Insincere litigants and professionals who fail to take the process seriously are said to be hampering the development of mediation as a way of settling disputes without needing to go to court.
Some parties go through mediation to satisfy the court, then go to court anyway, says the head of an office set up to promote the process.
And a specialist in dispute resolution suspects many professionals take mediation courses just to earn an extra title and more money without really believing in the process.
Results are confidential, but estimates of the success rate of mediation, which has been promoted in Hong Kong since the launch of civil justice reform in 2009, range from half to just over two-thirds.
Chan Bing-woon, chairman of the Joint Mediation Helpline Office, said the rate could be higher if it was not dragged down by those who were insincere about resolving disputes outside court. He said some were simply trying to avoid being penalised by the court for not entering the process.
Chan, who puts the success rate at about 50 per cent, says he isn't unhappy with it given the process's relatively short history in the city. Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Mediation Centre - one of several legal and professional groups that helped set up the helpline office last year - puts the rate at about 70 per cent.