NCJ Number
94065
Date Published
1983
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This research on the involvement of judges in the mediation of out-of-court settlement negotiations in civil cases has the objectives of identifying the judicial mediation techniques frequently used and rated as highly effective and determining which factors account for the use of various mediation techniques.
Abstract
To determine what steps judges take in the mediation of out-of-court civil settlements, under what conditions they participate, and the effectiveness of their techniques, 50 lawyers and judges were interviewed to find out which techniques they had observed and used in civil cases. The 71 techniques identified were found to be applied to multiple leverage points: (1) the interlawyer relationship, (2) the lawyers themselves, (3) the lawyer-client relationship, and (4) the clients themselves. A second study randomly selected 1,000 attorneys from the current membership lists of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America and the Defense Research Institute and presented them with the 71 techniques identified in the first study; they were asked to indicate whether or not they had observed the techniques. The most frequently used techniques were found to focus on the attorneys and their relationship. When the State court rules required a settlement conference, more techniques were observed than when a settlement conference was not required. The major purpose of a third study was to determine which of the mediation techniques were considered by judges and lawyers to be most effective in facilitating settlements in civil cases; questionnaires were sent to 100 Federal judges and 100 lawyers. The overall conclusions of the three studies are that (1) civil courts currently are overcrowded; (2) the burden of providing expedient civil justice falls heavily upon judicial mediation; and (3) the technique used depends upon its effectiveness, cost, and its ethical quality. Tabular data and 13 references are provided.