The Supreme Law and the Ministry of Justice jointly issued the Opinions on Launching the Pilot Work of Lawyer Mediation, and decided to launch the pilot work of lawyer mediation in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong 1 1 provinces and cities. Lawyer's mediation is a neutral third party, which is a lawyer, a lawyer's mediation studio or a lawyer's mediation center established according to law, to assist the parties to a dispute to reach an agreement and resolve the dispute through voluntary negotiation. The parties who reach an agreement through mediation may apply to the court for confirmation of validity.
The Opinions stipulate four working modes of lawyer mediation: First, set up a lawyer mediation studio in a court litigation service center, a litigation mediation docking center or a conditional court, equipped with necessary working facilities and workplaces; The second is to set up special lawyer mediation studios in county-level public legal service centers and township public legal service stations, and the public legal service centers (stations) will assign lawyer mediators to provide public interest mediation services; The third is to set up a lawyer mediation center in the Bar Association. Under the guidance of the Lawyers Association, organize lawyers to act as mediators, accept applications from parties or be transferred by the court, and participate in conflict resolution and dispute mediation; Fourth, encourage and support qualified law firms to set up mediation studios, which can accept mediation applications from parties as lawyers' business or undertake mediation cases transferred by courts and administrative organs.
According to the regulations, lawyer mediation can accept all kinds of civil and commercial disputes, including the civil part of criminal incidental civil disputes, except marriage, identity confirmation cases and other cases that cannot be mediated according to the nature of the case. Regarding the connection between mediation and litigation, the Opinions mentioned that if there is money or securities in the mediation agreement, the creditor may apply to the court for a payment order according to law. If an agreement with the nature of a civil contract is reached through mediation by a lawyer's mediation studio or a lawyer's mediation center, the parties may apply to the grass-roots court or court where the lawyer's mediation studio or lawyer's mediation center is located to confirm its validity, and the court shall confirm it according to law.