but they might be the first to create a full-fledge sustainable ADR Program at a Bulgarian Court. I would like to tell you their story.
II. Some History
[2] Since 1990s and especially early 2000 USAID and ABA CEELI have spent significant amount of money and efforts in promoting mediation in Bulgaria. As a result there is an official list of trained mediators to the Ministry of Justice with about 600 mediators, National Association of Mediators, several very active mediators organizations, a few mediation centers throughout the country. Two books and a dozen of articles about mediation have been written. A couple of trial courts have tried to develop mediation referral programs (which were quite successful until they had funding but almost inactive after the funding ended.) In spite of all these activities, there is still no serious demand for mediation. If such demand exists, its satisfaction will lead to reducing the docket backlog of the courts, which will provide for a more efficient Civil Justice System.
[3] In 2007 three judges of the Regional Court of Sofia started to use the mediation techniques referring cases for mediation among themselves with the goal to promote mediation. The results were not very encouraging: five cases referred within a year and three of them were settled. The reason was quite simple – none of the judges had a special training in mediation.
III. The Development
[4] In the Spring of 2008 those three judges decided to try to find funding for bringing two experts of the Program on Negotiations at the Harvard Law School to train 15 trial court Bulgarian judges in mediation. Working very hard together with mediators of the Professional Association of Mediators in Bulgaria they submitted a project proposal before the Bulgaria Fund (a donor organization of the USAID and the German Marshal Fund.) The judges and the mediators were very lucky to have great partners for their project – the Fulbright Commission in Bulgaria and GEMME. As a result of their common efforts in late December, 2008 the Bulgaria Fund approved the project proposal and the judges a long with the mediators started to implement the project.
[5] In January and February 2009 twelve more trial judges were selected to participate in the training. All of them were willing to use mediation techniques. Meanwhile, the mediators and the Harvard experts prepared all training materials needed. In March 2009 Mrs. Gabrielle Gropman, a former Administrative Director of PON, and Mr. James Kerwin, Assistant Director to PON, trained the 15 trial judges how to use mediation techniques. The training was for only four days (32 hours) but it was enough to increase the enthusiasm of the judges and to give them enough self-confidence to start to implement what they had learned.
[6] In the middle of April, 2009 eleven of the judges trained created a schedule. Each of the judges made herself available one day until June to mediate cases referred to her by her colleagues. It made a total of 11 mediation days two months and a half. Since mid April until the beginning of June we had 10 referrals, one of them with successful mediation, four with no result, and another five still pending. A result considerably better than the one we previously had.
[7] Our next step is to draft a list of volunteer mediators to work with us once we feel ready to do it. Thus, having 11 very active judges and volunteer mediators we believe to make the program sustainable.
IV. The Future
[8] Will the enthusiasm of the judges trained and the volunteer mediators be enough to keep the program working? What will happen when some of us move to higher courts and the mediators are not willing to work on volunteer basis anymore? These are only some of the questions which are teasing us.
[9] One possible solution is to increase the number of the judges and volunteer mediators who are interested in working with us. This will definitely reduce the risk of having all people removed from the program at some point.
[10] Increasing the number of the people involved in the program might cause, however, organizational problems. Therefore, we might need a full-time coordinator to coordinate the activities of the judges and the mediators involved in the program and to look for funding for further mediation trainings.
[11] Our colleagues in Europe and America definitely have found other solutions. We are open to learn about them. This is why we created a Bulgarian section to GEMME. This is why I am here. I hope that sharing your experience with us you will help us not only to keep our enthusiasm but also to help us to transform the enthusiasm into high professionalism which will allow us to give the sustainability needed for our Program. These are our expectations both from GEMME and this newly established association.
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