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SCMP Reporter

There has been a massive increase in the number of lawyers and law students learning the ropes of mediation as people become aware of its benefits as an alternative to costly and time-consuming legal action.
Many attribute the surge of interest in this alternative form of dispute resolution to promotion by the judiciary and the Department of Justice.  
Mediation can save the parties money, time and stress, while maintaining confidentiality.
According to Law Society figures, 41 lawyers attended its mediation courses between January last year and April 1 this year. Since then, more than 400 lawyers had attended such courses.
And while only 11 solicitors became accredited mediators in the 15 months to April 1, more than 30 have been accredited since then.
Leung Kong-yui,  associate head  of the College of Humanities and Law  at the University of Hong Kong's school of professional and continuing education (SPACE), said it previously had offered only two mediation courses a year. But this year it had increased class sizes and was preparing to introduce a fourth class because of a growing waiting list.
Mr Kong said the number of students had doubled this year.
The Hong Kong Mediation Centre, which offers mediation services for a wide range of disputes, said it had received as many requests for services in the first half of this year as it had since it was established nine years ago and had had a significant increase in the number of students taking its courses.
Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre said it now had 445 accredited mediators, and since 2008 there had been an increase of 15 per cent in newly accredited mediators.
Bar Association chairman Russell Coleman SC  said that since October 2007, when it began offering mediation training, until last month, 104 people had taken the courses, with a further 48 registered to join before the end of the year.
The promotion of mediation has been a priority for the judiciary and the government in recent years, with the judiciary keen to ease the burden on the courts and the government keen to develop the city as an international legal services hub.
Since November 2007, Secretary for Justice Wong Yan-lung has led a cross-sector working group to examine issues such as venues for community mediation, promotion of mediation in the commercial sector, strengthening training programmes in law schools, drawing up and implementing a code of practice for mediators, accreditation, and  continued training of mediation professionals.
The working group is expected to complete its report by December, in order to prepare for consultations early next year.
The civil justice reforms that came into effect in April also included incentives for litigants to attempt mediation.
The efforts to promote mediation were reflected by the turnout at the Mediation Centre's 10th anniversary celebrations last week, attended by Mr Wong, prominent members of the legal and judicial community  and Sir Laurence Street,  a former chief justice of New South Wales, Australia, also known as the 'first knight of mediation'.
Sir Laurence said he felt humbled to be coming to the 'home of mediation philosophy', since its principles stemmed from Confucian principles of peace and harmony.
After stepping down from the judiciary in 1998, Sir Laurence became a vocal advocate of mediation over litigation. 
'In every community with an established legal profession, mediation has to be introduced gently,' he said, adding that older practitioners were usually more resistant to change.



Mediation gives courts a run for their money