OUR FIRST ANNUAL REPORT TO OUR MEMBERS
HAPPILY GIVEN BY THE DISPUTE RESOLUTION SECTION’S MEDIATION COMMITTEE
March, 2017
Last year we asked you in the first Mediation Committee Survey ever to tell us what you want from
your joining the Mediation Committee, and you did. We are grateful. This is what we heard. The primary
reasons you have joined the Committee are:
To get new ideas
To have ways to meet other mediators
To find ways to increase your own visibility in the field
The key substantive areas you want us to explore are:
Business development
Impasse strategies
Measuring “mediator effectiveness”
Negotiation techniques
You would like us to develop:
A Mediator’s Toolkit
A Committee Newsletter addressing such things as:
o Getting new business
o Skills development
o Best practices
And you want to get involved by:
Serving on panels
Writing articles
Helping with the toolkit initiative
Joining a Reflective Practitioner Group
Participating in the Mediation Advocacy Initiative
Helping out with Mediation Week
Joining the Publications Subcommittee
ALL GOOD WISDOM. LOTS OF UNTAPPED ENERGY
This report is to show you how we put your good wisdom to work and to give you options for your
energy. Taking your key needs – New Ideas, Fellowship, and Mediator Visibility one by one, this is the
progress we have made to date.
NEW IDEAS
The Section of Dispute Resolution Annual Spring Conference is the Section’s “show and tell” and
primary delivery mechanism for new, cutting edge information. The Mediation Committee has strived to
be on the forefront of this effort. We encourage you to join us in San Francisco (April 19 - 22) this year.
If you are still thinking about whether you should attend the 19th Annual ABA Section of Dispute
Resolution Spring Conference, here is a sample of the varied practice oriented and substantive topics as
well as exceptional presenters scheduled to be a part of the conference. While many topics touching on
mediation will be discussed Wednesday through Saturday, these are the ones under the Mediation
Track.
The Mediator's Role in Managing Electronic Discovery Presenter: Dean J. DiPilato How Modern Sales Theory Can be Effectively Used in Mediation
Presenter: Ava J. Abramowitz
Building a Reflective Practitioner Group: A Tool Kit for the Reflective Practitioner Presenters: Richard B. Lord, Laura J. Stipanowich, Dan Berstein, G. Daniel Bowling
The Power Paradox and Mediation: Using Power as a Force for Good Presenters: Howard Herman, Claudia Bernard
Stories Mediators Tell Around The World Presenters: Glen Parker, Lela P. Love
How to Make Your Mediation Advocacy More Effective Presenters: Joseph (Joe) Paul Esposito, Thomas J. Knapp, Keith J. Harrison, Mark LeHocky, Lisa A. MacVittie, Laurel Beeler, Karen Boyd
Mediation Confidentiality Reconsidered: What’s on the Horizon Here in California and Nationwide? Presenter: James R. Coben, Ellen E. Deason, Ron Kelly Lawyers Speak: What Gets A Mediator Hired (Or Not) Presenters: Gilda R. Turitz, Rachel K. Ehrlich, Gary T. Lafayette, Doris Cheng, Shannon Walpole In addition, you are invited to our Committee dine-around at 7:00 PM Thursday evening and Committee breakfast at 7:00 AM Friday morning.
For more details and to register http://shop.americanbar.org/ebus/ABAEventsCalendar/EventDetails.aspx?productId=261542357
The 2016 Advanced Mediation Institute held last year in Phoenix, Arizona, was a rip-roaring success.
Attendees rated the presentations “5s” session after session. Next year’s Institute will probably be held
at Pepperdine University. Keep your eyes out for information on it. We hope to see you there.
The ABA’s own offices hosted the Section’s second 2016 Advanced Negotiation Institute. A one day
event, the Institute was so successful that we are exploring whether a two-day event would be even
better. No decision yet, but your thoughts would be most welcome.
Another “new ideas” initiative in the offing springs from a local 2016 panel on Mediation Advocacy.
Ably chaired by Joseph Esposito and very cutting edge, the panel became a key Committee enterprise
for the 2017 Spring Conference. The program covers several topics, such as the preliminary steps toward
mediation, the written submission, the mediation session itself, and how to avoid or deal with impasse.
The panel includes two mediators, two in-house counsel, and two outside counsel experienced in
representing clients in mediation sharing their insights on how to make your mediation advocacy more
effective. Join us in San Francisco to experience it at the Spring Conference. We are hoping that some of
you like the panel so much you want to organize your own local panel during October’s Mediation
Week. To help you out, we’ll even give you the slides and hand-outs!
We can’t close this section without mentioning the 2017 Mediation Webinar Series. There are a few of
this year’s webinars left. And you can still sign up here:
http://shop.americanbar.org/ebus/ABAEventsCalendar/EventDetails.aspx?productId=266897048
FELLOWSHIP
If anyone knows how lonely being a mediator can be, it is EVERYONE on the Mediation Committee.
That’s why we began the monthly Reflective Practitioner Group call-in – to give each of us an avenue to
explore confidentially and with friends why we did what we did and how, if at all, we could have handled
whatever differently. These sessions are run telephonically every third Wednesday at 3 PM EST and are
masterfully moderated by Michael Lang, author of The Making of a Mediator: Developing Artistry in
Practice. When you see the email announcing the next RPG, please join us. If a phone call doesn’t quite
work for you, consider forming your own local RPG and see where it takes you.
Fellowship is so much the essence of the Committee, may we publicize again: We have scheduled a
Thursday night Dine Around at the Annual Spring Meeting, as well as a Friday morning Committee
Breakfast. Be sure to touch base with us on your plans. No one on this committee wants anyone to miss
out.
Diversity and Inclusivity Update
The Committee has launched new efforts to encourage diversity amongst practitioners, parties, and
practice areas. Our first effort was presenting a Diversity Spotlight in our latest electronic newsletter,
and we are excited to offer new diversity-focused programming in 2017. If you'd like to help, e-mail Dan
Berstein at [email protected]
MEDIATOR VISIBILITY
While we have already mentioned several ways to boost your visibility from creating your own RPG, to
running a local advocacy session during Mediation Week, the easiest way to boost your visibility
nationally is to get involved in the Committee.
Mediation Week is the most visible initiative we have as it allows us to initiate programming and
publicity at the local level. John Hurst is taking the lead here and he needs your help. You can reach him
And there are other ways to increase your visibility.
We have two start-ups here that warrant your attention. Bryan Bannon is using LinkedIn, our ABA
listserv and anything else that comes our way to give writers a platform to get their thoughts out. He
can be reached at [email protected]. Burns Logan is working on doing the same for speakers.
Whether we will have a Speakers’ Bureau is under exploration. Send Burns your thoughts. He can be
reached at [email protected].
The Section is also sponsoring two all-day sessions on how to form a profitable mediation practice.
Scheduled for July 14th and 15th in Chicago, we hope to see you there. (And which of you mediators
wondered whether filling out the Survey would have an impact? Not I, this mediator said.)
And there is more. The Mediation Committee's Toolkit initiative is well underway, having put forth a
call for tools and support from Committee members. Expect to receive access to an online repository of
tools sometime in 2017. It will include:
Tools for organizing and hosting reflective practice groups i.e. agendas, thought questions, and
reference guides)
Tools for reflecting on your personal practices (i.e. marketing, intake, and debrief)
Tools for reflecting on specific principles (i.e. confidentiality, impartiality, and self-
determination)
If you'd like to contribute to this initiative, contact Dan Berstein at [email protected]
We hope you are pleased with Committee progress so far. Your ideas for 2017 and beyond are most
welcome. Providing value as you define it is our impetus. Your ideas and energies are our catalyst. Hurry
up. Come on board. We need you.
Ava Abramowitz Richard Lord
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