Most court matters, if not all, could be tedious, costly and time consuming. This kind of system could be frustrating for all parties involved, but the Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC) is offering citizens an alternative to the exasperating and wearisome experience. Beverly Britain, executive director/secretary of the DRC, said it has embarked on a number of initiatives to draw an awareness of the committee's viable alternative to resolving issues and other industrial relations matters, such as business disputes and employee discrimination. The DRC was initially developed by the T&T Chamber of Industry and Commerce and was officially launched on August 24, 1996, by then Chief Justice, Michael de la Bastide.
Britain, who has been a director for about four years, stated that one of the initiatives the committee embarked on was orchestrated by the present Chief Justice Ivor Archie. She said Archie approached the committee to engage it on a nine-month pilot project whereby some court matters, selected by the court, would be referred to the DRC to assist in resolution before it actually reached the court. Michael Lang, a mediation consultant who was contracted by the DRC to head the pilot project, said the project has had a 97 per cent success rate. Pointing to the report, Lang said the DRC had the privilege of providing mediation services for about 60 cases. He added that 50 out of the 60 cases were completed and 31 out of the 50 were successfully resolved. Lang noted that the main objectives of the project was to reduce the number of conflicts and improve the administration of the justice system.
Changing the culture
Lang, who has been mediating more than 30 years on a wide range of issues, including family disputes, workplace and civil matters, said the DRC was hoping to change the culture of how conflicts are handled in T&T. Britain said changing the culture would involve hosting public workshops, engaging in outreach activities in the various communities and visiting schools to lecture on conflict resolution. These are plans the DRC hopes to implement in 2011, Britain said. Lang said he was pleasantly surprised that the project was also well received by lawyers who were initially apprehensive about the initiative. He said there was an increase in requests by lawyers for court matters to be referred to the DRC. "This is a good sign because some lawyers were of the view that this method of approach would reduce their income." Lang explained that it would actually assist lawyers in finding quick resolutions, which would allow them to engage more clients in a shorter space of time and actually increase their income.
He noted that both parties have the option of allowing their lawyer to be present during the mediation.
Lang said clients reported that the mediation sessions were very helpful and allowed them to express their thoughts and concerns comfortably, thereby encouraging the parties to come up with their own solutions. He said 91 per cent of the disputants said they would use the service again while 97 per cent of attorneys expressed similar views. Lang said he hoped that, based on the report, the Chief Justice extends the project to allow more citizens to use the service.