Mediation is often regarded as an effective and flexible mechanism for out-of-court dispute settlement. However, its potential remains largely unrealized in many jurisdictions. Key reasons include fragmented regulation, uncertainty regarding the status of mediators, the absence of unified professional standards, issues of legal qualification, and the lack of mechanisms for enforcing mediated settlement agreements. All these factors affect the level of trust in mediation among businesses and the legal community, as well as mediators’ own interest in developing mediation as a profession.

In recent years, mediation has also increasingly been viewed as part of the broader dispute resolution framework, including in the context of cross-border disputes. International instruments, such as the 2018 UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Mediation and the Singapore Convention on Mediation, are aimed at enhancing predictability and legal certainty in this field.

At the same time, the development of international mediation raises a number of complex questions, including:

• To what extent do recent reforms in international mediation, including the introduction of mechanisms for the recognition and enforcement of mediated settlement agreements, bring mediation closer to such dispute resolution mechanisms as litigation or international arbitration?
• How can a balance be struck between institutional support for mediation and the preservation of its out-of-court, voluntary, flexible, and confidential nature?
• May the Singapore Convention on Mediation become not only an instrument for the recognition and enforcement of international mediated settlement agreements, but also an incentive for revising national mediation regulations?
• How important is the development of detailed qualification and ethical standards for mediators? What role could UNCITRAL play in this context?
• Which elements of foreign models of mediation regulation could be useful for Russia, and what legislative amendments may be relevant?

Speakers:

• Natalia Gaidaenko Schaer, Associate Professor, Sergey Lebedev Department of Private International and Civil Law, Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO)
• Vladislav Koval, Deputy Head of the International Treaties Division, Department of International Law and Cooperation, Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation
• Mark McLaughlin, Assistant Professor of Law, Singapore Management University and the Singapore International Dispute Resolution Academy (SIDRA)

Moderator: Yulia Mullina, General Director, International and Comparative Law Research Center (ICLRC)