New Judicial mediation law

The Judicial mediation law, which aims at speeding up court proceedings by referring cases to third-party mediators, whose role is to assist and encourage the parties to communicate and negotiate in view of settling their dispute, was passed with no amendments.

This mediation option was made available to parties on 18 October 2018 through the implementation of Law 82, which has introduced judicial mediation to Lebanon for the first time.

Judicial mediation is specifically the mediation to which the parties have recourse once their dispute is submitted to the court, and which can be referred to at any time during the court proceedings.

Pursuant to Article 2 of the law, judicial mediation is available in all types of dispute that are subject to settlement, as long as they do not contradict public policy and mandatory laws.

The new law sets out the rules to be followed during the mediation process. Mediation proceedings are confidential and must be attended in person or, for natural persons, by a legal representative vested with the authority of settlement and waiver.