Originally from World Arbitration and Mediation Review

Nadja Alexander’s∗ Worldwide Perspectives on Mediation
Germany—An Experiment With Small Claims Mandatory Conciliation
by Serge Loode+
This month we look at recent developments in Germany where an
experimental scheme for mandatory mediation and conciliation in small
claims civil disputes was introduced in 2000. This gave rise to a variety of
different models practiced in the different states of Germany, ranging from
the traditional wise counsel conciliation to processes which have more in
common with early neutral evaluation or settlement mediation. The
results of three government-sponsored reports on the models adopted in
the states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg, and Bavaria
are now available and provide valuable insights into the advantages and
disadvantages of mandatory mediation and conciliation schemes. It
should be noted that the terms mediation and conciliation are used
interchangeably. The official German word used by the legislator is
“Schlichtung” which translates into the English “conciliation.” The
official reasoning behind the scheme, however, indicates that the use of
mediation processes was envisaged by the legislation. To clarify some of
the peculiarities of the different models, it will be necessary to explain in
brief the statutory background of the conciliation legislation.