Sexual violence is a serious crime which frequently occurs and which can have devastating psychological consequences for victims. Since 2017, Dutch law has included a restorative justice approach in criminal cases through the provision of mediation within and outside of legal procedures. In laws and guidelines regarding restorative justice, no distinction is made between different types of crime. In this article, I argue that it is imperative that a specific approach is developed to mediation following sexual violence. Sexual violence is distinct from other crimes for a number of reasons and mediation practices need to adapt to accommodate for this. Specialised training for mediators should be developed which takes into account complex psychological impacts, power dynamics between victim and perpetrator, and the role of rape myths and victim blaming in cases of sexual violence. Additionally, more time should be reserved for dealing with cases of sexual violence both within and around the mediation.

Mediation is a process facilitated by legal and psychotherapeutic knowledge and skills. The psychotherapeutic skills of the mediator are interventions from different mediation approaches employed to improve communication between parties. Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) is an individual or group treatment to resolve conflict by improving interpersonal contacts through conflict-, communication- and decision analysis and role play. This contribution was written to explain IPT and to explore which interventions are potentially useful for the mediator.

Are disputants who have taken out a legal expenses insurance entitled to reimbursement of lawyer fees incurred during mediation, or settlement negotiations? Notably where such negotiation or mediation has unfolded wholly out of court? The EU Court of Justice and the Dutch Financial Services Complaints Board (Kifid) seem to entertain diverging views on this matter, in the cases discussed in this article. The author point out several inconsistencies and urges for a systematic re-thinking of the costs infrastructure connected to legal advice, negotiation/mediation, and litigation respectively.