A new market is on the rise in the legal sector and Mauritian IT stakeholders intend to take advantage of this. Mediation is seen as a rising star and a British mediation expert feels that Mauritius can turn this into a hub by servicing African and Indian companies through IT technology or face to face contact.

According to Dr John Fletcher, Director of the ADR group that specialises in mediation, Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) refers to any means of settling disputes outside of the courtroom such as arbitration, mediation, early neutral evaluation, and conciliation.

 “When two companies are in a dispute, they go through the legal system. They deal with solicitors, counsels, Courts and then a Judge. The clients who have initiated the dispute are then thrown into the background. The dispute is depersonalised and the clients have lost control of the affair. The dispute is then settled in monetary terms,” he says.

“On the other hand,” says John, “ADR mediation offers a more rapid and practical approach. Parties want a resolution to the dispute and not money. Companies prefer a more civil outcome as they may have to continue conducting business with each other. They want a change in processes, ethos, rules among others and a Court cannot offer this.”

He explains that mediation is overtaking litigation and the advantage of it is that both parties will come out with something that they can live with. “It is never win-win. It is always lose-lose, as both parties must make concessions, but the important point is that both parties will abide by the agreement,” he says.
ADRg has in Mauritius conducted a three day seminar until Thursday training local firms as mediators to act as neutrals to reconcile the parties’ differences before proceeding to arbitration or litigation. Arbitrators act as neutral third parties to hear the evidence and decide the case.

According to Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation senior manager, Lasantha De Alwis, legal and dispute mechanisms have not evolved with ICT growth. “So far the sector is not robust enough. The CTO intends to develop this sector. We must build capacity in Mauritius to provide resolution services. This is an exciting area for Mauritius to exploit.

ICT Minister, Asraf Dulull, opened the workshop, reiterating the Government’s intention to drive the Mauritian cyber spirit and to take advantage of all IT enabled services.