City lawyers this week gave a mixed welcome to the launch of a pilot scheme at the Central London Civil Justice Centre that will see civil cases compulsorily referred to mediation for the first time.

The scheme - which emulates a successful system used in Ontario, Canada - will randomly select around 20 civil cases above the 5,000 small claims level each week for mediation.

Parties will pay 100 and be asked to set up a three-hour meeting.

If either party refuses to mediate - and their objections have been dismissed by a district judge - they will be liable to pay costs.

The pilot, designed to promote low-cost, court-annexed mediation, will run for a year.

Professor Martin Partington, the chairman of the Civil Justice Council's alternative dispute resolution committee, said: 'It is only by running the experiment that we will be able to find out whether the arguments against compulsion are borne out, or whether those in favour are supported.'

Chris Newmark, a mediator and partner in the dispute resolution department of City firm Baker & McKenzie, said: 'I think mediation is ready for another push and a pilot at county court level is a good idea, so long as it is well monitored.'

Sue Dixon, a dispute resolution partner in Penningtons' City office, said: 'There are occasions when one party will not want to mediate at the stage ordered by the court because more work is needed before a true picture of the case can be seen.

In these cases, compulsory mediation might not always be appropriate.

It needs to be a consensual process.'

Civil justice minister David Lammy said: 'Going to court should be the last resort.

This new pilot will test the effectiveness of mediation when referral to it is an automatic part of the court process.

This will help us develop alternative and better ways to resolve disputes.'

Jeremy Fleming