Last year, the Coordinating Group on ADR in the ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources recommended that the Section oppose ABA adoption of the "Uniform Mediation Act" in the form already then approved by NCCUSL. Opposition was based on concerns about confidentiality and other reasons such as those articulated in Professor Brian Shannon's article on-line at http://www.texasadr.org/umaconfid.pdf. Mediators in states such as California, Texas, Florida, and Pennsylvania with strong mediation statutes and vigorous mediation practices expressed concern that adoption of a weaker "model" (for the benefit of states without any ADR statutes on their books) might ultimately have the effect of eroding strong ADR statutes in other states.

Model UMA Now Under Consideration in Nebraska, New York and South Carolina:
The Section's Council agreed, and opposed adoption of the Model Act. The joint drafting project with NCCUSL, however, was a major effort by the ABA Dispute Resolution Section, which lobbied hard for -- and won -- approval by the ABA House of Delegates. According to NCCUSL web site (http://www.nccusl.org/nccusl/LegByAct.pdf), the UMA is in interim study in Nebraska, in the Senate Rules Committee in New York, in the House Judiciary Committee in South Carolina, and died in Oklahoma and Vermont.

Proposed Conciliation Amendment to UMA:
Now it is proposed to amend the Model UMA to add an article about international commercial conciliation (on-line at http://www.law.upenn.edu/bll/ulc/mediaticca/dec2002draft.htm.) More information about the proposed amendment is on-line at http://www.mediate.com/articles/daiz2.cfm#4, an article prepared in March 2002 Nancy Oretskin and Luis Miguel Diaz, co-directors of the U.S.-Mexico Conflict Resolution Center at Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Additional links to information regarding UMA
NCCUSL site that tracks UMA adoption
http://www.nccusl.org/nccusl/AnnMtg_ApprovedText.asp and do a search for Mediation Act

State and local bar associations and other professional organizations that track UMA issues
http://www.texasadr.org/uma.cfm

The proposed International Conciliation Amendments to the UMA - The Lawrence Graves 4/10/03 report
http://www.abanet.org/leadership/nccusl/graves403.pdf

If you have any questions, please contact Kate Whitby.