3. DISPUTE RESOLUTION SECTION TAKES STEPS TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF MEDIATION PRACTICE
The Section of Dispute Resolution's Mediation Committee established a new Task Force on Improving Mediation Quality to investigate and identify factors that define high quality mediation practice, and to develop proposals that can be practically implemented to promote quality mediation practice. In 2005-2006 the task force conducted focus groups to survey mediation consumers, both parties and lawyers, involved in high-end commercial disputes. The first focus group was convened in Atlanta, to coincide with the Section’s annual conference, and the second was held in Washington, D.C. The focus groups included an amalgam of corporate counsel and outside lawyers, mediators, government lawyers and ADR program administrators. A third focus group, with liability insurers, was conducted at a meeting of the American Insurers Association. Next steps include more focus groups, to include other participants, especially clients and people who run court ADR programs. The task force has also discussed the possibility of producing "best practices" or guidance for commercial mediators and for court ADR programs, and developing guidance for quality improvement efforts at the national, regional, state, local and program levels, as well as guidance for lawyers about using mediation.
The Dispute Resolution Section also published important new resources this year for mediation and arbitration practitioners. The two-volume Creative Problem Solver’s Handbook for Negotiators and Mediators is a “pracademic guide” for practitioners, academics and students of creative problem solving. The Negotiator’s Fieldbook, an ambitious 80-chapter reference book, pulls together all the relevant ideas on negotiation from law, psychology, business, economics, cultural studies and a dozen other fields to provide a context for successful negotiation. Arbitration Insight 20/20, the new DVD from the section’s Arbitration Committee, is an essential tool for the arbitrator, advocate and student. By examining arbitration through a series of 20 vignettes, users will learn essential best practices in arbitration. All of these publications are available through the ABA Web Store.
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