From Anecdote to Evidence: The New Zealand Commercial Mediation Market
22:1 NZ Business Law Quarterly 10-30
20 Pages Posted: 28 Feb 2017
Date Written: 2016
Abstract
Mediation is regularly used to resolve commercial disputes in New Zealand. There has been no empirical data revealing the nature of our commercial mediation market, unlike other areas of mediation. This article is based on a research project which surveyed and interviewed commercial mediators. The findings reveal the nature of the market for the first time and move scholarship in this area from anecdote to evidence. Despite the important role that commercial mediation plays in New Zealand’s legal system, the market is relatively small and dominated by a tiny group of practitioners. The mediation profession’s key focus should be on growing the market rather than on trying to carve the existing market up into small slices.
Keywords: Mediation, Commercial, New Zealand
JEL Classification: J52, K22, K49
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation