Difference Between Mediation and Conciliation: Humans must interact and from these interactions disputes always come up. The disputes can be small or huge, the speed resolution is based on the size. The general means of dispute resolution in a civilized world has always been the court or litigation form of resolution. But this form of dispute resolution is time-consuming and financially draining. Some court cases could last for years and even after the death of one of the parties, hence the need for quicker and easier means of dispute resolution.
There are four types of alternative dispute resolution; arbitration, conciliation, mediation, and negotiation. These ADR methods are also called out of court settlement or non-adversarial adjudication of legal contentions. ADR strategies are casual, less expensive, and quicker, in contrast with the conventional litigation process.
Among the types of alternative dispute resolution methods, conciliation and mediation are often mistaken to be the same because they both try to figure out the disputed issues and solutions for the equivalent. These are non-legal, non-adversarial processes, wherein the parties look for a solution to their issue instead of going up against one another. These are deliberate, for example, the two players ought to consent to mediate or conciliate the dispute.
Mediation is a process wherein the parties to the dispute designate an unbiased third party who by negotiations and discussions assists the parties to the dispute to reach an agreement. Mediation is a peaceful dispute resolution method that completes the conventional court system and arbitration. The mediator and the parties follow a particular set of protocols that require everybody involved to cooperate.
This interaction allows the mediator and disputants to zero in on the genuine issues and real hardships between the parties. Besides, the parties are allowed to communicate their interests and needs through an open discourse in a less non-adversarial setting than a courtroom.
The fundamental point of mediation is to help individuals in devoting additional time and attention to the making of a voluntary, functional, and long-lasting agreement. Mediation is of different kinds like Evaluative mediation, Online Mediation, Facilitative mediation, Mediation with Arbitration, and Transformative mediation.
Conciliation, on the other hand, implies a process of settling the dispute between the parties, in which a neutral third party provides potential solutions to the parties to resolve the issue. The main feature of conciliation which interests most parties is simply the significance given by the procedure to the confidentiality of the issues and details of the dispute and privacy of parties.
Recommended: Advantages and Disadvantages of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
Top 4 Major Difference Between Mediation and Conciliation
The Differences between mediation and conciliation, are highlighted under the following:
1. Confidentiality: Confidentiality is an important feature of alternative dispute resolution methods, mediation, and conciliation inclusive. Both mediation and conciliation are prefaced on confidentiality. However, the distinction between them in this matter is that the confidentiality presented by mediation is exclusively founded on trust that the parties have in the mediator. Most statutes mandate confidentiality of all conversations that happen in mediation, with the end goal that, on the off chance that the case doesn’t settle at or not long after the mediation session, terms or settlement stances can’t be rehashed later with regards to the suit. The go-between’s notes and impressions additionally stay confidential.
While in conciliation the law chooses to the degree of confidentiality the conciliator can keep. conciliation is (or ought to be) confidential, and any skilled conciliator will present a conciliation arrangement that the two parties sign which incorporates an arrangement that the conciliation process is confidential. On the off chance that it does exclude such an arrangement, a party who needs the process to succeed ought to demand that the arrangement be incorporated.
Recommended: Differences between custom and customary law
2. Role of the third party: The third party in mediation is called the mediator and the third party in conciliation is the conciliator. In mediation, the job of the third party is a facilitator, who works with the agreement between the parties.
The mediator is like an intervener who steps in the middle of the dispute of the parties and empowers them to speak with each other about settling the dispute. This implies that a mediator just gives a ground, an unbiased space where the parties can convey and themselves reach towards an answer. the determination of a mediator can be made among people with an assortment of degrees and specific experience or concentrated preparation in the mediation of disputes.
Mediators are regularly depicted as specialists during the time spent (mediation), even though assigning a mediator with a few levels of topic information too is for the most part accommodating.
The mediator’s key role is to enable the parties in dispute to comprehend the issues among them and think of their specific manner to determine the disagreement to keep away from the requirement for court action.
In conciliation, the role of the outsider is more than facilitating it involved not only, facilitating correspondence but also giving answers for their problems as an expert, and causing the party to concur to it. The conciliator, not the parties, regularly creates and proposes the terms of a settlement. The parties come to the conciliator looking for guidance and they settle on choices about proposals made by conciliators.
the third party is normally viewed as an authoritative figure who is responsible for finding the best solution for the parties. In such a manner, the job of a conciliator is distinguishable from the job of a mediator.
Also see: Differences between data Science and data analytics
3. The resolution agreement and its enforceability: The mediation process finishes with an agreement between the parties concerned, and when an agreement can’t be reached, a dispute will frequently move to a phase where an adjudicator should force a choice that ties the two parties. This means is that is that the contract agreement is enforceable by law.
On the contrary, conciliation closes with a settlement agreement between the parties. The settlement agreement between the parties is binding upon parties like an arbitral award.
Recommended: Advantages and Disadvantages of being a Lawyer
4. Time of use: The parties approach mediation as an alternative strategy to resolve their conflicts, because of the way that the two of them perceive that the contention has become possibly genuine enough for a lawsuit. Mediation is closer to arbitration because it’s a form of intervention in a subsisting dispute that is very difficult to resolve without “professional” assistance or litigation.
Mediation may be used, however, any time after the emergence of a dispute, including the early stages. Conciliation is used almost preventively, as soon as a dispute or misunderstanding surfaces: a conciliator pushes to stop a substantial conflict from developing.
Recommended: Countries with the Most Judicial system in the world
Conciliation and mediation both look to maintain an existing business relationship and to rekindle a lost balance of power between two parties. These concepts are sometimes used as synonyms, but they do indeed vary substantially in their procedures.
Edeh Samuel Chukwuemeka, ACMC, is a lawyer and a certified mediator/conciliator in Nigeria. He is also a developer with knowledge in various programming languages. Samuel is determined to leverage his skills in technology, SEO, and legal practice to revolutionize the legal profession worldwide by creating web and mobile applications that simplify legal research. Sam is also passionate about educating and providing valuable information to people.