Judge Heidi Heggdal Oslo District Court Norwegian Experiences Related to Court Mediation

I. Introduction Court mediation in Norway A lawsuit is filed before the court In court with judges as mediators All judges can mediate

History Trial project 1st of January 1997: Five district courts and one appeal court 1st of January 1999: Trial project expanded, Oslo District court joined Gradually more and more courts joined New Civil Procedure Code 1st of January 2008 Court mediation is now incorporated in our Civil Procedure Code

Why Court Mediation? In the legislative background for the trial projects: Faster Cheaper No publicity Flexible No winners or losers

Why not? The critics of the Trial Project said: Its not much faster If the mediation fails, its more expensive and time consuming than litigation The role of the judge becomes unclear for the parties The general publics trust in the court system and the judges will be degraded.

Evaluation of the Trial Project Researcher Knoff evaluated the Trial Project. Faster and cheaper than litigation Court Mediation fills a need that can not be obtained by other Dispute Resolution Offices.

Court Mediation in Norway in numbers Has Court Mediation resulted in higher numbers of settlements? Trial project evaluation: Knoff indicated in his research a slight increase in settlements From 37% to 42% How many of the civil cases are mediated? Trial Project evaluation: about 20% (after the new Civil Procedure Code) 2008:18% 2009:19% 2010:16% 2011:14% Does Court Mediation work? Trial Project: 80% of the mediated cases were settled , about 60% of the mediated cases were settled

From the court get the case, until the case is solved is in average about 60-65% of the time of a litigated case.

Conclusion Court Mediation is effective, both for the parties and the court. Court Mediation has not degraded the publics trust in the courts in Norway Court Mediation is here to stay.

Court Mediation, the procedure Civil Procedure Code, Chapter 8. The judge has by law a duty to consider the possibility of solving the case by negotiation or mediation unless the case is not fit to be settled All civil cases can be mediated except: Family custody cases We got another procedure for these cases Children welfare cases and some others

The parties will be asked both in writing and by the judge that is handed the case if they agree to Court Mediation Telephone conference to plan the handling of the case If they agree The case will be given a date for mediation, normally within a couple of months

The mediator can not handle the case after the mediation, if the case is not settled. New judge for the litigation. The mediation process First meeting all together Separate meeting Confidentiality In-court settlement (public) Out-of- court settlement (not public)

All judges can mediate, in our court you are allowed to say no Mediators need education and practice Specialists among the Judges

Court Mediation in the future More cases, more complicated cases, less mediation or more mediation? Average time from filing a lawsuit to the case is finished is now about ½ a year in Norwegian District Courts Competition from lawyers and other competent mediators and negotiators

In Norway its not an option not to offer the parties Court Mediation Court Mediation is considered an important alternative to litigation, by judges, lawyers and parties In the future we should explore the possibilities to get more cases mediated. There is definitely room for improvement.