Episode 12: Enhancing Access to Justice in Enugu through the ESMDC - Under the Leadership of Mrs Caroline Etuk

In this episode of EVA, I was excited to welcome Mrs Caroline Nene Etuk, the former Director of the Lagos Multi-Door Courthouse (LMDC), the first court-connected Alternative Dispute Resolution Centre in Africa. She obtained a Masters Degree in Law from Kings College, University of London. Mrs Etuk was involved in legal practice until 2006 when she joined the Negotiation and Conflict Management Group (NCMG) as Centre Manager of the LMDC. Additionally, Mrs Etuk was accredited as an international mediator by the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) in 2008.
She is currently the Director of the Enugu State Multi-Door Courthouse (ESMDC) from inception (July 2018) to date. As the ESMDC Director, she develops all its operational procedures, templates and training. Mrs Etuk has attended various courses and conferences in the United Kingdom, and the USA. She has also authored and presented papers at both national and international ADR conferences.
In this episode, we critically examined the following questions:
a) To what extent has the ESMDC enhanced access to justice for Enugu State Citizens?
b) In your view, have lawyers in Enugu State accepted ADR?
c) How do Lawyers bill their Mediation Clients?
d) What is your Advice for Potential Users and People who want to Pursue an ADR career?
e) What is the Career Progression for a typical Mediator?
We concluded by touching on how the ESMDC has helped enhance access to justice for the citizens and how lawyers can still make a meaningful living by billing their clients- following a well-outlined structure of billing clients by the ESMDC.