Mediation institutes in New Zealand and Australia have signed a memorandum of cooperation aimed at promoting the use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in the region.

The agreement was struck after New Zealand Justice Minister Simon Power and Australian Attorney-General Robert McClelland announced earlier this year that both countries would introduce legislation as a priority to make resolving legal disputes across the Tasman cheaper, more efficient and less complicated.

Details of the new agreement between the Arbitrators' and Mediators' Institute of New Zealand (AMINZ) and the Institute of Arbitrators & Mediators Australia (IAMA) were a feature of the opening ceremony of the AMINZ Annual Conference in Wellington on 6 August.

ADR could have particular advantages for cross-border disputes, IAMA President Michael Kirby, a former judge of Australia's High Court, said.

"It can provide a one-stop shop for getting resolution of disputes which might have otherwise involved quite intricate and difficult fact and law.

"It can concentrate the mind on the bottom line and on getting the resolution of an entire dispute, (and) it can avoid jurisdictional problems and provide for practical or commercial solutions," he said. "As trade increases greatly in our region we're going to need methods including the courts, but also including procedures of ADR."

Although ADR has clear benefits, Michael Kirby said he was not blind to its potential pitfalls, including the need for a rigorous accreditation process.

"I realise that there are problems and we have to address those problems. They include making sure that through processes of accreditation we have high standards of competence and experience when people take over responsibility of mediation."

He added that one of the issues that would need to be explored under the Australia/New Zealand memorandum was whether a system of mutual recognition of accreditations granted in either country could be established.

Lawtalk