THE NEGOTIATED JUSTICE:

MEDIATION AND THE REGULATION OF DISCOURSE IN THE LEGAL DOMAIN

Abstract

This article examines conflict mediation as a legal-discursive practice, bringing together Semiolinguistic Discourse Analysis and Forensic Linguistics in a lato sensu perspective. The study analyzes a simulated session of consensual dispute resolution arising from a traffic accident, made available in 2014 and therefore prior to the regulatory consolidation introduced by Brazil’s Code of Civil Procedure (CPC/2015) and Law No. 13,140/2015. The notion of the Multidoor System is employed as a key framework for understanding mediation as a logic of procedural adequacy within the dispute resolution ecosystem, without reducing its effectiveness to a merely normative design. Drawing on Patrick Charaudeau’s semiolinguistic theory, the analysis describes the communicative situation, the contract that organizes roles, expectations, and constraints on speech, as well as the linguistic mechanisms that sustain the institutional management of dialogue. Methodologically, the study adopts a qualitative approach, conducting a discourse analysis of speaking turns and interactional regulation throughout the individual and joint sessions. The findings show that consensus-building depends fundamentally on the organization of discourse, the negotiation of positions, and the discursive recognition of the parties, thereby underscoring the centrality of language in the effectiveness of consensual practices and the relevance of lato sensu Forensic Linguistics for understanding consensuais procedures in the legal field.