SURVEY: lawyers getting better but one in five are still 'less than adequate' in mediations


One in five lawyers are 'less than adequate' in mediations, with 7% being judged 'very poor', according to a survey of more than 350 lawyers and mediators by mediation group CEDR.



The majority of lawyers and even their clients are getting better at the different approach needed in mediations, but a fifth of practitioners are still doing 'that litigation thing' which is letting clients down, said Graham Massie, director of consultancy at CEDR.



Lawyers are generally improving at mediations, with 64% rated as having performed very or quite well by mediators, a figure up by six points on the last survey CEDR did in 2005. But, said Mr Massie, 'there is a disappointing rump of 20% whose performance is less than adequate, and that has remained constant'. Just under a fifth of lawyers (17%) were 'adequate', said mediators.



Lawyers were asked to rate other lawyers they had encountered in mediation and, perhaps unsurprisingly, they said their colleagues had been good but not quite as good as mediators had thought. Just over half (52%) of lawyers had performed well or very well by the standards of other lawyers, with 21% dubbed adequate.



Mr Massie said: 'We're not saying they're rubbish lawyers, but when they come into the mediation room they're not helping their clients get the best out of the mediation. More sophisticated law firms are training their people to make the most of the mediation process, but there's still this rump of lawyers locked in this old way of doing things.'



Clients fared similarly to their lawyers: 63% performed very or quite well, said mediators.



Rupert White