DE ROOJJAGTENBERG cases, 13 of all cases).30 Hereafter, the following three areas are discussed family disputes and abour disputes the two largest practice areas and adm inistrative law disputes, as a smaller practice area(3 1 cases since 1999, being 2%of all cases) A further reason for this selection lies im the overwhelmingly private law character of family disputes, the largely private, but partly public law character of la bour disputes, and the essentially public law character of administrative law disputes 8.1 Familydisputes 8.1.1 Nature and legalframework Most disputes in this area are centered around divorce. These disputes tend to have a tremendous impact on the personal lives of the spouses, and, particularly, their children. Deep emotions, workable arrangements with regard to the children, the family house and other financal matters such as alimony, all need to be addressed in divorce cases. Where historically, family mediation was aimed at saving the marriage where possible, modern family mediation is primarily concerned with the onsequences of divorce. The outlook is no longer paterna listic. The purpose is to assist parties in terminating their relationship in an acceptable way, without unnecessary damage and bittemess, thereby facilitating the negotiation of necessary future arrangements Under Dutch law, there is only one ground for divorce: the pemanent disruption of mariage, a ground that will be accepted by the court without evidence Much more complicated to work out are the legal consequences of a divorce: issues such as the parental authority over the minor children, the arrangements required to Implement the reciprocal right of access for the child and the non-custodal parent and the amount of alimony that would be reasonable in the light of the ex-spouses financal capacity and need respectively. Dutch law allows for considerable judicial discretion here, and for party autonomy in the fom of joint requests made by the (ex-)spouses. Such joint requests are increasingly embedded in comprehensive agreements between the(ex-)spouses, termed scheidingscomenanten Where such agreements merely concem alimony, the parties may even exclude judicial adaptationof the agreement. 31 The legal framework therefore facilitates negotiated solutions, and hence mediation. Since the 1970s, the use of moden mediation in this area steadily increased, and in 1989, divorce lawyers esta blished their own professional mediators ssociation. The underly ing idea here was that both parties might jointly engage just scheidingsconenant. This approach proved very(cost-Deffective, as it prevented the dispute from escalating, and parties running back and forth from and to the court. I9 The current trend is to move away even further from the judical process.In 96, a Commission on the Reform of Divorce procedure, chaired by Professor de NMI Informatie(2001) Tijdschriff voor Mediation Vol 3 Article 1: 158 and 159 BwDE ROO/JAGTENBERG 10 cases, 13 % of all cases).30 Hereafter, the following three areas are discussed: family disputes and labour disputes the two largest practice areas and administrative law disputes, as a smaller practice area (31 cases since 1999, being 2 % of all cases). A further reason for this selection lies in the overwhelmingly private law character of family disputes, the largely private, but partly public law character of labour disputes, and the essentially public law character of administrative law disputes. 8.1 Family disputes 8.1.1 Nature and legal framework Most disputes in this area are centered around divorce. These disputes tend to have a tremendous impact on the personal lives of the spouses, and, particularly, their children. Deep emotions, workable arrangements with regard to the children, the family house and other financial matters such as alimony, all need to be addressed in divorce cases. Where historically, family mediation was aimed at saving the marriage where possible, modern family mediation is primarily concerned with the consequences of divorce. The outlook is no longer paternalistic. The purpose is to assist parties in terminating their relationship in an acceptable way, without unnecessary damage and bitterness, thereby facilitating the negotiation of necessary, future arrangements. Under Dutch law, there is only one ground for divorce: the permanent disruption of marriage, a ground that will be accepted by the court without evidence. Much more complicated to work out are the legal consequences of a divorce: issues such as the parental authority over the minor children, the arrangements required to implement the reciprocal right of access for the child and the non-custodial parent, and the amount of alimony that would be reasonable in the light of the ex-spouses financial capacity and need respectively. Dutch law allows for considerable judicial discretion here, and for party autonomy in the form of joint requests made by the (ex-)spouses. Such joint requests are increasingly embedded in comprehensive agreements between the (ex-)spouses, termed scheidingsconvenanten. Where such agreements merely concern alimony, the parties may even exclude judicial adaptation of the agreement.31 The legal framework therefore facilitates negotiated solutions, and hence mediation. Since the 1970s, the use of modern mediation in this area steadily increased, and in 1989, divorce lawyers established their own professional mediators association. The underlying idea here was that both parties might jointly engage just one lawyer, in the capacity of a mediator assisting them in working out a scheidingsconvenant. This approach proved very (cost-)effective, as it prevented the dispute from escalating, and parties running back and forth from and to the court. The current trend is to move away even further from the judicial process. In 1996, a Commission on the Reform of Divorce procedure, chaired by Professor de 30. NMI Informatie (2001) Tijdschrift voor Mediation Vol. 3. 31. Article 1:158 and 159 BW