Judicial conflict resolution in Italy, Israel and England and Wales: a comparative analysis of the regulation of judges' settlement activities

In recent years we witness a decline in the number of trials, as legal cases are disposed of at various stages of the process, and through various mechanisms. One of the factors contributing to this ‘vanishing trial’ phenomenon is the increasing role of judges in promoting settlement and encouraging case disposition not through full-blown adjudication. This reality blurs the boundaries between legal procedures and ADR procedures and presents new roles for judges and a whole new sphere of judicial activity. This chapter presents a review of the regulative framework governing judicial work in promoting settlement in Israel, Italy and England and Wales. Through this review we seek first, to understand how the regulative framework creates, and enables a vanishing trial phenomenon; second, to explore the sphere of judicial work and the legal-cultural environments in which judges in the three countries practice and exercise their discretion, and third, to learn what forms and modes of conflict resolution (such as negotiation, mediation, dialogue facilitation etc.) are enabled, and perhaps even promoted, by various regulative frameworks.