„Cooperation Development among Mediators and Lawyers (CoDeMaL)“, No. 854024
Project No. 854024
Project title: „Cooperation Development among Mediators and Lawyers (CoDeMaL)”.
Project duration: from 2019-09-01 to 2022-02-28.
Project coordinator: Sia Biznesa Augstskola Turiba (Latvija).
Project manager in MRU: prof. dr. Agnė Tvaronavičienė.
Other partners: Universitaet Graz – Uni Graz (Austrija), Universita Degli Studi Di Genova – Unige (Italija).
Mykolas Romeris University (MRU), together with Turiba University (Latvia), University of Genoa (Italy) and University of Graz (Austria), has been implementing the project “Promoting Cooperation between Mediators and Lawyers” (Codemal) in the period from September 2019 to February 2022. The strategic partners of this Project in Lithuania are the Lithuanian Bar Association and the Lithuanian Chamber of Mediators. The main objective of this Project is to promote cooperation between dispute resolution professionals in order to ensure the effective application of the Brussels II bis Regulation and an efficient mediation process in family disputes with an international element.
The project involved the organisation of training sessions for lawyers and mediators to increase the understanding and interaction between these professionals with a view to the successful resolution of family disputes with an international element, especially in cases where the best interests of the child are at stake. More than 60 mediators and lawyers participated in the training, which took place in Lithuania and was funded by Project. The 24 academic hours (3 days) of training covered both the general legal and mediation issues involved in mediating disputes with an international element, as well as the more complex aspects of the peaceful resolution of such disputes for more advanced dispute resolution professionals. The last day of the training focused on the psychological aspects of family disputes with an international element. The training was conducted by Dr. Gediminas Sagatys (Judge of the Supreme Court of Lithuania, professor of partnership at MRU School of Law), a guest from Germany Ischtar Khalaf-Newsom (Director General of the MIKK, lawyer, mediator), Odeta Inte (mediator, lecturer at the MRU), and Roberta Petkeviciute (psychologist, mediator). The training material, which contains a lot of useful information on the most relevant legal regulation, case law, and the peculiarities of mediation in disputes with an international element, is available on Project website.
Experts from the project partners have also contributed to the training material, recomendations and a collection of good practices preparation. These are methodological tools that will help mediators, lawyers and others involved in family dispute resolution to better understand the roles of the mediator and the lawyer in the mediation process, to become familiar with the expectations that these professions have of each other, and to find advice on how to strengthen collegial cooperation in order to help families resolve their conflicts in the family. The methodological tools have been developed and published in Lithuanian, Latvian, Italian and German to ensure that even professionals who do not read foreign languages can access and practice the information contained in the sources.
The project carried out a qualitative survey of lawyers and mediators in Lithuania, Latvia, Italy and Austria about their cooperation with each other, which showed that in all these countries, dispute resolution professionals lack knowledge and a common understanding of the mediation process, as well as the psychological skills needed to play their role effectively. For more effective learning, the following were translated into Lithuanian, Latvian, Italian, German, Russian and Ukrainian training films on mediation, internships, seminars, debates and conferences at all partner universities.
4 February 2022 The national conference of the Justice Programme Codemal Project event “Strengthening Inter-institutional Cooperation for the Development of Mediation” was held at MRU on 2 February 2018. The project team, Prof. Dr. Agnė Tvaronavičienė, Manager of the Mediation and Sustainable Dispute Resolution Laboratory at MRU, and Lecturer Odeta Intė, member of the project team, observed during the course of the project activities that in order to ensure the development of mediation and its high efficiency it is necessary to ensure not only the cooperation between advocates and mediators, but also to strengthen the inter-institutional relations with other institutions involved in mediation management and related institutions. This led to the idea of inviting a wider range of lawyers and other dispute resolution practitioners to a national event to publicise the results of the Project. The Ministry of Justice, the State Guaranteed Legal Aid Service, the National Judicial Administration, the Lithuanian Administrative Disputes Commission, the Lithuanian Bar Association and the Lithuanian Chamber of Mediators supported this idea and became social partners of the event. The event was held at MRU with a limited number of attendees due to the difficult pandemic situation, but all those who wished to observe the event were given the opportunity to do so remotely. More than 1200 people watched the event remotely. The recording of the conference was available to all those interested in mediation and its development, as presentations on the most relevant issues were made not only by mediators and lawyers, but also by representatives of the State Guaranteed Legal Service, the National Judicial Administration, the Courts of Lithuania, and the Lithuanian Administrative Dispute Commission. The event united all mediation enthusiasts and allowed the event organiser to conclude that constructive inter-institutional cooperation is the key to the successful resolution of the challenges to mediation, as it is in everyone’s interest that disputes are resolved more amicably and the legal culture in Lithuania is improved. We invite you to watch the recording of the event MRU YouTube platform.
Codemal Project closing event took place on 16 February 2022. at Turiba University in Riga, Latvia. The international conference featured a full presentation of the Project’s results, with presentations by researchers and practitioners from Latvia, Lithuania, Austria, Italy and the United Kingdom on the most relevant issues. A recording of the event will soon be available on the Project website.
The objective of strengthening cooperation between lawyers and mediators in all partner countries was achieved. These dispute professionals had a unique opportunity during the training to get to know each other, to clarify their roles in the mediation process, to participate together in a dispute resolution simulation, to exchange roles, and to raise and discuss problematic issues. In all participating countries, this joint training of lawyers and mediators was well received and participants ensured that the contacts made and the knowledge and skills acquired, the methodological support received and the Project’s other substantive events enriched their practice and effectively improved their skills. The final Project events and their success confirmed the assumption that the development of mediation requires effective inter-institutional cooperation, as only the connection between professionals with different functions and their ability to communicate with each other will lead to the common goal of a more peaceful society.