'Commercial Mediation in New Zealand : The Judiciary' Project Report (August 2021)

This report outlines the findings of a research project that was co-funded by the Government Centre for Dispute Resolution as part of Victoria University of Wellington's 2020/2021 Summer Scholarship Programme. It forms part of the New Zealand Commercial Mediation Study. This report aims to provide insight into the practice of commercial mediation in New Zealand and its relationship to the judiciary. It builds on the four previous reports within this study: the first and fourth which examined the nature of private commercial mediation in New Zealand by surveying mediators; the second which examined the perspectives of commercial lawyers (the 'gatekeepers'); and the third which examined the 'users' of commercial mediation, more specifically the insurance sector. Investigation into the private mediation market is necessary for the growth and development of mediation as a form of alternative dispute resolution