• Dr. Vijay V. Muradande

Pending cases across various courts in India are moving towards the five crore-mark with an over 4.32 crore backlog in subordinate Courts, over 69,000 cases are pending in the Supreme Court, while there is a backlog of more than 59 lakh cases in the High Courts. Courts in India are extremely burdened and desperately congested, and in view of the alarming rate of high pendency of cases, dispute resolution mechanism like mediation is an important tool. Mediation is a structured procedure in which the parties discuss their disputes with the objective of resolving their conflicts with the assistance of a trained impartial third person(s) known as the mediator. The parties try to reach a settlement through effective communication and negotiation. In mediation, the central role is played by the disputants, because it is the parties who have to enter into a settlement amicably. The mediator encourages the parties to resolve their disputes, but in this whole process, a major role is played by Advocates. They quickly became aware that the mediation process required a modified skill set. To assist their clients and advance the goals of mediation, it is often useful for lawyer to shift gears, adopt different strategies and emphasize skills which may lean more heavily towards being an advisor than an advocate.

Mediation, Legislative framework, Judiciary, Role of Advocate

"Pivotal Role of the Counsel in Mediation from Advocate to Advisor", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.7, Issue 4, page no.37-47, April-2020, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2004640.pdf

"Pivotal Role of the Counsel in Mediation from Advocate to Advisor", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.7, Issue 4, page no. pp37-47, April-2020, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2004640.pdf