21st most needed skills, mediation and dispute resolution skills and legal training
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5020/2317-2150.2023.13897Resumo
The Justice System in Brazil struggles with a large stock of lawsuits. Despite the work of trial court judges, court lawsuits come in faster than they are solved. On the other hand, Law Schools focus on training lawyers to keep litigating. This research aims to understand how legal culture could be reoriented so that we could build a fairer and more peaceful society. To do that, first, we analyze the current context of the Justice System, taking a deeper look at its data. Then, as we realized that most of
the disputes in adjudication currently could be more appropriately solved by ADR, we turned our eyes to how ADR tools and techniques can be used. Lastly, since we aim to achieve results in legal training, we study the skills needed to succeed in the job market. In conclusion, we found that Law Schools should focus on mediation and negotiation training and collaborative and strategic conflict resolution skills throughout the curriculum. If lawyers are trained strongly with skills to build consensus,
collaborate when solving conflicts, negotiate and mediate, they should be able to design or help to design more adequate and customized solutions for a great variety of disputes, contributing to a more peaceful society and a more efficient Justice System, while becoming a more competitive professional for the labor market