As many readers of this blog already know, foreclosure mediation is booming across the country.  Many states with judicial foreclosure procedures (as opposed to non-judicial foreclosure states) are requiring mediation before any hearings on the foreclosure process.  Add Florida with its strong ADR practices to the list.  The Florida Supreme Court’s residential-foreclosure task force is … Continue reading Mandatory Mediation in Florida Home Foreclosures →

The Summer edition of Dispute Resolution Magazine runs an article by Diane Levin (a familiar name to those in the online ADR community because she is the brain behind adrblogs.com).  Likening us to 18th century English coffehouses (where is my double-shot latte, by the way?), Diane thoughtfully describes the blog phenomenon in a way that … Continue reading ADR Blogging Makes an Appearance in Print →

Geoff Sharp, whose Mediatorblahblah blog was one of the only things I read with regularity, announced a few days ago that he is bowing out.  We as a field are poorer for his departure, but we should all be grateful to him for his thoughtful, self-confessedly “overly opinionated” contributions. With more than a thousands posts … Continue reading Geoff Sharp, Mediatorblahblah, “Bows Out” of blogging →

Hofstra Law School will hold a conference on “Collaborative Law: Opportunities, Challenges and Questions for the Future” on November 19 and 20, 2009. The conference announcement states: “The conference will cover topics in Collaborative Law in the context of legal ethics and professional responsibility, mediation, arbitration and other ADR processes, access to justice and vulnerable … Continue reading Collaborative Law Conference and Call for Papers →

Today is the first day of training this semester’s crop of students in the Lodestar Mediation Clinic at ASU.  It’s a day filled with excitement and questions for both the students and myself.  From the teaching side, some of the questions remain the same.  What will the personality of the class be?  Will we have … Continue reading Game On !! →

The deadline for submitting a proposal to present at the ABA’s Dispute Resolution Section’s Annual Meeting is 10 days away – August 24th.  The Section is always looking for good programs, so don’t be shy in submitting one.  The meeting is scheduled for April 2010 in San Francisco.  A copy of the Call for Proposals … Continue reading Upcoming Deadline – ABA DR Section Conference Call for Proposals →

As everyone who follows the news of the day knows, there was a little dust-up in Cambridge, Mass. last week.  (If you need a primer to catch up, go here).  President Obama is scheduled today to meet and have a beer with Cambridge Police Officer, Sgt. James Crowley and Harvard faculty member Henry Louis Gates, … Continue reading President Obama – Mediator in Chief →

Here’s another comment, this one by Cliff Palefsky, a San Francisco lawyer with a substantial arbitration practice. Regulation is the price you pay for the elimination of true consent.  As the National Academy [of Arbitrators] said, “without volunariness, arbitration lacks moral and legal justification.”  Statistics in the end are meaningless.  Anyone who truly loves the … Continue reading NAF Commentary – Part II →

Lots to chew on coming out of Washington, D.C. in recent days. Paul Bland (Public Justice) and Professor Chris Drahozal (Kansas) provided testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Domestic Policy, along with representatives of NAF and AAA. Their prepared testimony is available here. The Staff Report is here. Rep. … Continue reading Materials from Congressional Hearings on Arbitration →

Citing the Wall Street Journal, WorkplaceProfBlog just reported here that the American Arbitration Association has withdrawn from consumer debt collection arbitration.  I have not found AAA’s statement on the decision, and I have no idea how this affects existing claims. Some have guessed that “smoking gun evidence” led to the NAF decision to withdraw.  I … Continue reading AAA Joins NAF in Stepping Away from Credit Card Arbitration →