1. Mediation in Lithuanian Law and Recent Developments of Family Mediation in Lithuania
Welcome
Goal and scope of the presentation
English language
© Assoc. prof. dr. Natalija Kaminskienė
CEDR accredited mediator
Mykolas Romeris University (Lithuania)
January 24, 2019

2. The starting points for ADR (mediation) in Lithuania
relatively short history of peaceful settlement in Lithuanian courts
litigious society
litigation-oriented lawyers
lack of funding
lack of information

3. First MEDIATION Initiatives IN LITHUANIA
More active court conciliation from 2003
Court mediation pilot project in civil cases from 2006
by the Decree of Judicial Council, extended to other courts
in 2007
Law on Mediation in Civil Disputes adopted on 15 July, 2008
Amendments to the Code of Civil Procedure in 2011
- stipulated possibility of conducting mediation as part of conciliation process (Art. 231, part 1);
- mediator’s immunity from witnessing facts learned from mediation (Art. 189, part 2);
prohibition to use data obtained during mediation as evidence (Art. 177, part 5).
Conferences, scientific works (first dissertation in 2009), first mediators’ trainings
New Concept of development of mediation in Lithuania since 2015 (initiated by Ministry of Justice)

4. WHERE IS LITHUANIA NOW? Mediation in civil justice
Out-of-court mediation
Private mediation
Mandatory pre-trial mediation
Mediation in special cases
Court mediation
Mediation in administrative justice
Mediation in administrative commissions
Mediation in criminal justice ?
Mediation in probation

5. Private (out-of-court) civil mediation No statistics.
WHERE IS LITHUANIA NOW?
Private (out-of-court) civil mediation
No statistics.
Areas where private mediation takes place in Lithuania - Family mediation. Business mediation. Mediation in authors’ rights sector. School mediation.
Changes:
Past (until December 31, 2018)
Present (from January 1, 2019)
No special requirements for mediators
Requirements:
To have high university education;
40 hours of mediation trainings;
Mediators’ exam
Unblemished reputation
No list of private mediators
National list of mediators
Only consensual mediation
Mandatory pre-litigation mediation in family disputes (from January 1, 2020).

6. In Lithuania since 2006 – pilot project
WHERE IS LITHUANIA NOW?
Court civil mediation
In Lithuania since 2006 – pilot project
Currently – part of civil procedure, all courts participate
Court mediators listed (in the end of year 2018 there were 482 mediators, 81% of them are non-judges)
Though only 19% of court mediators are judges, most of mediations are mediated by court mediators-judges (87% of civil cases by judges-mediators/13% by non-judges)
Problem: only a bit more mediations than mediators
in 2017 – 540 mediations and 366 mediators.

7. WHERE IS LITHUANIA NOW? Court civil mediation Changes:
Past (until December 31, 2018)
Present (from January 1, 2019)
Court mediators – judges and non-judges
Court mediators – only judges
Requirements for judges-mediators: mediation trainings under judges training programme
Requirements for judges-mediators:
if a judge has more than 3 years of practice, he needs only 16 hours mediation training and does not have to pass an exam;
If a judge has less than 3 years of practice, he needs to have 40 hours mediation training and pass mediators’ qualification exam
Court mediation is only recommendatory
Court mediation is still recommendatory, but under the Code of Civil Procedure (Art. 231(1)) judge is vested the right to order the parties to try mediation if she sees perspectives for the settlement

8. Application of mediation in Lithuanian courts (civil cases) Growing numbers of court mediations and their effectiveness
Compared to year 2015 number of mediation cases raised by 155 percent.

9. To compare: Number of civil cases in the court of first instance in Lithuania (year 2017) – ~ cases Population of Lithuania (end of year 2017) Number of mediations in civil cases (year 2017) – 540 cases Majority of court-mediation cases are family disputes (~50%)

10. Effectiveness of court mediation in Lithuania

11. Categories of civil cases usually directed to court mediation in Lithuania (year 2017)
Copyright and related rights

12. Mandatory pre-trial family mediation in Lithuania (from January 1, 2020)
Idea: before bringing action to the court in family dispute, parties are obliged to try mediation
Disputes: only those family disputes, which may be heard in an ordinary court procedure
Case categories (under Republic of Lithuania Code of Civil Procedure XIX chapter):
Divorce cases;
Separation cases;
Children custody, alimony and meeting order disputes;
Determination and challenging of paternity (maternity);
Parental authority restriction cases.

13. Mandatory pre-trial family mediation in Lithuania (from January 1, 2020) How will that mandatory pre-trial mediation scheme operate?
If consent is given, mandatory mediation takes place.
To State guaranteed legal aid service
Chooses and appoints mediator from national list of mediators
A party/Both parties
Bring a request to appoint mediator
State guaranteed legal aid service within 3 w. days sends invitation to the other party to agree on mediation (15 w. days to agree)
If consent is not given, a party may bring an action to the court after fulfilling her duty to use mandatory mediation.
If consent is given, mandatory mediation takes place.
Mediator within 3 w. days sends invitation to the other party to agree on mediation (15 w. days to agree)
A party/Both parties
Bring a request to mediate
To Chosen mediator from national list of mediators
If consent is not given, a party may bring an action to the court after fulfilling her duty to use mandatory mediation.

14. Mandatory pre-trial family mediation in Lithuania (from January 1, 2020) Payment for mandatory mediation
Dispute is mediated by mediator chosen and appointed by State guaranteed legal aid service
Mediation services are paid from state budget by State guaranteed legal aid service according to prices set up by the Government;
Only services of 1 mediator are reimbursed;
Only 4-hours mediation session is reimbursed;
Mediator additionally receives payment for 1 hour preparation and 1 hour to finalize mediation
Dispute is mediated by mediator chosen by the parties from national mediators’ list
Mediation services are paid by the parties together;
Price for mediation services is agreed mutually by the parties and mediator.

15. Obstacles and challenges STILL to overcome
Low level of mediation awareness between the parties of the disputes
Pro-litigious approach
Relatively cheap and fast litigation
No easy-to-understand information for the parties about mediation
Budgetary restraints
Lithuania definitely has a lot to do to make mediation scheme working.
But we are sure that it is worth doing…
Thank you!
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