We participated in the International Mediation Congress in Krakow

On 11-12 September 2019, the International Congress of Mediation 2019, organised by the Regional Chamber of Legal Advisers in Krakow, in partnership with, among others, the National Chamber of Legal Advisers, the Voivodship Administrative Court in Krakow and the Voivodship Administrative Court in Warsaw was held at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the Jagiellonian University. 

Aleksandra Urbanowska-Bohun, legal adviser, and Aneta Fornalik, attorney at law, who provide services to public finance sector entities, including conducting civil disputes with the participation of such entities and representing the Clients in administrative and court-administrative proceedings, participated in the Congress. They were interested in the fact that many of the discussions during the Congress concerned mediation with the participation of public entities, and that the second day of the Congress was dedicated entirely to administrative mediation – a relatively new institution in Polish law, introduced by an amendment to the Code of Administrative Procedure effective from 1 June 2017. 

The International Congress of Mediation was therefore an excellent opportunity to listen to experienced civil and commercial mediators, judges of common and administrative courts and representatives of public administration bodies, including authors of legislative changes concerning administrative mediation. The examples of mediation in administrative proceedings, in which they advise clients of the Law Firm Urbanowska-Bohun and Fornalik in their daily practice, were extremely inspiring. Particularly interesting were the examples of mediation in spatial disputes and the examples of mediation in German administrative court proceedings. Importantly, during the second day of the Congress, one of the speakers discussed the issue of the possibility of appealing against the decision of an administrative body in dispute with a party to an administrative proceeding refusing to participate in mediation using for this purpose the example of the decision of the Supreme Administrative Court in a precedent case conducted for a Client of the Law Firm by counsel Urbanowska-Bohun. 

This year’s edition of the European Congress of Local Governments was attended by, among others, the President of the KRRP Maciej Bobrowicz, the President of the Polish Confederation of Private Employers Lewiatan Mediation Centre Roman Rewald, mediator of the Supreme Bar Council Mediation Centre Dr. Małgorzata Kożuch, President of the Attorney General’s Office Mariusz Haładyj and the Ombudsman for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Adam Abramowicz. 

This year’s Congress was an excellent opportunity demonstrate that mediation is an expedient and effective way of resolving disputes, inspired numerous reflections on the premises that should be followed when attending mediation with the participation of public entities and encouraging clients to conclude settlements and preparing their content, as well as enabled critical reflection on the possibility of mediation in administrative and judicial-administrative proceedings. 

We would like to thank all the participants for their inspiring speeches and conversations.