GET READY FOR MEDIATION SETTLEMENT DAY 2004

Planning has begun for the fourth annual Mediation Settlement Day, which will kick off in New York City on October 13, 2004. Started by the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York in 2001, the event aims to increase awareness and understanding of the mediation process as well as to increase the use of mediation within the City and State of New York.

Mediation, a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), helps to resolve disputes between parties through facilitated discussions overseen by neutral, third-party mediators. As discussions during mediations are completely confidential and generally take place in an informal, neutral environment, the parties tend to be more open to “clearing the air” by talking to each other candidly about their problems and working together to resolve their dispute. Once the parties agree upon a solution, the agreement is often memorialized in writing and signed by the parties and mediator. Mediation is currently used in New York by federal, state, and local government agencies, the courts, the securities industry, and other public arenas. It has been used successfully by New York City government agencies in resolving workplace disputes between City employees, thereby increasing employee productivity and workplace satisfaction as well as saving the City money that would otherwise have been paid in litigation.

Last year’s Mediation Settlement Day event was a success, led by Honorary Chair former United States Attorney General Janet Reno. A firm believer of “appropriate” dispute resolution, Attorney General Reno stressed the importance of ADR in helping people to resolve their disputes. She commented that every day should be Mediation Settlement Day. She also noted that lawsuits do not produce good results for parties in a dispute because the parties lose control of the situation. Mediation, Attorney General Reno stated, provides opportunities for a good result that a lawsuit cannot -- the opportunity to solve the underlying problem in a dispute, to address issues providing a “yes” result for all parties involved, and to maintain important, ongoing relationships between the parties. Mediation when properly done could reduce cost, time, and wear and tear. However, she warned against ruining mediation by building it up and then allowing it to become top heavy and costly thereby undermining important goals of mediation such as time and cost savings.

As part of the week of events surrounding Mediation Settlement Day 2003, Attorney General Reno met with representatives of several courts, agencies and organizations around New York City that employ mediation in resolving disputes, including the U.S. District and Bankruptcy Courts and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, and New York City Family Court, as well as students and faculty at Brooklyn Law School. She learned about how ADR is being used in child abuse and other cases in Family Court and cited it as an example of how we can all make a difference if we challenge and push ourselves to use ADR in new and creative ways. She further noted that the professors at Brooklyn Law School and other places she visited had good ideas about what needs to be accomplished through mediation.

Attorney General Reno also visited New York City’s Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH) and its Center for Mediation Services (CMS). CMS provides mediation services to City workers in Equal Employment Opportunity complaint cases and other workplace disputes. The mediations, facilitated by OATH’s existing roster of administrative law judges and law clerks, give co-workers the opportunity to identify the nature and scope of their conflict, enabling employees to reach durable resolutions so that they can continue to work together. Attorney General Reno praised OATH on its innovation in developing the Center, noting that she was unaware of another program like it.

In her keynote address at the Association of the Bar, Attorney General Reno declared, “We can build America the right way and make ADR a reality not just for New York City or New York State but for this country.” Each year since its inauguration in 2001, support for Mediation Settlement Day has grown to include an ever more diverse group of organizations in the mediation field. This year is no exception with plans to increase sponsorship by reaching out to minority communities, the youth of New York as well as national organizations and law schools. It has been proposed that as the use of mediation increases, Mediation Settlement Day will eventually join with other similar events around the country to become an event on a national scale.