September 2007

 

1st Annual Statewide ADR Conference

 

 

The Colorado Council of Mediators and Mediation Organizations, the Colorado Judicial Department’s Office of Dispute Resolution, and the Colorado Bar Association’s ADR Section have combined resources and worked together for many months, building a cohesive, strong voice for mediation in Colorado. This conference will serve as 2007’s annual conference for CCMO, will complement ODR’s annual meeting for its mediators, and is the first annual ADR gathering for the Colorado Bar, whose Continuing Legal Education wing has recently ventured into mediation training. Numerous other organizations have provided support in many forms, contributing cash, hours, ideas, energy, patience, and collaborative spirit.

 

Topics

 

A panel discussion with high-level representatives from the three branches of Colorado state government.

Moderator: Cynthia Savage, Director, Colorado Judicial Department Office of Dispute Resolution

Faculty: Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey, House Judiciary Committee Chair Terrance Carroll, Governor Bill Ritter (invited)

 

The skills and knowledge base needed by the mediator as well as the opportunities available to move from conflict mediation to preventative mediation.

Faculty: Christel Jorgensen and Kent Enwright

 

Fear of the unknown is often a major roadblock to settlement. This seminar will discuss how experts can assist the parties in reaching knowing and informed decisions.

Faculty: Jane Irvine, Helen Shreves, and Judge Angela Arkin

 

Overview: Definitions, philosophy, programs, research findings, and implications for the future.

Moderator: Thomas Quinn

Faculty: Gina Bata, Alice Price, Jack Ruszczyk, Beverly Title

 

The American Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section's Task Force on Improving Mediation Quality has been holding focus groups around the country to ask repeat users of commercial mediation about their experiences, opinions, and ideas. The Task Force has found that many commercial litigators and business people who repeatedly use mediation have a nuanced understanding of the process and have definite expectations about what they want from mediators and from mediation. This session will discuss the task force's findings and how the marketplace's definition of quality may not match the mediation community's definition.

Faculty: Gina Viola Brown

 

A panel of ADR professionals from each of the four program tracks – Family, Workplace, and Civil/Commercial Medication, and Community Mediation and Restorative Justice – will discuss and answer questions from the audience about current ethical issues affecting both lawyer and non-lawyer mediators, including the recent CBA Ethics Opinion on collaborative law, pertinent aspects of the Ethics 2000 Model Rules and the 2005 Model Standards of Conduct for Mediators, and other issues that mediators face on a daily basis.

Moderator: O. Russel Murray

Panel Members: Alexander Rothrock, Ann Gushurst, Kent Enwright, Christel Jorgensen, and Ann Terry

 

This presentation will examine the wide range of unspoken assumptions at the table, and their relationship to conflict and the willingness to take responsibility.

Faculty: Myra Isenhart and Michael Spangle

 

This highly interactive session will address the following questions: What client behaviors are associated with the term high conflict? Which mediation interventions are effective with these behaviors and which are not? When is mediation-arbitration a useful approach?

Faculty: Arnold Swartz and Elaine O'Reilly

 

Organization and program development: The view from the ground. What they do, how they do it, what works, what obstacles had to be overcome and/or still exist, what more they could do if …

Moderator: Jean Stracy

Faculty: Randy Compton, Jeremy Simons, Alice Price, Peggy Evans, Bernadette Felix, Araceli Rascon, and Paul Barru

 

This discussion workshop will use participatory dialogue to address several key questions about the current state of civil ADR. In the past 20 years, ADR and conflict processes have become a constant and visible topic – yet has the conflict field meaningfully progressed or is it on a plateau? Has ADR become a stale, dispensed “service”? The discussion will focus on: (1) the current state of conflict processes, (2) some sources for new and additional thinking on conflict approaches, and (3) considerations of how we could integrate new thinking and interventions into our approaches to addressing conflict.

Faculty: Joseph McMahon

 

An introduction to a powerful problem-solving tool and its application in mediation.

Faculty: Robin Amadei

 

Learn how to analyze any mediation situation, enhance the quality of your family mediations, apply cutting-edge techniques to ensure success (Joan's 8 Steps to Successful Mediation), compare and contrast mediation with other professional roles (PCs, DMs, CFIs), review

statutes, guidelines and directives that govern these roles, and – through examples and hypotheticals – learn about common pitfalls with these roles and how to avoid them.

Faculty: Alicia Davis, Gina Weiztenkorn, and Joan McWilliams

 

Engage in an interactive exploration of possibilities. There will be no formal speakers.

Moderators: Thomas Quinn and Jean Stracy

 

A panel of distinguished mediators will employ its collective wisdom – and draw on the audience's experiences – to discuss and develop workable approaches to confront common problems that arise in mediation when parties fail to understand the litigation system and further fail to appreciate opposing positions. Some of the issues the panel and audience will address are: explaining fairness and justice, discussing cost/benefit analysis, reconciling emotions to the practical impact of litigation, legal fees that impede settlement, and the concept of being

prepared for negotiation. Case scenarios will be used in this very practical session, and the panel and audience will have the opportunity to share their experiences and thoughts about what works and what does not. The program will benefit all levels of ADR practitioners.

Moderator: O. Russel Murray

Faculty: Daniel Himelspach, Janis Cella, and Leslie Lawson