Justice and Mediation: Civil Procedure Act 2010 (Vic) Analysis

This essay examines the concept of court-ordered mediation within the framework of Victoria's Civil Procedure Act 2010, arguing that such mediations are justified when adhering to the Act's obligations and purpose. It addresses concerns about involuntary mediation, drawing on American perspectives and highlighting potential injustices like pressured settlements and limited lawyer roles. The essay emphasizes mediation's role as a complementary and subsidiary mechanism for conflict resolution, as stipulated in the Act, promoting a cost-effective and agile approach to justice. Furthermore, it discusses access to justice, focusing on modernization of services, streamlined government systems, and legal aid provisions, referencing a drug-related case study. The essay concludes by advocating for increased funding for drug-related courts and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, ultimately supporting the integration of mediation into the civil justice system.

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Civil Procedure
Name:
Course
Professor’s name
University name
City, State
Date of submission

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PART 1
Involuntary mediation is believed to be an injustice. Court ordered mediations are doing justice
by ordering the parties to mediate. Mediation gives genuine benefits but also the courts makes
the orders in accordance to overarching obligations of the Civil Procedure Act. The great
importance of the Civil Procedure Code in establishing mediation, an agile process and under a
principle of speed, is that it will strengthen this peace culture process.
Certainly, the person who presents the demand must justify if he / she has gone before to
mediation or has tried other means of resolving the dispute with the opposing party. It will
determine at least that these systems are used prior to the process and this generalized imposition
determines at least two consequences: that they will begin to be processes of normal use by
lawyers and that many of the conflicts will no longer reach the courts because they will have
previously been deactivated1. Alternative mechanisms of conflict resolution -between them,
mediation- should be understood as complementary and subsidiary as stipulated in Civil
Procedure Act 2010 (Vic) s 16.
For friendly and cost effective system, mediation is important as it gives desired results without
the use of long judicial processes. In Victorian government, the judge can force the parties to
enter into a mediation to resolve the dispute in a negotiated manner.
1 Alex Bevan, Guy Hollebon and Lucinda Bromfield, Mediation (Thorogood Publishing Limited, 2010).

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The process is still in force far from fulfilling the purposes of any judicial process, has become a
normative body full of recesses that far from being the means to achieve effective judicial
protection, has become a clear obstacle to the administration of justice.
PART 2
Access to justice is the ability of the judiciary to provide greater accessibility and simpler
interpretation of the law. It ensures that vulnerable groups can access justice simpler and easier.
The review has proposed four strategies that are key in access to justice2. It ensures that there is
better provisions of legal information, modernization of services, streamlining of government
systems to ensure that the systems are integrated to provide greater efficiency and flexible
services for provision of better legal aid. In this case, participants in the drug related case are
expected to report to their case managers weekly. It ensures greater accountability and a pillar of
support along the path of recovery.
The importance of this Code is that it complements this process of modernization. We must
remember that after the Criminal Matters, the Civil is the one that most demand in the
administration of justice, where the parties come to settle disputes in the area of property before
the courts.
Through a title or a single acceptance of the recognition of the charge, the judge can assess and
rule in favor of the party that requires compliance with the obligation without major
cumbersome, bureaucratic and written procedures, but in an expedited process.
2 Andrzej Grossman, Mediation (RIBA-Publ, 2009).

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The usefulness of the mediation, its eventual obligatory nature, the executive merit of the
agreements and the draft preliminary draft for the civil procedural reform, are part of the factors
that are determined.
In conclusion, there should be greater funding of drug related courts which shows the Victorian
Government is serious about other alternative dispute resolution mechanism. Steady scaling of
resources should be done to allow more participants3.
References
3 Mario Oesterreicher, Mediation (Cornelsen, 2013).

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Bevan, Alex, Guy Hollebon and Lucinda Bromfield, Mediation (Thorogood Publishing Limited,
2010)
Grossman, Andrzej, Mediation (RIBA-Publ, 2009)
Mediation (Canadian Human Rights Commission, 2008)
Oesterreicher, Mario, Mediation (Cornelsen, 2013)