A High Court Judge has assured lawyers that they stand to gain more from ADR mechanisms especially mediation, than court litigation.
According to Justice Mrs Angelina Mensah-Homiah, a Judge at the Kumasi Commercial High Court, the advantages of ADR, which ensures speedy and inexpensive resolution of disputes, are equally highly beneficial to lawyers.
In her address at the graduation ceremony for 67 new mediators of the Marian Conflict Resolution Centre of the Catholic University College of Ghana at Fiaprre, Sunyani on Friday, Justice Mensah-Homiah considers mediation as more lucrative for lawyers than litigation.
Lawyers are perceived not to be in favour of the use of mediation to settle disputes since ADR mechanism is seen as threat to the legal fees they charge clients.
But the Judge believes otherwise.
“I believe lawyers will make a look more with ADR than litigation because once you help your client to have the case settled quickly through mediation, you move on to another case.
“This is better than staying on one case for several years,” she said, adding that the end result is the most important.
In that regard, Justice Mensah-Homiah urged lawyers to actively promote ADR practice for the general benefit of justice delivery in the country.
Although she acknowledged that more lawyers were adopting ADR, she indicated that there was a need for a mass adoption of ADR among legal practitioners.
She reminded lawyers about the plan of the Judicial Service to make mediation mandatory for all civil suits filed at the courts, adding that lawyers would therefore have to abreast themselves of ADR in order to practice more effectively.
Justice Mensah-Homiah commended the Marian Conflict Resolution Centre (MCRC) for supporting to the Judicial Service in the training mediators, some of whom serve as court-connected mediators, and also congratulated the graduands of the 2018 professional mediation training course.
She reminded them of the need for maintain high level of integrity, saying “your success as ADR practitioners depends on you and your integrity.”
The participants of the annual five-day training course included legal practitioners, traditional leaders, priests, business managers, media practitioners, educationists and politicians, among others.
Michael Gyan Owusu, Coordinator of the Ghana School of Law, Kumasi Campus, and one of the lead facilitators of the training, urged the new mediators to uphold professionalism and ethical standards.
He also urged them to consider engaging in pro bono cases as a way to build their experience for the practice.
Mrs Vida Korang, Executive Director of the MCRC, for her part, reminded the graduands of the task ahead, but expressed optimism that they would excel in the professional practice due to the skills and knowledge imbued in them during the training.
By Edmund Mingle/adrdaily.com
