ABSTRACT
The key challenges to the widespread use of mediation in the construction industry have been investigated recently in a number of publications. Agapiou and Clark (2011) and Agapiou (2015) pointed to the apathetic and resistant attitude of lawyers towards mediation as a major barrier and suggested that a clearer definition of the role of the lawyer in mediation would help to overcome this perceived barrier. Ilter and Dikbas (2009), on the other hand, analysed the clients’ experience with mediation and stated that lack of knowledge in the industry as well as sector based institutions and incentives appear as major barriers. To overcome these barriers, court-connected mediation has been initiated in some countries, especially in Anglo-American jurisdictions over the past 20 years, to encourage the parties to co-operate with each other before or during the trial and use mediation as the case allows. The motivation behind the introduction of court-connected mediation is reducing the number of cases reaching the court system. However, court connection deeply affects the nature of the process, and this situation is usually referred to as ‘the inherent dilemma of court-connection mediation‘ in the literature. There have been very few studies on court-connected construction mediation and this publication is the result of a perceived need for further studies to examine the ways in which connection with formal civil justice systems influence mediation, the practice and performance of court-connected mediators and the ways lawyers approach mediation process across different legal systems and jurisdictions. This book investigates how court-connection have shaped mediation practice in different common-law jurisdictions encompassing England and Wales, South Africa, Hong Kong and the USA.
