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 dan@mhmediate.com

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

at John.Hurst@coparent.info.

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 bryan.branon@gmail.com. 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 Burns.Logan@ch2m.com.

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 dan@mhmediate.com

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

AvaEsq@aol.com rlord@Uww-adr.com