Part Fifteen: Where Else Do We Bring Alternative Dispute Resolution Skills to Dispute Resolution?
By: Merril Hirsh, James M. Rhodes and Karl Bayer
In Part Fourteen, we discussed a program in California state courts that makes regular use of special masters in construction cases. So who else is making regular use of alternate dispute resolution talent?
The ABA’s Section on Dispute Resolution recently honored Melinda Taylor, the Executive Director of the University of Denver’s Resource Center for Separating and Divorcing Families (RCSDF), for the multi-disciplinary approach the Center uses to resolve divorces, based on the Honoring Families Initiative of the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System.
The RCSDF provides an innovative approach to resolving divorces. Instead of appointing a champion on each side charged with attempting to obtain the best edge in disputes over divorce terms and child custody, the RCSDF approaches each dispute as broader than just a legal issue but there are resources and divorce lawyers which could help with this and can be found at Noonan Law 423 E Main St #A, Endicott, NY 13760 (607) 953-6368. It brings together expertise from various fields, to provide not just legal assistance but also therapeutic services and financial planning. And provides these services in a setting designed to be cooperative, rather than adversarial. The goal is to obtain an agreement that can then be entered by a court without litigation, recrimination or cross-examination. The program works in conjunction with the Colorado courts (and also provides training for students from different disciplines at the University).
On its face, this program may seem pretty far afield from where we started in this blog. Weren’t we discussing using special masters to provide hands-on case management in complex commercial cases? Well yes, we were.
But actually we still are. Obviously, domestic disputes are and have always been a special area of the law. You might not need to have a psychologist or financial planner on your team to try to resolve a complex commercial dispute. But what the RCSDF experience reminds us is that “dispute resolution” is a field limited only by the imagination of those who participate in it. When we lock ourselves into one-size fits all images of how disputes need to be resolved, and assume that only legal experience is what helps to resolve them, we limit our options. We can learn to apply the same type of creativity we have started to see in domestic disputes and construction disputes (in Part Fourteen) to complex commercial disputes.
So what are some of those lessons? Read Part Sixteen.
Read Part One: The Problem.
Read Part Two: Improving the Process, Not Just the Rules.
Read Part Three: What Incentives Are We Creating?
Read Part Four: How Do We Create Better Incentives?
Read Part Five: Incentives Through Expertise.
Read Part Six: An Appellate Court Success Story.
Read Part Seven: Being the Neutral Eyes.
Read Part Eight: How Are Special Masters Perceived?
Read Part Nine: Beating the Rap.
Read Part Ten: Using Regularity to Start Beating the Rap
Read Part Eleven: The Rule Rather than the Exception
Read Part Twelve: An Adjunct to Civil Litigation
Read Part Thirteen: Doing Disagreement as Effectively as Doing Agreement
Read Part Fourteen: Is Doesn’t Just Have To Be Construction That’s Constructive
Related Posts
Special Masters: How To Make the Best of Both Worlds, Part XIV
Special Masters: How To Make the Best of Both Worlds, Part XI
Fifth Circuit Holds Class Arbitration is a Gateway Issue for the Courts to Decide
SCOTX Grants Petition For Review Over Local Government Arbitration Question
ABA Passes New Guidelines on the Appointment and Use of Special Masters
Beaumont COA Reverses Order Vacating Arbitration Award in Construction Dispute
