Mediation may be divided into three big groups: extrajuridicial, pre-trial and in-court mediation.
The extrajuridicial mediation (often called a private mediation) is carried out at the initiative of the parties when the conflict arisen causes the difficulties in its resolution, and the parties do not intend to refer to the court. It may be absolutely informal, though the parties, at their discretion, may formalize the mediation agreement.
The pre-trial mediation is often of a formal nature and is applied in two types:
— the mediation prescribed by law under certain categories of disputes when the parties prior to the applying to the court try to resolve the dispute using the mediation procedure;
— the mediation as liability of the parties to each other which they have undertaken and executed in a form of an agreement on the application of mediation procedure (mediation clause). The mediation clause included to the agreements certifies the parties' focus on the peaceful resolution of disputes.
And what is in-court mediation?
The general notion of "in-court mediation" includes a number of various participation forms, involvement of the court and its officials in application of the mediation procedures to the cases that arrived to the court. The mediation of the court and judicial mediation presupposes the existence of the system of referral to the mediation in the court or of the court.
In addition to referral of the case to the mediation, the court also may suggest the information mediation sessions to the parties. The court may suggest selecting from the list of mediators, accredited by such court or mediators being staff members of the court mediation service. Further the parties reserve the right to select a mediator at the open market of the mediation services if they are ready to independently pay for the procedure.