Nairobi, May 27 -- Lawyers and the Judiciary are locked in a fight over the role of non-advocate court-backed mediators in settling cases amid fears that the expanding mediation is shrinking traditional legal work and income for attorneys.

At the centre of the dispute are allegations of unregulated advertising of mediation services by non-advocate mediators, transparency in case allocation, mediator accreditation, remuneration, and competence.

This is compounded by fears that mediators are gradually taking over legal work traditionally handled by lawyers, especially those who specialized in commercial, land and property disputes.

Court-Annexed Mediation (CAM) is the Judiciary's alternative dispute resolution programme designed to settl...