Legal News

Mandatory Mediation in Italy? Mamma Mia!

By Vanessa O'Connell

Lawyers in Italy are preparing to go on strike Wednesday to protest a new law requiring mediation in commercial cases.

As a way of calling for changes in the law, Italy's lawyers are being asked to abstain from attending hearings in any civil, criminal, tax, or administrative proceedings, and to send their clients letters urging them to sign a form letter of protest.

The strike-if it takes place-is supposed to end Monday, and has been called for by Italy's national union of lawyers, the Organismo Unitario dell'Avvocatura Italiana. Click here for the union's website.

It’s worth noting that the strike period in essence extends a long weekend during prime skiing season, as several American blogs have pointed out. Nevertheless, at least one mediation proponent contends that the strike itself is evidence that mediation "is being treated as a serious threat by a constituency with a stake in judicial inefficiencies."

Italy suggers from a backlog of 5.4 million civil cases, says this story from The American Lawyer. The story says that a 2008 European Union directive calls on every E.U. nation (except Denmark), to pass a law by May providing for mediation of cross-border civil cases. Only Italy’s new law makes it mandatory, effective March 21.

The union didn't immediately return an email message seeking comment.

The plans for a lawyer strike in Italy follows last week's report that thousands of lawyers in Madrid are threatening to go on strike over late payments for legal aid that they provide on behalf of the state. Click here for the New York Times story on that.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 14, 2011 (boomark / email).