In this article Emese von Bóné discusses the main findings of a Netherlands research (report) into the origin and functioning of the Belgian justice de paix and the French juge de proximité, the successor of the French justice de paix. The report also provides avenues how this type of adjudication could be implemented in the Dutch administration of justice.

The Austrian mediation landscape is quite inhomogeneous, with no universally applicable framework in place to safeguard best practice standards in mediation. Any commitment of mediators to codes of conduct or ethical guidelines occurs on an entirely voluntary basis. Control mechanisms exist in the form of complaint bodies instituted at the level of Austrian mediation associations.

In this article, the author discusses mediation law and practice in Australia, with a focus on commercial disputes. Statistical data collected in several Australian jurisdictions suggest that mandatory referral works out positively. The author concludes with some observations as to the potential usefulness of the Australian model for court-referred mediation in Europe.

The article gives an overview of mediation in German administrative courts. It deals with the legal basis as well as the organisation of mediation within the courts. The special features of mediation with an administrative law background are explained. By means of examples, the authors make clear that there is more room for alternative dispute regulation in public law than one might imagine.

Charline Ampe explains the workings of a Belgian 2019 statute, that has made insurance premium income tax-deductible as long as the policy provides that mediator fees and other qualified professionals’ fees will be borne wholly by the insurer.

Traditionally, it has been taught, or prohibited, for mediators to charge ‘success fees’ or ‘contingency fees’ as remuneration for the work they do. This article argues that such overall prohibition lacks nuances. Mediation rules and rules of ethics for mediators should not prevent the parties and the mediators from agreeing on some sort of higher remuneration in case of successful outcome of the mediation. There are limits. In particular, making the mediator’s remuneration a percentage of the settlement amount should remain prohibited.
However, if the mediator’s interests are aligned with those of the parties, which shall frequently be the case, there should be no blank prohibition for the mediator to charge higher fees in case of successful outcome of the mediation process.
There is a need for the mediator to be fully transparent about the system he proposes, which includes explaining to the parties and securing their understanding of the pros and cons of the remuneration system he suggests.

Slovenia realized very early that mediation as a form of a more flexible, consumer-friendly and interest-driven procedure can also be utilised as an effective means of court backlog reduction. The court-annexed mediation model was launched in 2001 without any regulatory framework as a pilot project at the District Court of Ljubljana. As a consequence of the successful pilot project court-annexed mediation was introduced into every first-instance and second-instance court. The main incentives for the mediation model were that it was free of charge, i.e. the costs of mediation were included into the court budgets, that it was performed by judges trained as mediators and that attorneys were included into the process at a very early stage. Mediation has become widely accepted, as the voluntary uptake by the parties is quite high and referral to mediation by judges against the will of litigants is rather an exception.

The new Belgian law on collaborative conflict resolution installs a disqualification clause, which parties have to sign before starting the negotiations. If they cannot resolve their dispute, they agree to stop the negotiations in advance. What skills do the lawyers need to make collaborative conflict resolution a success?

This report about mediation in Germany in order of the German government reports about the effects of the German Mediation Law on the development of mediation and about the education of mediators.

This article discusses the Belgian perspective on the Dutch ‘ZAM/ACB research on possibilities and impediments for commercial mediation’ which was undertaken by the Montaigne Centre of the University of Utrecht. In Belgium bMediation, the Federal Mediation Committee and the Ghent University periodically monitor the practice of mediation in Belgium with the instrument of the 'Bemiddelingsbarometer'. It turns out that parties and their advisers in both Belgium and the Netherlands still prefer a traditional judicial approach instead of mediation, mostly because of a lack of information.

The two years FOMENTO project ‘Fostering Mediation in cross-border civil and succession matters’ aims to contribute to conflict prevention in cross-border succession matters. To reach a deeper understanding and impulses for a correct implementation of Directive 2008/52/EC (Mediation Directive) and of Regulation (EU) No. 650/2012 (Succession Regulation) the effects of both regulations have been analyzed in a research study. To this end, country reports about the implementation of the Succession Regulation and the Mediation Directive in six European countries (Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Sweden) have been assembled and 105 expert interviews with lawyers, notaries, judges and mediators have been conducted and analyzed.
This article gives a general overview about the outcomes of the research study and focuses on the analysis of the expert interviews. The experts gave answers about the concrete advantages, challenges and suggestions for improving mediation in cross-border succession conflicts and the effects of the European Succession Regulation.

The report ‘ZAM/ACB research on possibilities and impediments for commercial mediation’ of the Utrecht Montaigne Centre represents the most important results for the three target groups (lawyers, firms, and judges), with an accent on how users of commercial mediation in the Netherlands think about the potential of mediation.

This research aims to contribute to the development of an adequate handling of the complex, conflictual family situation that occurs during a parental abduction. The following research question is answered: to what extent can the methods of conflict resolution – in the Belgian context – be optimized so that the interests of the child are guaranteed, in the light of the theoretical insights provided by Glasl’s conflict theory? Attention is paid to the limited effectiveness of legal procedures on the one hand and the mediation on the other. The method of de-escalation, developed by Glasl, offers a useful diagnostic tool for the conflict counsellor. In addition, the metaphor of the ladder he uses is extremely valuable as a tool for gaining insight into the mechanisms of conflict-escalation. A clear theoretical framework for the judiciary in the interpretation of an escalated conflict can lead to a better understanding of the possibilities and limits of cooperation between ex-partners, which benefits the best interests of the child.