With the aim of affirming and promoting mediation as an efficient method of dispute resolution, the President of the Basic Court in Podgorica, Željka Jovović, and the Executive Director of the Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution, Maja Golović Vojinović, held a working meeting today.
The meeting was attended by Milena Brajović, Deputy President of the Basic Court; Mirza Ademović, Head of the Civil Division; Borislav Ivanović, Judge of the Non-Contentious Division; and Ivan Knežević, Head of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Department of the Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution.
At today’s meeting, the participants discussed the role of the court and judges in referring parties to mediation, how judges can encourage the wider use of mediation in everyday dispute resolution practice, as well as the procedure for the confirmation of settlements by regular courts.
Maja Golović Vojinović, Executive Director of the Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution, emphasized that the introduction of mediation has created the formal preconditions for providing more effective legal protection to individuals and legal entities. She expressed her gratitude to the President of the Basic Court in Podgorica for her commitment to promoting mediation as an efficient method of dispute resolution. In this regard, experience has confirmed that referring parties to mediation during ongoing civil proceedings, produces excellent results, both in terms of the success of mediations initiated in this way and in terms of the faster acceptance of mediation as the most suitable out of court method of dispute resolution.
Željka Jovović, President of the Basic Court, emphasized the excellent cooperation between the Basic Court in Podgorica and the Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution. In order to achieve wider use of mediation, the role of the court and judges is very important, as judges should, through their understanding of the institute of mediation and active participation in its final phase, enable the interests of the parties to be met to the greatest possible extent.
The President of the Basic Court in Podgorica pointed out the importance of joint cooperation through the organization of seminars and training sessions, as well as project activities aimed at strengthening the institute of mediation in dispute resolution and the role of regular courts in procedures for confirming concluded settlements. She informed those present about the Pilot Project for Improving the Efficiency of Proceedings, led by the Basic Court in Podgorica, and, in that context, about the need to apply the Plan of procedural measures and the importance of the Centre as a partner in that process.