Mediation Programs in the US - Coursework Example

Mediation can have positive consequences for the litigation process in that it can narrow the issues between the parties at the very least.  This will obviously cut costs and time involved in the arduous nature of litigation and can at least remove some of the uncertainties associated with litigating a matter to a final conclusion.  In some cases, mediation might even resolve all of the issues between the parties with the result that litigation is not necessary.  The ultimate benefit is the removal of court and attorneys’ fees as well as the certainty of an outcome and the removal of the fears and anxieties commonly associated with the litigation process.

This paper examines how mediation works and by doing so, clarifies how mediation helps to alleviate the strain of litigation either partially or entirely. Mediation in the US arose out two different initiatives in the 1960s although there is evidence that alternative dispute resolution was always a viable means of resolving a conflict.  However, it was not until the 1960s that an active position was taken nationwide.  Urban and political unrest gave way to a social need for mediation in the 1960s.

  Around the same time, the government began to seriously consider mediation as a means of reforming the justice system. The move to reform the courts’ system was primarily a response to the inefficiencies and shortfalls associated with litigation.  By 1965 the public and the government appeared to be in general agreement that the courts were overburdened with the result that litigation was an expensive and timely means for dispute resolution. Initiatives to reduce the courts’ burden saw collaboration on and the implementation of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms orchestrated via the judicial process.

  In 1969 the Philadelphia Municipal Court Arbitration Tribunal was set up, followed by the Columbus Night Prosecutors Program in 1971 in which law students spent thirty minutes at a time mediating cases.  In 1975 the Institute for Mediation and Conflict Resolution in Manhattan was founded as well as the Miami Citizen Dispute Settlement Program.