Abstract: This article is dedicated to examination of the traditional structure of the Russian institute of mediation and its possible transformations in light of the provisions of the new draft law “On Settlement of the Disputes Trough Mediation in the Russian Federation". Based on the principle of historicism and systemic analysis, the authors consider the established structure of the Institute, and highlight the three stages in development: latent, euphoria and stagnation. It is assumed that such peculiarities of development are substantiated by its implementation “from the top”. The current state of the institute of mediation, despite the fact that it remains at the “initial” level of development, can be characterizes as a years-long stagnation. Therefore, the draft of the new Federal Law on Mediation, developed by the Ministry of Justice, which in case of enactment significantly changes the structure and functional concept of mediation, became the subject of intense discussion within the professional community, since the intended radical reform is planned to be implemented “from the top”, without consideration of the opinion of professional community and interested stakeholders. Having analyzed separate elements of the institute of mediation and changes therein, the authors came to the following conclusions. One of the three key reasons for the established situation in the area of mediation is the low level of professional qualifications of mediators; incompetence of mediators impedes conducting mass mediation and further development of the institute of mediation. The second reason consists in incompetence and disunity of the professional community of mediators, absence of an authoritative body nationwide. The third reason lies in discrepancy of the development of two vectors of mediation — traditional and academic as a special trend in reconstructive approach. The presented analysis allows reassessing the current state and potential of the Russian Institute of mediation, as well as forecasting further ways of its development.