The Lagos Settlement Week (LSW) is the first of its kind in the judicial history of Nigeria. The Lagos Settlement Week is ‘a week’ set aside by the Chief Judge of Lagos State in the year when disputants have an opportunity to have their cases mediated at no cost to the parties.
The Lagos Settlement Week (LSW) was first organized in 2009. The programme won the coveted Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) United Kingdom Awards 2010 for its ability to generate awareness of ADR in Lagos State. In 2011, Corporations and Law firms were approached to refer cases to the LSW and approximately 150 cases were received from corporations in the banking, maritime, telecommunications, and insurance industries as well as government parastatals.
In 2012 there was an unprecedented referral of cases to the Lagos Settlement Week Programme which doubled the referrals in the first three years. i.e. from 2009 – 2011, a total of 776 cases were received while in 2012, 824 cases were received.
The Settlement Week Programmes include: the Lagos Settlement Week (LSW) and the District Settlement Week (DSW). The Lagos Settlement Week (LSW) Programme is held bi-annually at the High Court of Lagos State in the Ikeja and Lagos Judicial Divisions respectively while the District Settlement Week (DSW) Programme has been held in the Lagos and Tinubu Magisterial Districts, Ogba Magisterial District and Ikorodu Magisterial District in 2014, 2016 and 2017 respectively.
