“Isn’t it crazy that two adults, knowing each other for half their lives and knowing their children’s entire lives, expect a stranger in a toga and chain – who knows neither them nor the children – to decide their fate for them?”
– heard from a family court judge
Let’s talk.
I have been promoting and effectively using alternative dispute resolution in my practice for many years, particularly through mediation. Mediation is a conflict resolution process in which a neutral third party, helps the parties to reach an agreement. The aim of mediation is to enable the disputing parties to find a common solution that is acceptable to all involved. It is important to emphasise that the aim of court and pre-court mediation is not to reconcile the conflicting parties, but for them to independently construct a settlement agreement which, once approved by the court, has the force of a court judgement. Thus, it can be said that in mediation the parties ‘write their own judgment’.
The characteristic features of mediation are:
1) voluntariness – participation in mediation is voluntary, meaning that both parties must agree to participate;
2) neutrality – the mediator remains impartial and does not impose a solution;
3) confidentiality – information disclosed during mediation is not publicly available and cannot be used in court;
4) cooperation – the parties, with the help of the mediator, work together to find a solution;
5) de-formalisation – the mediation process is flexible and can be adapted to the needs of the parties.
Many years of mediation practice indicate that most cases can be concluded amicably with a minimum of goodwill on both sides. Moreover, an agreement worked out by both parties will always be more acceptable than a court judgment imposed from above, which often does not satisfy anyone. There is also no doubt that, compared to ‘ordinary’ court proceedings, mediation significantly saves time, money and nerves.
The advantages of mediation mean that it has been in my area of interest since my student days. I submitted my first application for entry on the list of permanent court mediators on the day I turned twenty-six (as required by law), which for a while made me the youngest court mediator in Poland. I am currently practising as a permanent mediator registered on the lists of presidents of district courts in several Polish cities. In addition, in 2022 I was appointed as a mediator in the Court of Arbitration at the Financial Supervision Authority, a position I hold for the second term. I have already mediated in dozens of cases with several hundred thousand or several million dollars in the background. I have concluded over a hundred different settlements with the parties – in commercial, civil and family cases.
I mediate with both parties, their relatives and attorneys. When necessary, I use the support of specialists in other fields, in particular experts accepted by the parties, psychotherapists and relevant expert witnesses. In family matters, I also cooperate with a family therapist, emphasising, however, that it is not my role to reconcile the disputing parties, but to work out a mutually acceptable solution.