§ 278a ZPO als Schnittstelle zwischen Gerichtsverfahren und außergerichtlicher Mediation

Choosing the appropriate conflict resolution procedure is paramount to proper and effective conflict management. An important impetus for the choice of the most suitable procedure is provided by § 278a of the ZPO (Germany’s Code of Civil Procedure), which enables judges to suggest a range of out-of-court alternative dispute resolution procedures, including mediation. In this study, the author analyses the regulatory content of § 278a of the ZPO as well as the function and potential of the provision to act as an interface between court proceedings and extrajudicial mediation. Using the finding that judges rarely propose that litigants switch to extrajudicial mediation, the author empirically examines the reasons for the cautious application of § 278a of the ZPO and develops a set of comprehensive recommendations to optimise the procedural interface. The work was awarded the Berlin-Brandenburg Justice Prize. The work was awarded the Mediation Science Prize of the Centrale for Mediation of the publishing house Dr. Otto Schmidt honored for the best dissertation.