Mediation is commonly understood to have about an 80 per cent (four out of every five cases) success rate on the day of the mediation itself and often, if not resolved on the day, enables the dispute to be settled shortly thereafter, the mediation usually having enabled the parties to narrow the issues, to get a better understanding of the other party’s case and to have had an opportunity to be heard.
The latest biennial audit statistics from the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution, reported in 2020 (with statistics for 2022 still awaited), suggest that the overall mediation settlement rate is 93 per cent (which is up by 4 per cent from the last audit in 2018). This breaks down into 72 per cent of cases settling on the day of the mediation, with a further 21 per cent settling shortly after following significant progress being made at the mediation. Notably, the statistics show that there is about a 90 per cent settlement rate for online mediations.