| A Lawyer can be a better Mediator than a judge. |
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Gregg Relyea and Niranjan Bhatt on the advantages and disadvantages of judges as mediators. Lawyer-mediators are easier to train, they are more receptive to mediation techniques, and they make better mediators. Also, by having lawyer mediators, it does not drain the court's resources by taking judges away from their judicial tasks. Generally, judges are too traditional, too judgmental, and too tied up in the judicial role to make good mediators. Even though lawyer mediators and judges all deal with the law, that does not mean that they each make good mediators. Some people are cut out to be mediators and some are not. The very things about a judicial position that attract a person to be a judge, are very different in mediation. Likewise, the practices and customs of mediators attract certain types of personalities who are negotiators, entrepreneurs, deal-makers, and business types. Judges do not fit this category. This does not mean that, occasionally, an individual judge may have the talent and the personal interest in becoming a mediator, but usually they are on the bench because they want to judge, not because they want to negotiate. In reality, retired judges also have a very difficult time becoming mediators. Even though they fancy themselves as excellent case evaluators, shrewd negotiators, etc., in fact they have often become hardened by their careers on the bench. Most retired judges who try their hand at mediation fail miserably. Consumers of mediation services do not choose them and the judges, themselves, are not happy in the role of a mediator. Niranjan J. Bhatt is a senior advocate in Ahmedabad. He is the founder and the Managing Trustee of the Institute for Arbitration Mediation Legal Education and Development (AMLEAD) and a Convener of the Ahmedabad Mediation Centre, the first lawyers run Mediation Centre of India. Mr. Bhatt received advance mediation training from Harvard Law School PIL Programme and was a member of Indo-US Central Study Team. Gregg F. Relyea is a reputed mediator and an international mediation trainer from San Diego, California, US.
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3.20 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved." |
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