The city's mediators help avoid lengthy and costly court battles

A bank, under siege from elderly customers over losses on risky investment schemes that it sold, offers mortgages at special rates to their families to resolve the claims. In another dispute, a businessman agrees to accept unsold goods from an erstwhile partner as reparation for a reneged deal.

Both settlements came about through mediation, which the government has been promoting in recent years to help ease pressure on the courts. But while the government initiative has spawned a cottage industry to provide mediation training as well as several mediators' groups, the process has yet to gain currency among many residents and organisations. This has left the mediators with little to do.

There's a lot to be said for bringing parties together to talk things out, not least of which is avoiding the cost and stress of legal battles. "While a court case is a zero-sum game with a winner and loser, parties in mediation can think outside the box, discuss and agree on a settlement that is acceptable to both sides," says Denys Look Ting-wah, president of the Hong Kong Mediation Alliance, a company grouping 340 mediators.

Government organisations have yet to really embrace the concept. A prime example is the Hospital Authority, which declined to meet patients and mediators in several disputes over medical procedures that had gone wrong.

In one instance, a man wanted to sue because he felt negligence on the part of medical staff had led his father to fall after surgery. Another case involved a mother who believed a hospital had botched her daughter's dental operation, causing difficulty swallowing.

"The [authority] said it would only take action when patients filed a writ," says alliance vice-president Annita Mau Siu-kwan.