Message from the chair

Welcome to the Alternative Dispute Resolution (“ADR”) Committee’s home-page. The ADR field continues to expand and is generating increased attention from government, corporations, and individual litigants. The ADR Committee addresses issues of interest to participants in the ADR process and explores the practical implications of using arbitration, mediation and negotiation as cost effective and time-saving alternatives to litigation.

Through monthly conference calls, periodic teleseminars, webinars, CLE programs, and newsletters, we seek to educate our members about recent legal developments that impact the ADR community. The Committee also provides educational tools for ADR practitioners, mediators, arbitrators, and counsel. Our most recent training tool entitled, “The Guide to Effective Negotiation Strategies Employed in Large Dollar Disputes,” will be available on our website this Fall.

The ADR Committee year is off to a busy start. At the ABA’s Annual Meeting in San Francisco in August, we successfully sponsored a public service project involving Kits for Kidz, an organization dedicated to providing school supplies to children in need. The ADR Committee also sponsored a well-attended and well-received CLE program at the Annual Meeting entitled, “Negotiating with the King and Overcoming Other Nasty Obstacles in Mediation.” Materials from the program will be made available to Committee members on our website. Please join me in extending a special thanks to our retiring Chair – Steve Joseph – for his dedication and hard work in putting together this CLE program.

The ADR Committee has planned a number of new projects for the upcoming year. We publish two newsletters annually to provide practice pointers to our members and to highlight recent legal developments in ADR. We are currently seeking contributions for our December issue. If you would like to be considered for publication, please email our editors Kahlil Day at kday.mediator@gmail.com and/or Derek Lisk at dlisk@shb.com.

We also will be launching a law school writing competition entitled, “Recent Developments in Alternative Dispute Resolution” that is intended to encourage law students to address innovative legal topics relating to negotiation, mediation and arbitration. The submission deadline is April 30, 2011. More information about the competition is available on our website.

Additionally, we are now seeking volunteers to spearhead a public service project for next year. We also welcome your thoughts on topics for future CLE Programs.

If you would like more information about the ADR Committee, or would like to become involved with our activities, please feel free to contact me at sstevens@wileyrein.com. You can also join our Committee on Linked In. We are set up as a subgroup of the American Bar Association’s Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section.

Thank you for your continued interest in ADR and for your support of the ADR Committee. I look forward to beginning my term as Chair of the ADR Committee and in working with each of you this year.

Sandra Tvarian Stevens
Wiley Rein, LLP
Chair, TIPS Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee

The Psychology of Conflict Resolution

Sub-Committee

The Psychology of Conflict Resolution Sub-Committee is off to a terrific start and has attracted a number of new members to the ADR Committee. The sub-committee is a place in TIPS and the ABA where members can discuss and share information about the human aspects of the resolution of civil litigation. The group has had a number of conference calls for discussions and is contemplating the possibility of holding a regional continuing legal education program some time next year.

If you are interested in joining the sub-committee, please contact Elizabeth . Thank you, Elizabeth, for everything you’ve done for the sub-committee.

Join The Psychology of Conflict Resolution Today

ADR Resources

Mediation
Mediation Channel
American Arbitration Association
Teaching Litigators How To Negotiate  

Helpful ADR Links

Writing Competition For Law Students

The Alternative Dispute Resolution (“ADR”) Committee of the American Bar Association (“ABA”) Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section is offering a writing competition, open to all law students who are members of the ABA, attending an ABA accredited law school.

Learn more about the law student writing competition.