The Regional Court of Sofia is the largest and busiest court in Bulgaria.

In 2009, the Court launched an effort to develop a court-annexed mediation program that will help alleviate the court’s backlog. While the program is now up and running, there is concern about how to assure the quality and professionalism of the mediators. HNMCP will conduct a comprehensive survey of court-annexed mediation programs in other EU countries and the United States, and will work with stakeholders in the Sofia court system to design a mediator quality control system to be managed by the Court.

Our Work

Step 1:  Detailed research on comparable mediation programs in U.S. (e.g., Massachusetts, California and Florida) and EU jurisdictions (e.g., Germany and the United Kingdom), with a focus on mediator quality-control mechanisms.

Step 2:  Identification of best practices for the Regional Court of Sofia to consider.

Step 3:  Travel to Sofia, Bulgaria during spring break 2011 to present findings and brainstorm ways to design the quality-control process.

Final Product

A detailed plan on how to implement an initial and ongoing mediator quality-control system, complete with proposed training program and draft curriculum for mediators and program administrators.