Linguistic Competences in the Mediation System: increasing Language Awareness and Developing Communication Skills

Abstract

Over the last decades lawyers and experts in the field of law have increasingly moved beyond advisory and representative roles towards neutral, non-aligned interventions, and have developed new professional techniques in aid of new settlement strategies. Despite cultural diversity and variations over time, the different contexts within which informal principles of justice have often been found reveal a prevalent trend to create alternatives to adjudication for handling disputes, such as negotiation and mediation processes. The present analysis focuses on the linguistic skills and communication strategies that experts need to know and apply when conducting a mediation. The aim is to demonstrate that one of the mediator’s initial tasks is to clarify that the persons are not the problem, the issue under discussion is the problem, and they must jointly reconsider it. Eventually, reframing and construction begin with the idea that a story of cooperation already exists and only needs to be uncovered.