SRÐAN ŠIMAC

Senior Fellow – Croatia

Srđan Šimac is a mediator, Judge of the High Commercial Court of the Republic of Croatia, President of the Croatian Mediation Association, a CEDR Accredited Mediation Trainer, and an educator.

About Srđan Šimac

Dr. Srđan Šimac Ph.D. is a mediator, Judge of the High Commercial Court of the Republic of Croatia, President of the Croatian Mediation Association, a CEDR Accredited Mediation Trainer, and an educator.

Dr. Šimac resides in Croatia and has spent almost his entire professional life in the judiciary. Beginning as an apprentice and then a judge assistant, Dr. Šimac was subsequently nominated as a judge in 1992 at the Municipal Court in Split, Croatia. Following his time at the Municipal Court, Dr. Šimac then served in the Commercial Court in Split beginning in 1996, and he was finally appointed to the High Commercial Court of the Republic of Croatia in Zagreb in 2004, where he has previously served as President.

Mediation Practice

Dr. Šimac has been a certified and registered mediator since 2003 and a mediation trainer since 2006. He is a CEDR accredited trainer and an EBRD, CEDR and IDLO international mediation expert consultant. Dr. Šimac has handled almost 400 cases including a range of complex, multi-party mediations. He primarily mediates commercial cases, including international disputes.

He is also listed as a mediator for the following centers:

Croatian Mediation Association Mediation Centre
Croatian Chamber of Economy
Croatian Bar Association Mediation Centre
Croatian Association of Employers Mediation Centre
Croatian Bank Association Mediation Centre
Croatian Insurance Bureau Mediation Centre
Croatian Architects Association Mediation Centre
Croatian Chamber of Construction Engineers Association Mediation Centre

Dr. Šimac is also included on a number of international mediation panels, including:

The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Washington (nominated by the Croatian Government)
The Global Mediator Panel of the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) in London
The List of Practitioners in International Mediation and ADR at the Vienna International Arbitral Centre (VIAC)
The Panel of International Mediators at the Scientific and Methodological Centre for Mediation and Law in Moscow
The Panel of Dispute Resolution Experts and International Accredited Professional Mediator at the Hong Kong Joint Mediation Centre
Member Prime Dispute in London

Memberships and Affiliations

Former member of the Steering Committee of the Croatian EU PHARE Mediation Project
Member of the Croatian National Committee for ADR
Former Croatian coordinator in the South East European Mediation Forum (SEEMF); Chairman, 2008
Founding and board member of the European Mediation Network Initiative (EMNI)
Board member of Groupment European des magistrates pour la mediation (GEMME)
Former member of the American Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Section
Member of the Bridges Academy Advisory Board
Member of the Association of Mediation Assessors (AMATI) Trainers and Instructors
Former member of Mediators Beyond Borders International (MBBI) and served on its Global Advisory Council
Former member of the Association of Conflict Resolution of Greater New York (ACR-GNY)
Board member of the Croatian Association of Insurance Law; Chair of its ADR Working Group
Member of the National Commission for Drafting Law on Mediation and Law on Civil Procedure
Founding member of International Insolvency Institute (III)
Former member of its ADR Council

ADR Achievements and Training

ADR Achievements

Pioneer of mediation in Croatian courts beginning in 2006 in the Commercial Court in Zagreb with support from CEDR; Supported establishment of the Appeal Court’s first Mediation Program in Croatia – High Commercial Court of the Republic of Croatia, 2007
JAMS recognition as a Weinstein Fellow for the commitment to ADR and to the constructive resolution of conflict internationally, 2010
Croatian Mediation Association Award, 2010
CEDR Mediation Award for Civil Justice and ADR Innovation, 2012
Slovenian Mediators’ Association Award, 2016
Identified by the international directory Who’s Who Legal Commercial Mediation, 2011-2017

ADR Training

Mediation Skills Training, Croatian Bar Association and American Bar Association, Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative (ABA/CEELI), 2003
Basic Training for Commercial Mediators, Carr, Swanson and Randolph LLC, Opatija, Zagreb, 2003 (sponsored by USAID)
Observation/Role Play Mediation Training, Carr, Swanson and Randolph LLC, Zagreb, 2016 (sponsored by USAID)
Introducing Mediation Program in Croatian Courts, CEDR London, Zagreb, 2004 (sponsored by the British Association for Central and Eastern Europe and the Croatian Law Centre)
Advanced Mediation Training for Judges, Croatian Mediation Association, CEDR London, Zagreb, 2006
Nordic Mediation Program, Nordic Forum for Mediation and Conflict Management, Norwegian Humanistic Academy, Nansen School in Lillehammer, Oslo, Lillehammer, Norway and Helsinki, Finland, 2006
Training the Trainer, Croatian Mediation Association and Slovenian Association of Mediators, Zagreb, 2006
Judicial Training in ADR, Gabrielle Gropman & Associates, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, 2007 (sponsored by USAID)
Advanced Commercial Mediation Training, Commercial Court in Zagreb, Lynn Cole, Esq., Global Mediation Initiatives, Zagreb, 2008
JAMS International Weinstein Fellowship Program, Boston, JAMS Boston, 2010
Guest at Harvard Mediation Program and adjunct professor at Suffolk Law School, 2010
Advanced Train the Trainer, Croatian Mediation Association, Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR), Zagreb, 2011
Advanced Mediation Training, Conflict Revolution: An Overview of 15 Innovations in Dispute Resolution, Centrum vor Conflicthantering, Kenneth Cloke, Utrecht, Netherlands, 2011
International Cultural Training, International Chamber of Commerce Paris (ICC), International Mediation Institute (IMI), Paris, 2011
Mediation Training Program, JAMS, San Francisco, 2014
2nd Seminar “Judge Craft Across Europe,” Judicial Academy of Slovak Republic, European Judicial Training Network (EJTN), Omešnie, Slovakia, 2015, (training about the implementation of non-legal skills in courtrooms by judges)
Workshop for Mediation Promoters, Pathways to Sustainable Mediation, JAMS Foundation and Partners Global, Vienna, 2016
Regional Mediator Workshop, East & Southern Europe / West Asia, EBRD Project Compliant Mechanism and Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAC), Athens, 2016
Advanced Training for Trainers for Mediators – International ADR Trainers’ Network – Collaborating to Develop a Worldwide Trainer Community, CEDR, London, 2017

ADR Teaching and Mentoring

Trained several hundred mediators with experience providing mediation training to lawyers and judges
Mediation lecturer and promoter nationally and internationally (USA, Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Russia, Bulgaria, Albania, Hungary, Romania, Moldavia, Slovenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Monte Negro, and Macedonia)
Mediation advocacy and mediation awareness educator and trainer
Conflict management educator and trainer
Educator for Croatian judges at Judicial Academy about their new roles in the courtrooms and about non-legal skills (“How can judges improve work in the courtroom by using non-legal knowledge and skills?”; “How to deal with tough parties”, etc.) and abroad (Monte Negro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldavia, Romania)
Adjunct Professor at Suffolk Law School in Boston, the USA, from February 1 to May 5, 2010
Member of The Scientific Council for State Administration, Justice and the Rule of Law of Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts

Publications and Education

Publications

Author of many professional and scientific articles on mediation published in scientific, professional and business journals
Stories Mediators Tell – Worlds Edition, Lela Love and Glen Parker ABA Publications, 2017 (author of two mediation stories)
Member of the editor’s board of a number of law journals

Educational Qualifications

Faculty of Law in Split, Diploma, 1986
M. Postgraduate Study, Faculty of Law in Split, Master’s Degree in Maritime Law, 1999
Doctoral Study of Commercial Law, Faculty of Law Zagreb, Ph.D. dissertation on “Mediation as a Generator of Change in Judicial System and Legal Profession” (2013)