Introduction. Along with other alternative means for dispute settlement the institute of mediation is a feature of a sophisticated civil society, an indicator of high-level legal culture and mature economic exchange, crucial criterion of a democratic development. Meanwhile there is no widespread application of mediative procedures in Russia. Purpose. The goal of the article is to discover and to give theoretical prove to cause-and-effect relation between the development of alternative means for dispute and conflict settlement and the level of the legal culture in the society. Results. Within the methodology of the communicative science the author di scovers the matter of the mediation as a specific type of social relation on the basis of the directed information transfer. Mediation procedures application is aimed on mutually beneficial dispute settlement and is an evidence of sophisticated civil society and state of law. The main function of a mediator is to settle the conflict by the means of satisfaction of the genuine interests of the both sides. Law implementation and development of modern standard of dispute settlement and wider usage of alternative means for dispute settlement come across the great number of subjective and objective obstacles. In author’s opinion one of such problems is insufficient level of legal culture in Russian society. Conclusion. The author concludes that mediation is a new level of communication between people. Thanks to the mediation, sides of a conflict get an opportunity to be heard and to understand each other genuine needs and interests, which is the only way to reach an accordance. Owing to flexibility and optionality alternative means for dispute settlement permit to work out the most adequate conflict judgement and thus promote partner relations, develop the standard of pacific and independent settlement of conflicts by the subjects of the civil circulation. Extent to which prevalence and efficiency of the mediation has spread is a criterion of social maturity and citizens’ readiness to take personal responsibility.