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Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee

Mission

The Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee is concerned with developments and optimum use of all forms of alternative dispute resolution, including arbitration, mediation, summary jury trials, mini-trials, early neutral evaluation, as well as effective settlement and negotiation techniques. Alternative dispute resolution is considered both within the formal litigation process and pre-suit. The committee sponsors numerous programs to enhance the advocate's skills in all dispute resolution procedures because knowledge of ADR techniques is particularly essential for trial lawyers.

 

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Announcements

Outstanding ADR Committee Programs at Section Annual Conference

Please attend with us!

We are energized about this year’s Section of Litigation Annual Conference (SAC), to be held in Washington, D.C., April 18–22, 2012. Two of our panels were selected: “How to Prevent a Runaway Arbitration” (Thursday, April 19) and “Use a Mediator Get Disbarred” (Friday, April 20).

In addition, our new Diversity Subcommittee has organized a networking event joint with the Woman Advocate Committee and women neutrals in the Dispute Resolution Section, so look out for more news about that shortly on our website and via an email blast.

We hope you will consider attending SAC and supporting our ADR membership. To register, please click here, as well as to see conference details and registration. The Section Annual Conference provides great networking opportunities to enhance our ADR practices, and there will certainly be some fun to be had in D.C. too!

ABA Dispute Resolution Section ADR Workshop—April 21, 2012

The International Committee of the ABA Dispute Resolution Section (DRS) is pleased to invite you to attend a special workshop, which will take place on April 21, 2012 in Washington D.C. (on the final day of the Section’s 14th Annual Spring Conference). In view of the success of our previous workshops, this event has been expanded to a full day, to provide more time for group discussion, to allow more in depth analysis of learning points from different countries, and to integrate different approaches to ADR.

We are fortunate this year to be joined by a panel of experts on ethics, cross-cultural negotiation, systems engineering, neurobiology, mediation advocacy and medical ADR, who will be working with workshop participants to analyze and prepare a complex, multi-jurisdictional, and multi-party “medical tourism” case involving a U.S. patient who travels abroad for an intervention, and faces medical complications on returning home. We will be focusing in particular in how ADR processes may be shaped (possibly using hybrids) to adapt processes not only to reach a certain type of outcome, but also how to design and shape processes to be culturally suitable, and to conform to the parties’ budgets, deadlines, and broader interests. We will also hear about various projects undertaken by the committee and will be holding our traditional "around the world in 45 minutes" session to be able to hear about new developments in ADR across the globe.

Please block the date in your calendars and register ASAP to attend. As usual, this workshop is offered free of charge to those who are registered for the DRS Spring Conference. It is also organized to overlap with the Legal Educators’ Colloquium Luncheon, enabling participants to attend that event as well (please note that separate registration is required for that lunch). For those of you who are not able to attend the ABA Spring Conference, but who would like to attend only this workshop, a special rate of US $150.00 (including the Legal Educators Lunch) is available. Room for attendance at this workshop is limited. Participants will be admitted on a first-come first-served base, so we ask you to please register for this workshop as soon as possible. We also look forward to receiving your views and feedback on the International Committee's projects, and welcome any new ideas or projects you would like to suggest.

Please register by clicking here or by cutting and pasting the following URL into your browser to register for this event: www.ambar.org/dr2012. The final agenda may be revised and will be sent out by email with a copy of the case study only to participants having registered to attend this event, so please be sure to include and verify your email address when you register.

We look forward to seeing you all in Washington, D.C. and encourage you to attend our workshop meeting.  This year the conference will include more than 100 concurrent programs presented by experts from across the globe. The programs will cover many aspects of mediation, arbitration, and negotiation, and is aimed at helping all lawyers, judges, ADR neutrals, advocates, teachers, scholars, business executives, students, administrators, and many others to grow their practices and benefit from up-to-date continuing professional development programs from leaders in the field of dispute prevention and resolution. For more information please visit the conference webpage.

"Civility in Public Discourse" Resolution Passes House of Delegates

At the ABA Annual Meeting in August 2011, the House of Delegates adopted Resolution No. 108 entitled "Civility in Public Discourse." The full text of the Resolution is on the ABA's website.

While addressing all venues for civil discourse, the Resolution No. 108 call for a more civil public discourse has particular applicability in the litigation context; moreover, ADR practitioners have a significant role to play in promoting civility in public discourse.

Charles Denton, Section of Litigation liaison to the Dispute Resolution Section, is engaged in an ABA-wide discussion on promoting civility in public discourse through a variety of means, including programming, content, outreach to other bar associations, and other creative ideas. Please contact Charles if you have suggestions for our committee's involvement in this multi-disciplinary effort. This could well include a joint presentation on the topic with the DR Section at the ABA Annual Meeting in August 2012. If you are interested in working on that effort, or have any suggestions for speakers, modes of presenting, sub-topics, the program proposal deadline is October 14, which is fast approaching. In any event, other ideas for ABA Annual Meeting ADR programs should be submitted as soon as possible to Jobi Halper and/or Rebecca Williams.

Get Involved

You can contribute articles and case notes for our website and/or the next issue of Conflict Management. Writing an article or case note is not time consuming, raises awareness of ADR issues and relevant cases for your colleagues, and helps market your practice to other practitioners.

Distance CLE "Ten Things Lawyers Love/Hate About Mediators"

The recent CLE teleconference, "Ten Things Lawyers Love/Hate About Mediators," was very positively received. You can find the program materials here.

Message from the Chairs

May 2012

Exciting Programming at the Section Annual Conference

Our ADR Committee is riding high after the very successful ABA Section of Litigation Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. April 18–20, during which our committee developed and presented state-of-the-art, value-add programs in the ADR space.

Our first sponsored program was titled “How to Prevent a Runaway Arbitration,” involving a mix of neutrals and litigators, and was very well attended. The panel coordinated and moderated by cochair Trish O’Prey included an all-star roster featuring former Texas Supreme Court Judge Deborah Hankinson, Crowell & Moring litigation partner Kathy Kirmayer, and esteemed member of the bar and the Section of Litigation, Bill Hangley. Next, our second sponsored program titled “Use a Mediator, Get Disbarred,” involved an extremely lively discussion again moderated by Trish O’Prey and with our own Jeff Kichaven, nationally renowned commentator and mediator, and Ray Garcia, an advocate in mediation based in New Haven, Connecticut. Both Jeff and Ray have been active members of our ADR Committee for quite some time. Last but not least, our panel included an expert on ethics from Yale University, Larry Fox.

Thanks to everyone who helped to make our programming the success that it was, and please continue to think about and develop additional great ideas for upcoming ABA meetings. Please also check this website for the course materials from these and other programs we have sponsored.

In addition, we had a number of networking events at the Section Annual Conference. Our new Diversity Subcommittee organized two networking events jointly with the Woman Advocate Committee and women neutrals in the Dispute Resolution Section. The first event was a “Dutch treat” dinner on Wednesday, April 18, which was attended by more than 20 women litigators and neutrals. If you would like to be added to the list to receive additional information, contact Lisa Garrison by phone at (336) 378-5432. Next, on Thursday, April 19, a similar group gathered at a practice area and networking discussion luncheon. A special thanks goes to all of those who participated in these terrific events, which involved a great sharing of ideas between experiences of women litigators and women neutrals about ways to improve the business opportunities for both groups.

Simultaneous with the Section of Litigation Annual Conference, the Dispute Resolution Section Spring Conference was being held across town, and cochair Charlie Denton as the liaison between these groups was involved in presenting “ABA’s Got Talent!” at the DR Section Conference discussing how to build a mediation practice through commercial ADR providers and the ABA.

Last but not least, the ADR Committee station at the ABA Section of Litigation Committee Expo was a huge success thanks to our fun game—Truth or Consequences! One of our lucky players, Michele Hangley, won a copy of our soon to be released Arbitration Handbook! Congratulations!

It was a pleasure to see and meet those of you who could attend the Section Annual Conference. We are now looking forward to the ABA Annual Meeting, scheduled August 2–7, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. We hope that a number of our members can attend!

Enlightening Dialogue
We continue to work diligently on improving our communication with you, and keeping you apprised of the latest developments.

In addition to our timely topics on the website, we are proud to announce the publication of our latest Spring 2012 e-newsletter. The newsletter tackles the latest cutting-edge topics, including arbitration and class actions, the lessons of Dukes for class-action litigation, expanded judicial review of arbitration awards, when non-signatories can compel arbitration, and when an arbitration award is “final” for collateral-estoppel purposes.

This outstanding newsletter requires contributions from many of you, but most importantly we want to recognize our editor Jean Baker for her tireless leadership. In fact, we are proud to announce that Jean Baker has been selected by the ABA Section of Litigation as an “Outstanding Subcommittee Chair” for 2011–12!

Building Muscle
We want to make sure you are aware of a number of membership initiatives and new leadership opportunities currently underway in the Section.

ABA members enjoy a range of benefits that enhance their lives personally and professionally. You know that, but do your colleagues? A great way to introduce others to the value of an ABA membership is with a free trial ABA and Section membership.

The ABA is always on the hunt for tomorrow’s leaders. If you are interested in upping your involvement with our ADR Committee, please contact one of the cochairs below.

* * *

We greatly appreciate your continued membership and support of the ADR Committee, and we look forward to seeing you at upcoming meetings and events.

Please contact the cochairs with any questions about the ADR Committee or about opportunities for you to become more involved.

We welcome and encourage your participation by submitting articles for the committee newsletter, website content, and programming ideas.

We look forward to hearing from you and seeing you get involved this year!

Charlie Denton, Cochair
Barnes & Thornburg LLP
(616) 742-3974

Judge Jay C. Gandhi, Cochair
U.S. District Court, Central District of California
(213) 894-5369

Patricia O’Prey, Cochair
Richards Kibbe & Orbe LLP
(212) 530-1969

Subcommittees

 

Find contact information for committee and subcommittee chairs: