NAN-H-12
Court-houses
Lagos, Feb. 23, 2017 (NAN) Lawyers and other stakeholders in the justice sector were on Thursday in Lagos urged to embrace the practice and procedures of the Multi-door Courthouses to maximize the benefits of the specialized provisions of the court system.
A Lagos Lawyer and Mediation Advocate, Mr Valentino Buoro, said the establishment of multi-door courthouses by some states was a welcome development.
“It is a welcome development that will help reduce overcrowding in conventional courts and prisons in the country.
“The multi-door courthouse concept is an ongoing global project designed to enhance access to justice for the vast majority of people in a seamless, cost effective and non-complex manner,’’ he told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Under the system, disputants are presented with several options of resolving their disputes in an amicable and accelerated procedure which ensures that justice is delivered in real-time.
Because of the simplified processes of the courthouse, several cases can be resolved within days or weeks, using the various processes of mediation, conciliation, arbitration or whatever other option professionals of the courthouse may propose to the disputants.
Buoro, who is the Associate Convener of the Nigeria Branch of the UK based Standing Conference of Mediation Advocates, said the multi-door courthouse practices and procedure required special skills for lawyers and other professionals, who desire to practice the system.
He said lawyers needed to acquire skills and training in mediation advocacy if they were to make successes of their clients’ cases before the mediators at the courthouse.
“As a general practice, professionals who resolve parties’ disputes in multi-door courthouses are mediators, conciliators and arbitrators.
“These persons, who may not be lawyers by profession, have been specially trained in the resolution of disputes in a non-litigious or combative manner.
“They are experienced professionals in other fields such as in the areas of conflict they will be assigned to resolve.
“Quite often, disputes on financial matters may be referred to a mediator with an accounting or banking background rather than a lawyer-mediator, who is not a subject expert in that area,’’ he explained.
Buoro, a one-time journalist with the defunct National Concord, cautioned that because of the specialized setting of the multi-door court system, lawyers who apply the conventional courtroom advocacy would complicate matters.
According to him, the Standing Conference of Mediation Advocates has since established mediation advocacy trainings for a number of lawyers and other professionals across the country.
He called on state governments that have yet to establish multi-door courthouses to take a cue from states like Lagos, Ogun and Edo that had inaugurated the multi-door. (NAN)
MAE/DA
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Editing by Dele Akinsola