On September 18, 2023, the Associate Professor of the Department of Theory and History of the State and Law of the Faculty of Law, Iryna Varava, held a thematic lecture for the pupils of the 11th grade of the Stavyshchensky Educational Complex "Institution of General Secondary Education of I-III Levels - Law Lyceum" No. 2 named after O.S. of the Palanskyi Stavyshchensk settlement council of the Bilotserkiv district of the Kyiv region on the topic "Mediation in the professional activity of a lawyer".
Characterizing modern social life, Iryna Varava pointed out the main factors that lead to the use of alternative methods of resolving conflicts (disputes) - mediation. It is noted that the rapid growth of registered crime, the appearance of new types of criminal manifestations in its structure leads to the complication of court proceedings, and the usual tradition of turning to state authorities for every conflict has led to the overloading of courts and administrative bodies. An alternative to improving access to justice and reducing the burden on courts was the use of other dispute resolution methods, in particular, mediation.
The speaker noted that the Law of Ukraine "On Mediation" of 2022 defines the legal principles and procedure for conducting mediation as an extrajudicial procedure for conflict (dispute) settlement, the principles of mediation, the status of a mediator, requirements for his training and other issues related to this procedure. Article 468 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine provides for the conclusion of two types of agreements: 1) on reconciliation between the victim and the suspect, the accused; 2) between the prosecutor and the suspect, accused of pleading guilty. These agreements can be concluded both during the pre-trial investigation (Part 1 of Article 474 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) and during court proceedings (Part 3 of Article 474 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
Summarizing the results of the meeting, the participants concluded that mediation today should be recognized as a special type of advocacy.