Recently in South Africa there have been tentative attempts in rules of court and government regulations to encourage parties to use mediation prior to litigating. These attempts are welcome and have become even more necessary because of the COVID 19 pandemic which has made easy, quick, and inexpensive access to justice even more difficult than it was in ‘normal’ times. The purpose of this blog is to suggest some ways in which Judges can best encourage mediation and ensure that parties receive quality mediation when they do agree to use it.

Conflict Dynamics offers lawyers a training course on how to represent their clients effectively in mediation.

We hear a lot about the advantages of online learning in the higher educational setting during the current COVID-19 pandemic, but there are also ways in which online learning can be used for training and development in business and similar organizations. I recently attended the Conflict Dynamics mediator skills training online.

Conflict Dynamics welcomes the strong commitment by the State to the mediation of all civil disputes threatened or pending against the State and all organs of State. Mediation, as promoted in Section 13 of the Disaster Management Regulations, may take place before the commencement of litigation or once litigation has commenced. The recently published High Court Rule 41A also encourages the use of mediation, although that applies only once litigation has commenced.

With the global outbreak and spread of coronavirus our lives have been changed in a number of ways. As South Africans we are in the midst of a 21-day lockdown to contain the spread of this contagion. In response many businesses have had to adapt overnight. There are many examples of how businesses have transformed significantly with rapid advancements in technology and information serving the needs of employees by making remote work our new reality.

How can we help you to maintain staff training and development, to manage conflict and to resolve disputes in this difficult time of COVID-19? It can be tempting under the current circumstances to run and hide, cancel, postpone and ignore business imperatives - one of these being the development and training of staff and another being efficient and effective dispute resolution. At this time, we want our clients and their employees to be able to “Keep Calm and Carry On” and we are here to assist with this in any way possible. Contact us to discuss how we can provide you with the business continuity you require.