Judge advocates mediation as SAN requirement

Justice Atinuke Oluyemi, a Lagos High Court judge, on Friday  urged the National Judicial Council (NJC) to include cases resolved through mediation as one of the requirements for lawyers to attain a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).

She spoke at the 3rd induction of the Associate Mediation Advocates in Nigeria, organised by the Standing Conference of Mediation Advocates (SCMA) held at Lagos Multi-Door Courthouse, Igbosere High Court, Lagos.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that mediation, a “party-centred process”, is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), a way of resolving disputes between two or more parties with concrete effects.

Typically, a third party, the mediator, assists the parties to negotiate a settlement without recourse to litigation in court. Disputants may mediate disputes in a variety of domains, such as commercial, legal, diplomatic, workplace, community and family matters.

Oluyemi said:“The challenge of mediation I have seen over the years is the resistance from lawyers to embrace ADR probably because during our school days we were trained to become litigation advocates.

“Lawyers will also embrace ADR if the NJC will amend the requirements needed by lawyers to become SAN and that cases resolved through mediation to be among the requirements.”

The judge urged lawyers to go into mediation and become advocates to help reduce congestion of cases in the courts.

She judge noted that cases resolved through mediation often translate to peaceful co-existence between the parties, who would have been sworn enemies had the case gone through the rigorous of court processes.

She said that it had also helped to solve the anguish which children from broken marriages suffer in courts because their family issues were exposed in public.

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According to Oluyemi, in some advanced countries, cases will not go to courts without exploring the process of mediation.

The judge, however, said that Lagos State High Court Civil Procedure Rules, Court of Appeal Rules and the Magistrates Rules of Lagos 2011, made such provisions for litigants to explore ADR before going to courts.

She, therefore, advised the Federal Government and the states to introduce ADR which Lagos State had initiated several years ago and create more awareness about it in the society.

While fielding questions from the mediation advocates who were inducted, the judge suggested the inclusion of ADR in the universities’ law curriculum to produce a new generation of lawyers who would embrace mediation.

Earlier in his opening remarks, the Associate Convenor of the conference, Mr Valentino Buoro, said the coming on stream of a number of Multi-Door Courthouses in the country was a pointer to the bright future for mediation as a concept

“It shows that the future is bright for mediation as a concept and for the employment of mediators, mediation advocates and arbitrators,” he said.

Buoro, a lawyer and former editor with the defunct Concord newspapers, however, expressed sadness that in one of the states, initial space allocated for Multi-Door Courthouse had been converted to conventional courtroom.

He said the development showed that it had not been well understood in some states.

“This will compel judges and magistrates to refer more cases from their dockets and give appropriate directives on mediation.”

He appealed to the federal government to establish  conciliation centres across the country as it was done in other countries.

He added:“The absence of federal mediation centres constitutes a great disincentive growth to commercial mediation.

“This vacuum inhibits a lot of businesses from taking advantage of mediation window.”

In his comment, Mr Eric Osagie, the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of Sun Newspapers, advocated the studying of mediation advocacy in both primary schools and higher institutions.

Osagie, who was represented by Dr Obinna Kalu, the Sun’s General Counsel, urged the SCMA to strategise on how to use mediation advocacy to reduce the number of pre and post-election cases that might crop up in the courts after the 2019 elections.