CHIEF Justice Anthony Gates has encouraged the judicial department to get involved in mediation processes.
He made the comments during a workshop on managing conflicts and resolving disputes effectively through mediation held at the Holiday Inn in Suva on Monday.
Justice Gates said the department should get involved in mediation to prevent people appearing before the court.
"The judiciary department has paid twice the amount on training than last year on mediation and the judiciary department would surely invest on it," he said.
"It is important that somebody in the judiciary department has training on mediation."
Justice Gates encouraged the bar to understand mediation.
"We would like to allow the judiciary department to understand mediation, this is the way to solve people problems and mediation is cheaper," he said.
"As far as we are concerned in the judiciary department, the purpose of assisting the bar is to give broader assistance to the justice system and try and look at things with some vision."
He said the end product was to resolve people's problems quickly.
He added it was important for the department to carry out the important work of the judiciary.
Participants at the two-day mediation workshop were judges, magistrates and legal tribunal representatives who learned about the seven elements of interest that were based on mediation and the stages of mediation.