Arbitration & mediation

The Court Administration and law firm CersJurkāns discussed progress on a pilot integrating mediation into state-funded legal aid under the ESF Plus "Access to Justice" project, running from 23 September 2026 to 22 March 2027. State-funded mediation covers family, inheritance, employment, property and debt disputes where at least one party meets criteria such as low-income household status; no outcome figures have been reported yet.

Until 22 March 2027, Latvia's Court Administration is running two EU-funded pilot projects offering a free 60-minute initial legal consultation to any resident regardless of income, plus state-funded mediation for civil disputes where at least one party meets certain vulnerability criteria. Mediation targets out-of-court resolution of property, employment and inheritance disputes; sign-up is by phone or email.

Pilot projects have launched giving every Latvian resident one free initial legal consultation, and people with limited financial means also state-funded mediation, excluding disputes involving children, for which separate state-funded mediation already exists. The consultations explain the mediation process, its cost, and its potential advantages compared with litigation.

In an opinion piece, the chair of Riga Stradiņš University's academic arbitration court explains how universities' internal arbitration bodies protect student rights by reviewing procedural fairness and equal treatment, without substituting for faculty's academic judgment. Such bodies can overturn expulsions or require fair re-assessment, but have no jurisdiction over employment disputes or private financial claims.

The Certified Mediators Council invited volunteers, by 25 August 2026, for role-play exercises in the conflict-resolution part of the mediator certification exam, offering prior training.

The LTRK Arbitration Court has opened applications for a member of its arbitration council, with the call also published in the Jurista Vārds journal. Interested candidates can contact LTRK to learn the requirements and application procedure. The announcement points to a renewal of the governing body of the LTRK arbitration court.