The ABA Judicial Division Lawyers Conference Court-Appointed Neutrals Committee is inviting comment on two resolutions designed to implement the ABA’s January 2019 Guidelines on the Appointment and Use of Special Masters in Federal and State Civil Litigation. The Guidelines urge that it should be an “accepted part of judicial administration” in complex cases and other cases that might warrant it for courts to consider using “special masters.” One of the new resolutions would seek to implement the principles of the Guidelines by proposing a Model State Rule of Civil Procedure for Court-Appointed Neutrals.
A second Resolution would, among other things, amend the Guidelines and the Resolution that adopted them to substitute the term “court-appointed neutral” for “master” and “special master.” This Resolution would also seek to standardize the term “court-appointed neutral” to describe better the role and to capture many terms that state courts have used to refer to a disinterested professional appointed as an adjunct in a case to assist a court in its case management, adjudicative or post-resolution responsibilities.