The institutionalization of the out-of-court civil disputes mediation in Lithuania: experience and main future challenges

Abstract

The article reveals the experience of one of the Baltic countries – Lithuania – in the institutionalization of the out-of-court civil disputes mediation. In the very beginning of the paper, the main preconditions and the need to introduce mediation in Lithuanian society are discussed. Afterwards article presents an overview of currently implemented reform on the out-of-court mediation in the civil disputes in the Republic of Lithuania, as well reflects on possible problems, which current system may face in the nearest future. The aim of this article is to analyse the existing scheme of the out-of-court civil disputes mediation in Lithuania and discuss its future challenges. This paper is oriented towards mediation experts, both practitioners and scientists, all over the world, who are interested in the development of mediation by the measures applied from the side of state government. Research was carried out using the methods of scientific literature review, document analyses and comparative analyses.