RocaJunyent claims intrajudicial mediation to bring Justice and Law closer to society

RocaJunyent has hosted this morning at its headquarters in Madrid the session Challenges of intrajudicial mediation in the different jurisdictional settings, in which a panel of top-level jurists has addressed the challenge posed by intrajudicial mediation as a tool to democratise the judicial system and promote citizen participation in Justice in the administrative and contentious-administrative spheres.

The conference was inaugurated by the Minister of Justice, Juan Carlos Campo, and included speeches by Mr. Celso Rodríguez, President of the High Court of Justice of the Community of Madrid, Mr. Juan Pedro Quintana, President of the Administrative Chamber of the High Court of Justice of the Community of Madrid, and Mr. Pascual Sala, former President of the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court and the General Council of the Judiciary, as well as Partner of RocaJunyent. Miquel Roca, Chairman of RocaJunyent, welcomed the participants to the session, while Marlen Estévez, partner of the firm, acted as moderator and Joan Roca, Executive Chairman of RocaJunyent, was in charge of the closing.

The Minister of Justice, Juan Carlos Campo, opened the seminar by recalling that “Justice, as a public service, is in need of a profound transformation, and we are fully committed to carrying it out. Justice serves the citizens, but it needs to include mechanisms for citizen participation so that the whole of society feels part of this system”.

In this sense, the Minister concluded that “mediation is a particularly interesting tool on which we must focus our energy and in which our ministry is firmly committed to democratising the judicial system and forming a culture of peace and solid citizen participation”.

For his part, Miquel Roca, President of RocaJunyent, explained that “intrajudicial mediation is a complex phenomenon that requires caution and prudence, but also arouses enthusiasm”. “Addressing this challenge is part of the very necessary exercise of adapting justice to the new times and current needs”, he added.

Likewise, the speakers Celso Rodríguez, Juan Pedro Quintana and Pascual Sala agreed that intrajudicial mediation is already an integral part of justice and is a very relevant resource as long as it has sufficient guarantees of rigour, quality and basic rigidity.

Pascual Sala explained that “mediation, as one of the alternative systems to the judicial system for the resolution of disputes prior to the judicial process, has little practical effectiveness”. However, Sala clearly advocated intrajudicial mediation. “Intrajudicial mediation takes place once the judicial process has been opened, and if it is derived from the will of the jurisdictional bodies themselves, it is integrated within the judicial procedure itself”.

For her part, Marlen Estévez referred to the complicated situation we are experiencing as a result of the pandemic and explained that “the law is no stranger to the reality it governs. It must evolve with it. The emergence of covid-19 and the ensuing crisis have brought a change of paradigm and, as could not be otherwise, this change has also materialised in our way of conceiving conflicts and the tools for resolving them. Mediation is presented today, more than ever, as a valuable alternative”, said the RocaJunyent partner, who pointed out that “mediation cannot be implemented if it is not accompanied by a favourable cultural change”.

Moreover, the jurists recalled the importance of training and education of the mediator, as the resources for the judicial education of mediators are still scarce.

The session, which was held in the framework of the European Day of Mediation, which took place yesterday, 21 January, was followed by 160 people, who had the opportunity to participate in the debate through live questions and comments.