THE ROLE OF AN ATTORNEY-AT-LAW IN OUT-OF-COURT DISPUTE RESOLUTION: MEDIATION AS AN ALTERNATIVE TOOL FOR PROTECTING INTERESTS

The article is devoted to the analysis of mediation as a modern out-of-court, effective tool for dispute resolution and improvement of relations between parties to legal relations and the role of an attorney-at-law in the application of such a tool. Today, in the context of a full-scale war and russia's armed aggression against Ukraine, which has put the Ukrainian statehood, including the judicial system, in a difficult position, the issue of mediation is more relevant than ever, since this out-of-court procedure allows resolving conflict situations between parties to legal relations with minimal involvement of the judiciary. Mediation as an alternative dispute resolution procedure has become widespread in many countries around the world, including the United States and developed countries of the European Union. The author relates the beginning of the development of the mediation procedure in Ukraine to the adoption of the Law of Ukraine ‘On Mediation’ No. 1875-IX dated 16 November 2021 (hereinafter – the Law on Mediation), which entered into force on 15 December 2021. In the author's opinion, it was from that moment on that the attorney-at-law, as a person engaged in professional representation of interests, had another obligation – to critically examine the prospects for protecting the client's interests both in court and out of court (alternative) procedures. The results of the study confirm the importance and effectiveness of mediation as an outof-court tool in the hands of a lawyer in conflict resolution.