On-Demand Programs

2021 Spring Conference

Let's Get Evaluative...How and When Do We Do It?
Good mediators constantly evaluate what is happening in our cases. And we keep our opinions hidden - or do we? Data shows that mediators regularly convey their viewpoints, indirectly and even unconsciously. We'll show video examples and ask you to discuss in small groups: When do you provide direction to parties? On what topics, using what techniques? Do you ever "leak" a viewpoint?

Nonparty Discovery in US Arbitrations: The Legal Challenges & Differences from Litigation
As more domestic disputes move to arbitration, advocates and neutrals need to know how to properly address nonparty discovery in arbitration, which is very different from court litigation. This program will explain the differences, offer practical tips, and share best practices using both a mock argument and a conversation between two experienced arbitrators who routinely handle these requests.

The Good, Bad and Ugly: The Art of Negotiations Online
Three expert mediator-arbitrators share their best tips for enhancing the process.

Corporate Accountability: A New Lens for the Selection of Diverse Arbitrators and Mediators
ABA Resolution 105 is an accountability measure offered to promote the use of diverse neutrals. As corporations focus on diversity in environmental, social and governance (ESG) measures, corporate counsel adapt and demand diversity to align corporate goals, achieve better outcomes and to limit risk exposure. This panel of in-house counsel offer their perspectives on agility in our new world.

Ethical Issues for Mediators and Arbitrators in the New World
The Corona virus, new technology and declining court resources have come together to create a new virtual world for ADR profession. This new world of virtual communication presents new challenges with respect to the ethical rules mediators and particularly attorney mediators, arbitrators and referees have to face as they navigate a myriad of new rules and circumstances.

The Art of Advocacy and Persuasion in the Modern World
The panel discussion comprised of diverse speakers would focus on communicating, making successful arguments, reading the room, eye contact, tone, humor, anger, emotions, facial expressions and in general expressing yourself in the virtual world and/or when wearing a mask while negotiating and going forward with settlement discussions in order to maximize success.

Arbitration Law 2020 Update
The program will report on 2020 developments in the law affecting arbitration.

The Today and Tomorrow of ADR Research
The ABA Dispute Resolution Section long recognized the importance of multidisciplinary and social science research studying the efficacy of and best practices for ADR. This program brings together researchers to share current projects and ideas intended to inform the reinvention ADR, as well as provides space for others to suggest critiques, resources, and ideas to advance ADR research.

New Ethical Issues That Arise in an Online Arbitration Environment
The online environment for arbitration poses new ethical dilemmas for advocates and arbitrators. Among them: ethically inquiring about potential arbitrators; applying the traditional ethical standards to advocates and online conduct; and arbitrators assuring parties a full and fair opportunity to present their cases when they may prefer and even insist on an in-person opportunity to do so.

Resolving Civil Rights Disputes in the Age of Disruption
Learn to resolve Civil Rights actions through alternative dispute resolution.

Creativity for Crisis: How Can ADR Masters Assist Courts Post-Pandemic?
The unprecedented demands of the pandemic test our creativity. This interactive program will (1) share novel approaches courts have begun using ADR masters to tackle the demands courts have faced from the pandemic, and those they will face from the expected surge in case filings and activity; and (2) stimulate and draw on audience's imagination to assist in this effort.

Notoriously Good Trouble: Dispute Resolution Professionals Continuing the Legacies of Legends, Ruth Bader Ginsberg and John Lewis
This entertaining and inspirational presentation will honor the legacies of Ruth Bader Ginsberg and John Lewis and highlight their messages of equality, diversity and inclusion and how they may be carried forward by dispute resolution professionals. Using the words and actions of the Legends as guidance, the panel will share quotes and anecdotes about them both that can inform our work and lives.

Mediation and Bankruptcy: Pitfalls and Opportunities
Bankruptcy dramatically changes economic relationships and adds a new forum for mediation. Our panel of experts will explore the pitfalls of a bankruptcy during mediation and also the opportunities for creative use of mediation both as an adjunct to a family law case and for civil and business cases within the bankruptcy.

Confidentiality: Is It an Essential Ingredient in a Successful Mediation?
Mediators generally assume that confidentiality is an essential ingredient in a successful mediation. This panel will explore developments that bring the efficacy of mediation confidentiality into question. Jeff Kichaven will challenge the conventional wisdom by questioning whether mediators need confidentiality, and Ana Sambold, Debra Berman, and Homer LaRue will offer different perspectives.

The Post-Pandemic Arbitration: Old School or New Age?
When the COVID-19 vaccination is successful, the world may be returning to normal: airplanes will be filled again with parties and their counsel flying to hearings at arbitral venues throughout the world. Or will they? For the answers about what post-pandemic arbitration will look like, join our blue ribbon panel of nationally-known arbitrators and arbitration attorneys for their insights.

2022 Mediation Institute

Impasse Management Unpacked! (Pt. 2) – Really Useful Analytical Tools
The panel will present litigation forecasting approaches using a simple online outcomes-forecasting tool that can be useful to practicing mediators, advocates, and party decision makers alike.

Impasse Management Unpacked! (Pt. 1) - Effective Emotional Interventions
Join us for an exploration of the emotional dimension of impasse, including cognitive barriers to agreement and effective interventions to manage the psychological condition popularly referred to as "amygdala on overdrive."

Mediation in a Time of Crisis
Kenneth Cloke, a world-recognized pioneer and leader in the field of mediation and conflict resolution, discusses how we as mediators can shift the way we think and act in times of increasing conflict and crisis.

Changing Hats: Ethical Challenges in Mixed Mode Dispute Resolution, or From Med to Arb (or Arb to Med) and Back Again
Join us for an exploration of ethical issues facing neutrals and advocates when dispute resolution involves multiple modes, whether med-arb, arb-med, or other "mixed mode" permutations.

Technology in Practice: ODR and More
Join us to learn how to select which technology to use that best fits your dispute resolution practice needs and gain advance knowledge of what technology will be available in the future.

Ask for More: Strategic Negotiation for Legal Professionals
Learn from Wall Street Journal Best Selling author and expert negotiation trainer Alexandra Carter how to achieve immediate results in your legal negotiations with tools such as uncovering interests, asking the right questions, and framing proposals.

Mediation Around the World: Leveraging our Shared Experiences for a Brighter Future
Learn from a panel of international experts about what's new in global mediation trends, as well as challenges to expect and opportunities to further build and connect the field globally.

Developing (and Growing) Your Mediation Practice Overnight – Strategic, Smart, and Effective Marketing Approaches
Learn from the top leaders in the legal marketing field the necessary approaches and tools that you will need to develop your mediation practice quickly and how to keep it growing.

2022 Spring Conference

Strengthening Advocacy in Virtual and Hybrid Arbitrations
Future arbitrations will likely combine in person and virtual hearings and opportunities for improvements in effective advocacy. This program will examine how advocates, and the arbitrators before whom they will appear, can best take advantage of these changes. The panel will discuss a wide variety of issues that arise in these circumstances.

Employment Dispute Resolution Revolution - Online Dispute Resolution at the EEOC
The Covid-19 Pandemic required the EEOC to transition to Online Dispute Resolution ("ODR"). First, external program evaluators will present robust data establishing that ODR is successful across a wide range of measures. Then, a panel of experienced EEOC mediators will address these results. This presentation will raise the issue of whether mediation returns to an in-person format or evolves into new patterns of mediation service.

Arbitration Law Update 2021-22
This program will enable arbitrators and other ADR neutrals and legal counsel to adapt to new directions in arbitration resulting from developments in the applicable law.

Diversity in ADR: Lessons Learned and the Path Forward
Join us to link the lessons of the past (including where the system has come up short) with new, outside-the-box thinking about the future of diversity in ADR.

Industry Self-Regulation ADR as a Tool to Mitigate Litigation
ADR is an efficient way to manage litigation risk, but it is underutilized. This panel will discuss how businesses of all sizes can leverage self-regulatory ADR models to resolve conflicts with both consumers and other businesses directly without going to court. Attendees will learn how to apply best practices from the leading US ADR models to save time, money, and stay out of the courtroom.

Friend, Not Foe: E-Discovery as a Tool for a Successful Mediation
Today, people communicate almost exclusively electronically. Mediators and practitioners often view the exchange of electronically stored information (ESI) as a burden and cost that hinders a successful mediation. This seminar will explore how a cooperative exchange of ESI in mediation can be used to streamline matters, making mediation preferable to the courts, both financially and equitably.

Safeguarding Confidential Data: What is Our Responsibility in Dispute Resolution?
A core tenet of the dispute resolution process is confidentiality. But what does that mean in an online/hybrid/technological environment? This course will look at the basic steps of the dispute resolution process, and what are practical implementable steps for keeping client/visitor data confidential through a variety of processes and platforms.

Ethics in Your Practice: Learn How to Ethically Market Your Practice While Staying Compliant
Like a great opera, avoiding ethics and malpractice issues your practice requires talent and finesse. Learn proven techniques for promoting your practice while staying within the ethics rules, as well as everything you need to know to ethically promote your practice. This program will have an overview of relevant Model Rules of Professional Conduct, ethics opinions, and cases that refer to ethical communication with potential clients, including RPC 7.1.

Lights, Camera, Action: Mediating Online for Mediators and Advocates
Attendees will go behind the scenes of video mediations and arbitrations. They will walk away understanding the rules, ethics, best practices, and may even pick up a few tips along with hardware and software recommendations. The goal is for attendees to feel prepared and comfortable on both sides of the screen.

The First Five Minutes: Maximize the Potential for Success in Mediation
Like many important events, we often win (or lose) the most important people to the process during the first five minutes of a mediation session. Mediators should make intentional decisions about strategy and procedures to ensure a successful mediation. Decisions about whether to convene a pre-mediation meeting, who participates, and whether to include opening statements will shape the mediation.

Insulting First Offers: Why They Are Made and How To Respond
In this highly interactive session, two experienced lawyer-mediators will collaborate with participants to explore options for pre-mediation meetings and ways to begin a mediation session. We will begin by considering how processes included in appreciative inquiry, narrative conflict theory, and conscious curiosity may impact the mediation structure. Then, through a facilitated discussion and short role-play, participants will discover how to make those first five minutes effective and powerful within their individual mediation style.

Can I Ask That? The Ethics and Practice of Assessing Capacity to Mediate
How can mediators ensure party capacity without compromising their impartiality? Historically, many have associated capacity deficits with specific contexts such as abuse, disability, and intoxication. This session will teach mediators how to assess capacity based on observed behaviors without acting on stereotypes based on the party's situation.

Proposed Guidelines for Arbitral Disclosure of Social Media Activity
The absence of a coherent set of principles governing arbitrator disclosure of social media activity jeopardizes the durability of awards and threatens to undermine the integrity of the arbitrator selection process. The program will feature proposed guidelines that should prompt a provocative and important discussion among neutrals and practitioners.

Advocacy

Elder Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation Screening Guidelines for Elder Mediations
Abuse, neglect, and exploitation can be unfortunate realities for the elder population. How do you screen for it during a mediation and what are your options for intervention? Panelists will present guidelines developed by the ABA Dispute Resolution Section Task Force on Screening for Elder Abuse and Neglect for Mediators. Join us to ensure maximum protection of elders in the mediation process.

Let's Get Evaluative...How and When Do We Do It?
Good mediators constantly evaluate what is happening in our cases. And we keep our opinions hidden - or do we? Data shows that mediators regularly convey their viewpoints, indirectly and even unconsciously. We'll show video examples and ask you to discuss in small groups: When do you provide direction to parties? On what topics, using what techniques? Do you ever "leak" a viewpoint?

Nonparty Discovery in US Arbitrations: The Legal Challenges & Differences from Litigation
As more domestic disputes move to arbitration, advocates and neutrals need to know how to properly address nonparty discovery in arbitration, which is very different from court litigation. This program will explain the differences, offer practical tips, and share best practices using both a mock argument and a conversation between two experienced arbitrators who routinely handle these requests.

The Art of Advocacy and Persuasion in the Modern World
The panel discussion comprised of diverse speakers would focus on communicating, making successful arguments, reading the room, eye contact, tone, humor, anger, emotions, facial expressions and in general expressing yourself in the virtual world and/or when wearing a mask while negotiating and going forward with settlement discussions in order to maximize success.

Creativity for Crisis: How Can ADR Masters Assist Courts Post-Pandemic?
The unprecedented demands of the pandemic test our creativity. This interactive program will (1) share novel approaches courts have begun using ADR masters to tackle the demands courts have faced from the pandemic, and those they will face from the expected surge in case filings and activity; and (2) stimulate and draw on audience's imagination to assist in this effort.

Notoriously Good Trouble: Dispute Resolution Professionals Continuing the Legacies of Legends, Ruth Bader Ginsberg and John Lewis
This entertaining and inspirational presentation will honor the legacies of Ruth Bader Ginsberg and John Lewis and highlight their messages of equality, diversity and inclusion and how they may be carried forward by dispute resolution professionals. Using the words and actions of the Legends as guidance, the panel will share quotes and anecdotes about them both that can inform our work and lives.

The All-Important Arbitration Preliminary Hearing
Almost all arbitrations begin with a preliminary hearing where the arbitrator & the parties discuss all steps necessary to adjudicate the case, with the goal of assuring a cost-effective & efficient arbitration. This session will address, from the perspectives of both the advocate & the arbitrator, how best to use the preliminary hearing to provide a comprehensive roadmap for the entire process.

Arbitration Discovery and Motion Practice
The increasing use of discovery and motions, including dispositive motions, has caused arbitration to more closely resemble litigation. Many practitioners welcome this trend, while others abhor it. This session will address the appropriate use of discovery and motions in arbitration, and how the arbitrator can act to prevent abusive tactics.

The Arbitration Evidentiary Hearing
This session addresses the A to Z of managing the evidentiary hearing efficiently and fairly including final status conferences, subpoenas, time management, handling objections and the introduction of documents, opening and closing arguments, the when and how of arbitrator questions, and other issues.

Arbitration Awards and Post-Award Issues
The hearing is over. This session will address the best ways to prepare the Award, including dissenting opinions, independent research, post-hearing briefing, punitive damages, attorney's fees, enforcing or challenging the Award and other subjects.

Arbitration Ethics
An interactive session exploring the unique ethical issues facing arbitrators and advocates, with the discussion drawing upon the skill and knowledge of the faculty and attendees.

Remote Arbitration Hearings: A Practicum
There is now an expectation that remote online arbitration will remain an alternative to in-person arbitration even after COVID restrictions are lifted. This roundtable discussion will focus on the advantages and disadvantages of remote arbitration, the future of online arbitration, and provide practical information and skills for conducting a successful remote arbitration.

Mediation Advocacy: What Litigators Need to Know
Litigators and dispute resolution professionals: join this program to learn all you need to know to conduct a successful mediation. You will gain needed insight regarding the benefits of mediation and walk through those steps necessary to ensure success. You will leave with a toolkit of information applicable to all your future mediations, regardless of the claims and issues involved.

Strengthening Advocacy in Virtual and Hybrid Arbitrations
Future arbitrations will likely combine in person and virtual hearings and opportunities for improvements in effective advocacy. This program will examine how advocates, and the arbitrators before whom they will appear, can best take advantage of these changes. The panel will discuss a wide variety of issues that arise in these circumstances.

Lights, Camera, Action: Mediating Online for Mediators and Advocates
Attendees will go behind the scenes of video mediations and arbitrations. They will walk away understanding the rules, ethics, best practices, and may even pick up a few tips along with hardware and software recommendations. The goal is for attendees to feel prepared and comfortable on both sides of the screen.

The Many Roads to ADR: ADR as a Second Career
Are you a lawyer or judge considering a career change to alternative dispute resolution (ADR)? Not sure where to start? Join our expert panelists to hear how they each made ADR a second career and what they wish they knew along the way.

Arbitration

Writing Reasoned Awards in Commercial Arbitration: Beyond the Basics
Once you are selected as an arbitrator, the actions that you take or do not take may impact whether the award will be subject to a challenge. The webinar will guide you through the process. You will learn about different types of awards, the need for disclosure, how the contract affects the award, tips for drafting and how to protect an award from a potential challenge.

Dispositive Motion Practice in Arbitration: The Tide is Rising
Parties in arbitration proceedings are increasingly requesting and filing dispositive motions, thus arbitrators are increasingly being presented with dispositive motions in the proceedings over which they are presiding. With that, it has never been more important for arbitrators to be well versed in the objectives, applicable rules, procedures, and best practices relating to dispositive motions.

Best Practices for a Tri-Partite Arbitration Panel
Tri-Partite Arbitration Panels have become more common as the size of arbitration claims continues to increase necessitating, either by specific ADR Provider Rules or language in an arbitration clause, the use of three arbitrators to resolve disputes. This program explores best practices for arbitrators working together as part of a Tri-Partite Arbitration Panel.

Cybersecurity: Safeguarding Case Data
The protection and privacy of customer and case-related information should be a top priority for all dispute resolution professionals. Join us for an insightful discussion with cybersecurity thought leaders Diana Didia, SVP and CIO at the American Arbitration Association, and Gary Benton of the Silicon Valley Arbitration & Mediation Center on what you need to do to keep information safe.

Practical Approaches to Ensure the Neutrality of Party-Appointed Arbitrators
Is a party-appointed arbitrator ever completely neutral - or expected to be? The delicate balance in the party-appointed setting between expectations and ethical obligations can be challenging. Such issues can affect each dispute and arbitration practice overall. This program will discuss practical approaches to dealing with these difficult issues, whether appointing or serving as a neutral.

Nonparty Discovery in US Arbitrations: The Legal Challenges & Differences from Litigation
As more domestic disputes move to arbitration, advocates and neutrals need to know how to properly address nonparty discovery in arbitration, which is very different from court litigation. This program will explain the differences, offer practical tips, and share best practices using both a mock argument and a conversation between two experienced arbitrators who routinely handle these requests.

Corporate Accountability: A New Lens for the Selection of Diverse Arbitrators and Mediators
ABA Resolution 105 is an accountability measure offered to promote the use of diverse neutrals. As corporations focus on diversity in environmental, social and governance (ESG) measures, corporate counsel adapt and demand diversity to align corporate goals, achieve better outcomes and to limit risk exposure. This panel of in-house counsel offer their perspectives on agility in our new world.

Ethical Issues for Mediators and Arbitrators in the New World
The Corona virus, new technology and declining court resources have come together to create a new virtual world for ADR profession. This new world of virtual communication presents new challenges with respect to the ethical rules mediators and particularly attorney mediators, arbitrators and referees have to face as they navigate a myriad of new rules and circumstances.

Arbitration Law 2020 Update
The program will report on 2020 developments in the law affecting arbitration.

New Ethical Issues That Arise in an Online Arbitration Environment
The online environment for arbitration poses new ethical dilemmas for advocates and arbitrators. Among them: ethically inquiring about potential arbitrators; applying the traditional ethical standards to advocates and online conduct; and arbitrators assuring parties a full and fair opportunity to present their cases when they may prefer and even insist on an in-person opportunity to do so.

The Post-Pandemic Arbitration: Old School or New Age?
When the COVID-19 vaccination is successful, the world may be returning to normal: airplanes will be filled again with parties and their counsel flying to hearings at arbitral venues throughout the world. Or will they? For the answers about what post-pandemic arbitration will look like, join our blue ribbon panel of nationally-known arbitrators and arbitration attorneys for their insights.

Arbitration of "Surprise" (Out of Network) Medical Bills
Several states now provide for the arbitration of disputes regarding medical bills from a provider who is not covered by a patient's insurance policy. Often these "surprise" bills pertain to emergency medical services. This webinar explains how two of these programs operate and examines how effective arbitration is in this context.

The All-Important Arbitration Preliminary Hearing
Almost all arbitrations begin with a preliminary hearing where the arbitrator & the parties discuss all steps necessary to adjudicate the case, with the goal of assuring a cost-effective & efficient arbitration. This session will address, from the perspectives of both the advocate & the arbitrator, how best to use the preliminary hearing to provide a comprehensive roadmap for the entire process.

Arbitration Discovery and Motion Practice
The increasing use of discovery and motions, including dispositive motions, has caused arbitration to more closely resemble litigation. Many practitioners welcome this trend, while others abhor it. This session will address the appropriate use of discovery and motions in arbitration, and how the arbitrator can act to prevent abusive tactics.

The Arbitration Evidentiary Hearing
This session addresses the A to Z of managing the evidentiary hearing efficiently and fairly including final status conferences, subpoenas, time management, handling objections and the introduction of documents, opening and closing arguments, the when and how of arbitrator questions, and other issues.

Arbitration Awards and Post-Award Issues
The hearing is over. This session will address the best ways to prepare the Award, including dissenting opinions, independent research, post-hearing briefing, punitive damages, attorney's fees, enforcing or challenging the Award and other subjects.

Arbitration Ethics
An interactive session exploring the unique ethical issues facing arbitrators and advocates, with the discussion drawing upon the skill and knowledge of the faculty and attendees.

Remote Arbitration Hearings: A Practicum
There is now an expectation that remote online arbitration will remain an alternative to in-person arbitration even after COVID restrictions are lifted. This roundtable discussion will focus on the advantages and disadvantages of remote arbitration, the future of online arbitration, and provide practical information and skills for conducting a successful remote arbitration.

Arbitration Efficiencies
The import of full-fledged discovery and classic court procedures jeopardizes arbitration's promise of lower cost, greater speed, and increased efficiencies. Janice Sperow, Saloni Mavani, and Aaron Gothelf will share ideas to recapture those efficiencies and maintain arbitration's role as a genuinely alternative dispute resolution solution.

Strengthening Advocacy in Virtual and Hybrid Arbitrations
Future arbitrations will likely combine in person and virtual hearings and opportunities for improvements in effective advocacy. This program will examine how advocates, and the arbitrators before whom they will appear, can best take advantage of these changes. The panel will discuss a wide variety of issues that arise in these circumstances.

Arbitration Law Update 2021-22
This program will enable arbitrators and other ADR neutrals and legal counsel to adapt to new directions in arbitration resulting from developments in the applicable law.

Diversity in ADR: Lessons Learned and the Path Forward
Join us to link the lessons of the past (including where the system has come up short) with new, outside-the-box thinking about the future of diversity in ADR.

Safeguarding Confidential Data: What is Our Responsibility in Dispute Resolution?
A core tenet of the dispute resolution process is confidentiality. But what does that mean in an online/hybrid/technological environment? This course will look at the basic steps of the dispute resolution process, and what are practical implementable steps for keeping client/visitor data confidential through a variety of processes and platforms.

Proposed Guidelines for Arbitral Disclosure of Social Media Activity
The absence of a coherent set of principles governing arbitrator disclosure of social media activity jeopardizes the durability of awards and threatens to undermine the integrity of the arbitrator selection process. The program will feature proposed guidelines that should prompt a provocative and important discussion among neutrals and practitioners.

Changing Hats: Ethical Challenges in Mixed Mode Dispute Resolution, or From Med to Arb (or Arb to Med) and Back Again
Join us for an exploration of ethical issues facing neutrals and advocates when dispute resolution involves multiple modes, whether med-arb, arb-med, or other "mixed mode" permutations.

Arbitration Arising from the War in Ukraine: Taking Stock and Looking Ahead
Alongside major humanitarian consequences, Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine has caused significant damage to Ukraine's economy - its infrastructure, its most productive industries, domestic and foreign investments. The discussion will focus on international arbitration as a means to recover resulting economic losses.

Civil Rights

ADA Workplace Accommodations – Managing the Maze
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations. But what does this mean? HR professionals have been inundated with accommodation requests because of COVID-19. Defining reasonable accommodation has confused both employers and employees. This webinar will provide you with a step-by-step approach to answering this challenging question.

Resolving Civil Rights Disputes in the Age of Disruption
Learn to resolve Civil Rights actions through alternative dispute resolution.

Constructive Community Conversations 2: Solution Strategies Roundtable
This meeting style program is a follow-up to the December Constructive Community Conversations event which focused on how to facilitate constructive conversations around the roles of all community members in matters concerning racism, policing and the law. Part 2 will bring back legal, law enforcement and bar association thought leaders to discuss current realities and solutions for healing.

How You Can Prevent Inadvertent Discrimination in Dispute Resolution
Did you know you might accidentally be discriminating in how you send e-mails? Join two published experts who will share data on how bias affects even the smallest aspects of your dispute resolution work practices, and the negative effect it has legally and ethically. They will also give you tools to help you notice disparities, address them, and prevent them in the future.

Arbitration Arising from the War in Ukraine: Taking Stock and Looking Ahead
Alongside major humanitarian consequences, Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine has caused significant damage to Ukraine's economy - its infrastructure, its most productive industries, domestic and foreign investments. The discussion will focus on international arbitration as a means to recover resulting economic losses.

CLE

Stepping into the Future: Ethical Implementation & Best Practices of ChatGPT in Mediation
Join us for an exciting journey into the digital frontier, where artificial intelligence becomes an instrumental ally in the art of mediation. This compelling webinar explores the intersection of traditional mediation and innovative AI technology like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Bard. With a lens firmly set on efficiency and transformative solutions, our esteemed panelists lead the way.

Problem-Solving Approach in Family Law Cases: Alternative Dispute Resolution as Appropriate Dispute Resolution
This program will explore the family law attorney's role in partnering with courts to bring problem-solving and non-adversarial approaches into family law case practicing. You will learn how to reinforce cultural norms around problem-solving, counsel clients on healthy ways of resolving disputes, and encourage courts to provide non-adversarial processes that benefit clients.

Best Practices for a Tri-Partite Arbitration Panel
Tri-Partite Arbitration Panels have become more common as the size of arbitration claims continues to increase necessitating, either by specific ADR Provider Rules or language in an arbitration clause, the use of three arbitrators to resolve disputes. This program explores best practices for arbitrators working together as part of a Tri-Partite Arbitration Panel.

Practical Approaches to Ensure the Neutrality of Party-Appointed Arbitrators
Is a party-appointed arbitrator ever completely neutral - or expected to be? The delicate balance in the party-appointed setting between expectations and ethical obligations can be challenging. Such issues can affect each dispute and arbitration practice overall. This program will discuss practical approaches to dealing with these difficult issues, whether appointing or serving as a neutral.

Let's Get Evaluative...How and When Do We Do It?
Good mediators constantly evaluate what is happening in our cases. And we keep our opinions hidden - or do we? Data shows that mediators regularly convey their viewpoints, indirectly and even unconsciously. We'll show video examples and ask you to discuss in small groups: When do you provide direction to parties? On what topics, using what techniques? Do you ever "leak" a viewpoint?

Nonparty Discovery in US Arbitrations: The Legal Challenges & Differences from Litigation
As more domestic disputes move to arbitration, advocates and neutrals need to know how to properly address nonparty discovery in arbitration, which is very different from court litigation. This program will explain the differences, offer practical tips, and share best practices using both a mock argument and a conversation between two experienced arbitrators who routinely handle these requests.

The Good, Bad and Ugly: The Art of Negotiations Online
Three expert mediator-arbitrators share their best tips for enhancing the process.

Corporate Accountability: A New Lens for the Selection of Diverse Arbitrators and Mediators
ABA Resolution 105 is an accountability measure offered to promote the use of diverse neutrals. As corporations focus on diversity in environmental, social and governance (ESG) measures, corporate counsel adapt and demand diversity to align corporate goals, achieve better outcomes and to limit risk exposure. This panel of in-house counsel offer their perspectives on agility in our new world.

Ethical Issues for Mediators and Arbitrators in the New World
The Corona virus, new technology and declining court resources have come together to create a new virtual world for ADR profession. This new world of virtual communication presents new challenges with respect to the ethical rules mediators and particularly attorney mediators, arbitrators and referees have to face as they navigate a myriad of new rules and circumstances.

The Art of Advocacy and Persuasion in the Modern World
The panel discussion comprised of diverse speakers would focus on communicating, making successful arguments, reading the room, eye contact, tone, humor, anger, emotions, facial expressions and in general expressing yourself in the virtual world and/or when wearing a mask while negotiating and going forward with settlement discussions in order to maximize success.

Arbitration Law 2020 Update
The program will report on 2020 developments in the law affecting arbitration.

The Today and Tomorrow of ADR Research
The ABA Dispute Resolution Section long recognized the importance of multidisciplinary and social science research studying the efficacy of and best practices for ADR. This program brings together researchers to share current projects and ideas intended to inform the reinvention ADR, as well as provides space for others to suggest critiques, resources, and ideas to advance ADR research.

New Ethical Issues That Arise in an Online Arbitration Environment
The online environment for arbitration poses new ethical dilemmas for advocates and arbitrators. Among them: ethically inquiring about potential arbitrators; applying the traditional ethical standards to advocates and online conduct; and arbitrators assuring parties a full and fair opportunity to present their cases when they may prefer and even insist on an in-person opportunity to do so.

Resolving Civil Rights Disputes in the Age of Disruption
Learn to resolve Civil Rights actions through alternative dispute resolution.

Creativity for Crisis: How Can ADR Masters Assist Courts Post-Pandemic?
The unprecedented demands of the pandemic test our creativity. This interactive program will (1) share novel approaches courts have begun using ADR masters to tackle the demands courts have faced from the pandemic, and those they will face from the expected surge in case filings and activity; and (2) stimulate and draw on audience's imagination to assist in this effort.

Notoriously Good Trouble: Dispute Resolution Professionals Continuing the Legacies of Legends, Ruth Bader Ginsberg and John Lewis
This entertaining and inspirational presentation will honor the legacies of Ruth Bader Ginsberg and John Lewis and highlight their messages of equality, diversity and inclusion and how they may be carried forward by dispute resolution professionals. Using the words and actions of the Legends as guidance, the panel will share quotes and anecdotes about them both that can inform our work and lives.

Mediation and Bankruptcy: Pitfalls and Opportunities
Bankruptcy dramatically changes economic relationships and adds a new forum for mediation. Our panel of experts will explore the pitfalls of a bankruptcy during mediation and also the opportunities for creative use of mediation both as an adjunct to a family law case and for civil and business cases within the bankruptcy.

Confidentiality: Is It an Essential Ingredient in a Successful Mediation?
Mediators generally assume that confidentiality is an essential ingredient in a successful mediation. This panel will explore developments that bring the efficacy of mediation confidentiality into question. Jeff Kichaven will challenge the conventional wisdom by questioning whether mediators need confidentiality, and Ana Sambold, Debra Berman, and Homer LaRue will offer different perspectives.

The Post-Pandemic Arbitration: Old School or New Age?
When the COVID-19 vaccination is successful, the world may be returning to normal: airplanes will be filled again with parties and their counsel flying to hearings at arbitral venues throughout the world. Or will they? For the answers about what post-pandemic arbitration will look like, join our blue ribbon panel of nationally-known arbitrators and arbitration attorneys for their insights.

The All-Important Arbitration Preliminary Hearing
Almost all arbitrations begin with a preliminary hearing where the arbitrator & the parties discuss all steps necessary to adjudicate the case, with the goal of assuring a cost-effective & efficient arbitration. This session will address, from the perspectives of both the advocate & the arbitrator, how best to use the preliminary hearing to provide a comprehensive roadmap for the entire process.

Arbitration Discovery and Motion Practice
The increasing use of discovery and motions, including dispositive motions, has caused arbitration to more closely resemble litigation. Many practitioners welcome this trend, while others abhor it. This session will address the appropriate use of discovery and motions in arbitration, and how the arbitrator can act to prevent abusive tactics.

The Arbitration Evidentiary Hearing
This session addresses the A to Z of managing the evidentiary hearing efficiently and fairly including final status conferences, subpoenas, time management, handling objections and the introduction of documents, opening and closing arguments, the when and how of arbitrator questions, and other issues.

Arbitration Awards and Post-Award Issues
The hearing is over. This session will address the best ways to prepare the Award, including dissenting opinions, independent research, post-hearing briefing, punitive damages, attorney's fees, enforcing or challenging the Award and other subjects.

Arbitration Ethics
An interactive session exploring the unique ethical issues facing arbitrators and advocates, with the discussion drawing upon the skill and knowledge of the faculty and attendees.

Remote Arbitration Hearings: A Practicum
There is now an expectation that remote online arbitration will remain an alternative to in-person arbitration even after COVID restrictions are lifted. This roundtable discussion will focus on the advantages and disadvantages of remote arbitration, the future of online arbitration, and provide practical information and skills for conducting a successful remote arbitration.

Using the Mediation Guide to Create and Implement an Efficient and Successful Dispute Resolution Process
Looking for a “one-stop shop” to increase your mediation skills? The Mediation Guide combines mediation theory, process, and strategy to assist mediators in refining the mediation process to more easily facilitate successful dispute resolutions. Join us to learn more!

Early Dispute Resolution - Protocols for Smarter Processes & Swifter Outcomes
Would your clients rather resolve their disputes quickly, economically, and on the merits? Or after a year (or more) of contentious, expensive, time-consuming litigation when they're finally exhausted and need to move on? This expert panel of ADR pioneers and problem solvers will demonstrate how to Make Resolution of Disputes Within 30 Days a Reality with the Early Dispute Resolution Protocols.

Effective 'Presuasion' & Persuasion in Mediated Settlement Negotiations - The Subtle Science Behind Influence
Because all conflict resolution involves people behind negotiations and decision-making, all mediated problem solving is equal part people and problem. Ignoring the people and focusing only on the problem assuredly inures to one's detriment. This plenary explores how psychological dynamics impact negotiations in all phases of mediation.

ODR - The Digital Age of ADR is Here
The shift to online modes of communication and dispute resolution was rapid for most practitioners, but not all. The members of this panel are some of the leading online mediation and ODR experts in the world who have been at the forefront of the field for many years. They will provide a look at online capabilities for practitioners both today and in the future.

Ethics in the Real World - How the ‘Fourth Party' Affects Mediation Ethics
In the best of times, ethics canons for both advocates and mediators are often afterthoughts. In the worst of times, the “Fourth Party” (technology) shines a bright light on some of these standards, especially competence, confidentiality, and process (e)quality. Join us for ethical guidance that is both useful and necessary in navigating the current mediation environment.

International Focus -The Globalization of Mediation
Mediation is increasingly being included in international legal laws and standards. It's most effective amidst growing international political and socio-economic uncertainty and rapidly changing business practices within and post-pandemic. Join us to learn what every legal professional needs to know about alternative dispute resolution in the context of international standards.

Effective Mediation Skills: What You Need to Succeed
Learn the skills of dispute resolution while developing your mediation competency. Explore the stages of mediation and gain a deeper understanding of convening activities, handling opening sessions and navigating the negotiation process, including overcoming impasse. Become a more effective communicator and adept at working in an environment of high emotions.

Strengthening Advocacy in Virtual and Hybrid Arbitrations
Future arbitrations will likely combine in person and virtual hearings and opportunities for improvements in effective advocacy. This program will examine how advocates, and the arbitrators before whom they will appear, can best take advantage of these changes. The panel will discuss a wide variety of issues that arise in these circumstances.

Employment Dispute Resolution Revolution - Online Dispute Resolution at the EEOC
The Covid-19 Pandemic required the EEOC to transition to Online Dispute Resolution ("ODR"). First, external program evaluators will present robust data establishing that ODR is successful across a wide range of measures. Then, a panel of experienced EEOC mediators will address these results. This presentation will raise the issue of whether mediation returns to an in-person format or evolves into new patterns of mediation service.

Arbitration Law Update 2021-22
This program will enable arbitrators and other ADR neutrals and legal counsel to adapt to new directions in arbitration resulting from developments in the applicable law.

Diversity in ADR: Lessons Learned and the Path Forward
Join us to link the lessons of the past (including where the system has come up short) with new, outside-the-box thinking about the future of diversity in ADR.

Industry Self-Regulation ADR as a Tool to Mitigate Litigation
ADR is an efficient way to manage litigation risk, but it is underutilized. This panel will discuss how businesses of all sizes can leverage self-regulatory ADR models to resolve conflicts with both consumers and other businesses directly without going to court. Attendees will learn how to apply best practices from the leading US ADR models to save time, money, and stay out of the courtroom.

Friend, Not Foe: E-Discovery as a Tool for a Successful Mediation
Today, people communicate almost exclusively electronically. Mediators and practitioners often view the exchange of electronically stored information (ESI) as a burden and cost that hinders a successful mediation. This seminar will explore how a cooperative exchange of ESI in mediation can be used to streamline matters, making mediation preferable to the courts, both financially and equitably.

Safeguarding Confidential Data: What is Our Responsibility in Dispute Resolution?
A core tenet of the dispute resolution process is confidentiality. But what does that mean in an online/hybrid/technological environment? This course will look at the basic steps of the dispute resolution process, and what are practical implementable steps for keeping client/visitor data confidential through a variety of processes and platforms.

Ethics in Your Practice: Learn How to Ethically Market Your Practice While Staying Compliant
Like a great opera, avoiding ethics and malpractice issues your practice requires talent and finesse. Learn proven techniques for promoting your practice while staying within the ethics rules, as well as everything you need to know to ethically promote your practice. This program will have an overview of relevant Model Rules of Professional Conduct, ethics opinions, and cases that refer to ethical communication with potential clients, including RPC 7.1.

Lights, Camera, Action: Mediating Online for Mediators and Advocates
Attendees will go behind the scenes of video mediations and arbitrations. They will walk away understanding the rules, ethics, best practices, and may even pick up a few tips along with hardware and software recommendations. The goal is for attendees to feel prepared and comfortable on both sides of the screen.

The First Five Minutes: Maximize the Potential for Success in Mediation
Like many important events, we often win (or lose) the most important people to the process during the first five minutes of a mediation session. Mediators should make intentional decisions about strategy and procedures to ensure a successful mediation. Decisions about whether to convene a pre-mediation meeting, who participates, and whether to include opening statements will shape the mediation.

Insulting First Offers: Why They Are Made and How To Respond
In this highly interactive session, two experienced lawyer-mediators will collaborate with participants to explore options for pre-mediation meetings and ways to begin a mediation session. We will begin by considering how processes included in appreciative inquiry, narrative conflict theory, and conscious curiosity may impact the mediation structure. Then, through a facilitated discussion and short role-play, participants will discover how to make those first five minutes effective and powerful within their individual mediation style.

Can I Ask That? The Ethics and Practice of Assessing Capacity to Mediate
How can mediators ensure party capacity without compromising their impartiality? Historically, many have associated capacity deficits with specific contexts such as abuse, disability, and intoxication. This session will teach mediators how to assess capacity based on observed behaviors without acting on stereotypes based on the party's situation.

Proposed Guidelines for Arbitral Disclosure of Social Media Activity
The absence of a coherent set of principles governing arbitrator disclosure of social media activity jeopardizes the durability of awards and threatens to undermine the integrity of the arbitrator selection process. The program will feature proposed guidelines that should prompt a provocative and important discussion among neutrals and practitioners.

How Attorneys Can Join ADR Providers in Prioritizing Diversity
We know diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are important in the legal profession, and promoting diversity in ADR should be no exception. Learn about programs attorneys can support that promote diversity in the ADR profession as well as what the major ADR providers are doing to encourage clients to use neutrals from diverse backgrounds on their cases.

Impasse Management Unpacked! (Pt. 2) – Really Useful Analytical Tools
The panel will present litigation forecasting approaches using a simple online outcomes-forecasting tool that can be useful to practicing mediators, advocates, and party decision makers alike.

Impasse Management Unpacked! (Pt. 1) - Effective Emotional Interventions
Join us for an exploration of the emotional dimension of impasse, including cognitive barriers to agreement and effective interventions to manage the psychological condition popularly referred to as "amygdala on overdrive."

Changing Hats: Ethical Challenges in Mixed Mode Dispute Resolution, or From Med to Arb (or Arb to Med) and Back Again
Join us for an exploration of ethical issues facing neutrals and advocates when dispute resolution involves multiple modes, whether med-arb, arb-med, or other "mixed mode" permutations.

Technology in Practice: ODR and More
Join us to learn how to select which technology to use that best fits your dispute resolution practice needs and gain advance knowledge of what technology will be available in the future.

Mediation Around the World: Leveraging our Shared Experiences for a Brighter Future
Learn from a panel of international experts about what's new in global mediation trends, as well as challenges to expect and opportunities to further build and connect the field globally.

Co-Mediation: How Do You Ensure that Two Heads Really Are Better Than One?
Co-mediation is valuable to mediators of all experience levels because it provides them opportunities to learn from one another, expand their practice areas, and broaden their skills. However, it can invite complications if co-mediators can't work well together. Join us to hear from experienced co-mediators about what works, what doesn't, and how best to avoid foreseeable pitfalls.

Collaborative Law

Industry Self-Regulation ADR as a Tool to Mitigate Litigation
ADR is an efficient way to manage litigation risk, but it is underutilized. This panel will discuss how businesses of all sizes can leverage self-regulatory ADR models to resolve conflicts with both consumers and other businesses directly without going to court. Attendees will learn how to apply best practices from the leading US ADR models to save time, money, and stay out of the courtroom.

Eviction Mediation in a Time of Crisis and Pandemic
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, landlord-tenant disputes, and the interest in mediation as a response, have increased significantly. Join our panel of experts and learn how early mediation reduces evictions and takes pressure off the courts, how to handle power imbalances between Landlord and Tenant, and how Tenants and Landlords can access rental relief programs throughout the country.

Leading Change: How ADR Can Address Affordable Housing Disputes
Has your community been impacted by affordable housing disputes? In many communities, the subject of developing affordable housing generates a range of reactions, from supportive to destructive. This webinar will help you identify dispute resolution strategies and approaches to consensus building and developing collaboration with the public about affordable housing development.

Commercial

Writing Reasoned Awards in Commercial Arbitration: Beyond the Basics
Once you are selected as an arbitrator, the actions that you take or do not take may impact whether the award will be subject to a challenge. The webinar will guide you through the process. You will learn about different types of awards, the need for disclosure, how the contract affects the award, tips for drafting and how to protect an award from a potential challenge.

Communication

Transcending Intractable Conflict
Transcending intractable arguments is never easy. Supporting clients to view mediation as a dance rather than a boxing match can help bring even the most heated discussions to peaceful resolution. This program will provide practitioners simple tools to help parties unmask untold stories that ultimately will help resolve even the most entrenched conflicts in unexpected ways.

Community Dialogue

Taking Ombuds / Mediation Skills to the Protest
Activism seeks to cause discomfort, demonstrate opposition, and highlight differences while ombudsing / mediation seeks to facilitate a collective approach that focuses on shared interests and goals. Is the work of ombuds and mediators as compared to activism contradictory? Or could they somehow work together to solve these deep-rooted societal issues?

Constructive Community Conversations 2: Solution Strategies Roundtable
This meeting style program is a follow-up to the December Constructive Community Conversations event which focused on how to facilitate constructive conversations around the roles of all community members in matters concerning racism, policing and the law. Part 2 will bring back legal, law enforcement and bar association thought leaders to discuss current realities and solutions for healing.

The Mediator's Role in De-escalating Public Debate: A View from Mediators Beyond Borders International (MBBI)
How can you as a mediator help efforts to build community cohesion around the world? Learn about Mediators Beyond Borders International, their mission to build local skills for peace and promote mediation worldwide, and their partnership to form the Trust Network, a broad U.S. network designed to prevent violent conflict and build community cohesion.

Mediation in a Time of Crisis
Kenneth Cloke, a world-recognized pioneer and leader in the field of mediation and conflict resolution, discusses how we as mediators can shift the way we think and act in times of increasing conflict and crisis.

Leading Change: How ADR Can Address Affordable Housing Disputes
Has your community been impacted by affordable housing disputes? In many communities, the subject of developing affordable housing generates a range of reactions, from supportive to destructive. This webinar will help you identify dispute resolution strategies and approaches to consensus building and developing collaboration with the public about affordable housing development.

Court ADR

Problem-Solving Approach in Family Law Cases: Alternative Dispute Resolution as Appropriate Dispute Resolution
This program will explore the family law attorney's role in partnering with courts to bring problem-solving and non-adversarial approaches into family law case practicing. You will learn how to reinforce cultural norms around problem-solving, counsel clients on healthy ways of resolving disputes, and encourage courts to provide non-adversarial processes that benefit clients.

The Today and Tomorrow of ADR Research
The ABA Dispute Resolution Section long recognized the importance of multidisciplinary and social science research studying the efficacy of and best practices for ADR. This program brings together researchers to share current projects and ideas intended to inform the reinvention ADR, as well as provides space for others to suggest critiques, resources, and ideas to advance ADR research.

Creativity for Crisis: How Can ADR Masters Assist Courts Post-Pandemic?
The unprecedented demands of the pandemic test our creativity. This interactive program will (1) share novel approaches courts have begun using ADR masters to tackle the demands courts have faced from the pandemic, and those they will face from the expected surge in case filings and activity; and (2) stimulate and draw on audience's imagination to assist in this effort.

Dispute Systems Design

Creativity for Crisis: How Can ADR Masters Assist Courts Post-Pandemic?
The unprecedented demands of the pandemic test our creativity. This interactive program will (1) share novel approaches courts have begun using ADR masters to tackle the demands courts have faced from the pandemic, and those they will face from the expected surge in case filings and activity; and (2) stimulate and draw on audience's imagination to assist in this effort.

Dispute Prevention: From Reaction to Proaction
As more businesses and employers seek to avoid the costs of litigation, they have begun to add another tool to their arsenal besides mediation and arbitration: dispute prevention. This session will examine dispute prevention. What is it? How do you implement it? What does it have to do with arbitration?

Resolving Disputes with Assemblies and Deliberative Bodies: Let's Vote and Move on With It!
Do you serve clients that meet as associations, societies, boards, and other deliberative bodies? Join us to understand the legal landscape of the law of business meetings - a crucial aspect of helping these types of clients reach their goals.

Can I Ask That? The Ethics and Practice of Assessing Capacity to Mediate
How can mediators ensure party capacity without compromising their impartiality? Historically, many have associated capacity deficits with specific contexts such as abuse, disability, and intoxication. This session will teach mediators how to assess capacity based on observed behaviors without acting on stereotypes based on the party's situation.

Forgetting and Choosing Remembrance: Evolving Toward a Responsive ADR Practice
How can the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) industry respond to today's society's high conflict reality and resolution needs? Presenters will provide background on the industry's history and how the field got to where it is today. Join us to discuss future areas of growth for the field in responding to conflict support needs in all arenas.

Why Your Company Needs an Organizational Ombuds Program to Succeed
Are you a company decision-maker who is looking to create a psychologically safe workplace that fosters trust and collaboration while reducing quiet quitting? Join us to learn how an Ombuds program may be just what you need. Not sure what an Ombuds program is? That's ok! We'll tell you everything you need to know about a powerful, transformative new tool to benefit your organization.

Diversity

American Arbitration Association Higginbotham Fellows Program Roundtable
Mentorship and networking are crucial ways to ensure diverse members of any workforce get the proper tools to succeed. Join us as we highlight one such effort to create these opportunities in the dispute resolution field: the AAA Higginbotham Fellows Program. Learn how you could benefit from this program or bring its inclusion efforts to your own workplace.

Corporate Accountability: A New Lens for the Selection of Diverse Arbitrators and Mediators
ABA Resolution 105 is an accountability measure offered to promote the use of diverse neutrals. As corporations focus on diversity in environmental, social and governance (ESG) measures, corporate counsel adapt and demand diversity to align corporate goals, achieve better outcomes and to limit risk exposure. This panel of in-house counsel offer their perspectives on agility in our new world.

Notoriously Good Trouble: Dispute Resolution Professionals Continuing the Legacies of Legends, Ruth Bader Ginsberg and John Lewis
This entertaining and inspirational presentation will honor the legacies of Ruth Bader Ginsberg and John Lewis and highlight their messages of equality, diversity and inclusion and how they may be carried forward by dispute resolution professionals. Using the words and actions of the Legends as guidance, the panel will share quotes and anecdotes about them both that can inform our work and lives.

Diversity in ADR: Lessons Learned and the Path Forward
Join us to link the lessons of the past (including where the system has come up short) with new, outside-the-box thinking about the future of diversity in ADR.

How Attorneys Can Join ADR Providers in Prioritizing Diversity
We know diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are important in the legal profession, and promoting diversity in ADR should be no exception. Learn about programs attorneys can support that promote diversity in the ADR profession as well as what the major ADR providers are doing to encourage clients to use neutrals from diverse backgrounds on their cases.

How You Can Prevent Inadvertent Discrimination in Dispute Resolution
Did you know you might accidentally be discriminating in how you send e-mails? Join two published experts who will share data on how bias affects even the smallest aspects of your dispute resolution work practices, and the negative effect it has legally and ethically. They will also give you tools to help you notice disparities, address them, and prevent them in the future.

Early Career

American Arbitration Association Higginbotham Fellows Program Roundtable
Mentorship and networking are crucial ways to ensure diverse members of any workforce get the proper tools to succeed. Join us as we highlight one such effort to create these opportunities in the dispute resolution field: the AAA Higginbotham Fellows Program. Learn how you could benefit from this program or bring its inclusion efforts to your own workplace.

The Many Roads to ADR: The Volunteer Experience, Doing Well by Doing Good
The journey as a dispute resolution professional varies for many. In this first session of a multi-part series, we will examine one path through the industry - volunteer involvement. Panelists will focus on opportunities to gain experience, credentials and contacts by doing volunteer ADR work.

The Many Roads to ADR: ADR Jobs in Organizations
This is the second in a series sponsored by the Membership Committee that is free to nonmembers. This panel will discuss experience in obtaining full time employment as an ADR professional within an organization and provide tips for participants looking for such jobs.

The Many Roads to ADR: ADR as a Second Career
Are you a lawyer or judge considering a career change to alternative dispute resolution (ADR)? Not sure where to start? Join our expert panelists to hear how they each made ADR a second career and what they wish they knew along the way.

Mediation Career Opportunities: What Law Students Should Know
Law students: Have you learned about mediation in school but wondered if you could really make it into a career? Let us show you how with panelists who have done it themselves. This free webinar will walk you through how to set yourself up for success while still in school, and the wide range of possible career paths in mediation.

Early Dispute Resolution

Dispute Prevention: From Reaction to Proaction
As more businesses and employers seek to avoid the costs of litigation, they have begun to add another tool to their arsenal besides mediation and arbitration: dispute prevention. This session will examine dispute prevention. What is it? How do you implement it? What does it have to do with arbitration?

Early Dispute Resolution - Protocols for Smarter Processes & Swifter Outcomes
Would your clients rather resolve their disputes quickly, economically, and on the merits? Or after a year (or more) of contentious, expensive, time-consuming litigation when they're finally exhausted and need to move on? This expert panel of ADR pioneers and problem solvers will demonstrate how to Make Resolution of Disputes Within 30 Days a Reality with the Early Dispute Resolution Protocols.

2022 Mediation Week Event: Winning from the Beginning
Whether you're a mediator, an in-house lawyer, or outside counsel, join us to celebrate Mediation Week by learning from high-profile practitioners on how to better prepare for and improve your odds for a successful mediation by using Early Dispute Resolution (EDR).

Employment/Labor

ADA Workplace Accommodations – Managing the Maze
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations. But what does this mean? HR professionals have been inundated with accommodation requests because of COVID-19. Defining reasonable accommodation has confused both employers and employees. This webinar will provide you with a step-by-step approach to answering this challenging question.

Best Practices and Considerations for ADR Practitioners for Addressing Health Issues in the Workplace in the COVID-Era
The COVID-19 pandemic has forever changed how we work. How are your organizations adapting to these fluid times? What is your response to issues, i.e., remote working vs. a hybrid-model; social distancing protocols; mental health concerns; or vaccination and testing policies? This program is designed to address workplace conflicts attributable to COVID-related and intensified health issues.

Employment Dispute Resolution Revolution - Online Dispute Resolution at the EEOC
The Covid-19 Pandemic required the EEOC to transition to Online Dispute Resolution ("ODR"). First, external program evaluators will present robust data establishing that ODR is successful across a wide range of measures. Then, a panel of experienced EEOC mediators will address these results. This presentation will raise the issue of whether mediation returns to an in-person format or evolves into new patterns of mediation service.

Why Your Company Needs an Organizational Ombuds Program to Succeed
Are you a company decision-maker who is looking to create a psychologically safe workplace that fosters trust and collaboration while reducing quiet quitting? Join us to learn how an Ombuds program may be just what you need. Not sure what an Ombuds program is? That's ok! We'll tell you everything you need to know about a powerful, transformative new tool to benefit your organization.

Ethics

Stepping into the Future: Ethical Implementation & Best Practices of ChatGPT in Mediation
Join us for an exciting journey into the digital frontier, where artificial intelligence becomes an instrumental ally in the art of mediation. This compelling webinar explores the intersection of traditional mediation and innovative AI technology like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Bard. With a lens firmly set on efficiency and transformative solutions, our esteemed panelists lead the way.

Ethical Issues for Mediators and Arbitrators in the New World
The Corona virus, new technology and declining court resources have come together to create a new virtual world for ADR profession. This new world of virtual communication presents new challenges with respect to the ethical rules mediators and particularly attorney mediators, arbitrators and referees have to face as they navigate a myriad of new rules and circumstances.

New Ethical Issues That Arise in an Online Arbitration Environment
The online environment for arbitration poses new ethical dilemmas for advocates and arbitrators. Among them: ethically inquiring about potential arbitrators; applying the traditional ethical standards to advocates and online conduct; and arbitrators assuring parties a full and fair opportunity to present their cases when they may prefer and even insist on an in-person opportunity to do so.

Confidentiality: Is It an Essential Ingredient in a Successful Mediation?
Mediators generally assume that confidentiality is an essential ingredient in a successful mediation. This panel will explore developments that bring the efficacy of mediation confidentiality into question. Jeff Kichaven will challenge the conventional wisdom by questioning whether mediators need confidentiality, and Ana Sambold, Debra Berman, and Homer LaRue will offer different perspectives.

Arbitration Ethics
An interactive session exploring the unique ethical issues facing arbitrators and advocates, with the discussion drawing upon the skill and knowledge of the faculty and attendees.

Ethics in the Real World - How the ‘Fourth Party' Affects Mediation Ethics
In the best of times, ethics canons for both advocates and mediators are often afterthoughts. In the worst of times, the “Fourth Party” (technology) shines a bright light on some of these standards, especially competence, confidentiality, and process (e)quality. Join us for ethical guidance that is both useful and necessary in navigating the current mediation environment.

Safeguarding Confidential Data: What is Our Responsibility in Dispute Resolution?
A core tenet of the dispute resolution process is confidentiality. But what does that mean in an online/hybrid/technological environment? This course will look at the basic steps of the dispute resolution process, and what are practical implementable steps for keeping client/visitor data confidential through a variety of processes and platforms.

Ethics in Your Practice: Learn How to Ethically Market Your Practice While Staying Compliant
Like a great opera, avoiding ethics and malpractice issues your practice requires talent and finesse. Learn proven techniques for promoting your practice while staying within the ethics rules, as well as everything you need to know to ethically promote your practice. This program will have an overview of relevant Model Rules of Professional Conduct, ethics opinions, and cases that refer to ethical communication with potential clients, including RPC 7.1.

Can I Ask That? The Ethics and Practice of Assessing Capacity to Mediate
How can mediators ensure party capacity without compromising their impartiality? Historically, many have associated capacity deficits with specific contexts such as abuse, disability, and intoxication. This session will teach mediators how to assess capacity based on observed behaviors without acting on stereotypes based on the party's situation.

Proposed Guidelines for Arbitral Disclosure of Social Media Activity
The absence of a coherent set of principles governing arbitrator disclosure of social media activity jeopardizes the durability of awards and threatens to undermine the integrity of the arbitrator selection process. The program will feature proposed guidelines that should prompt a provocative and important discussion among neutrals and practitioners.

Changing Hats: Ethical Challenges in Mixed Mode Dispute Resolution, or From Med to Arb (or Arb to Med) and Back Again
Join us for an exploration of ethical issues facing neutrals and advocates when dispute resolution involves multiple modes, whether med-arb, arb-med, or other "mixed mode" permutations.

How You Can Prevent Inadvertent Discrimination in Dispute Resolution
Did you know you might accidentally be discriminating in how you send e-mails? Join two published experts who will share data on how bias affects even the smallest aspects of your dispute resolution work practices, and the negative effect it has legally and ethically. They will also give you tools to help you notice disparities, address them, and prevent them in the future.

Facilitation

Transcending Intractable Conflict
Transcending intractable arguments is never easy. Supporting clients to view mediation as a dance rather than a boxing match can help bring even the most heated discussions to peaceful resolution. This program will provide practitioners simple tools to help parties unmask untold stories that ultimately will help resolve even the most entrenched conflicts in unexpected ways.

Help Clients by Combining “Facilitative” and “Evaluative” Mediation
Do you want to help clients by ethically and appropriately combining "facilitative" and "evaluative" mediation techniques? Professor John Lande will describe how you can do this based on his new ABA book, Litigation Interest and Risk Assessment: Help Your Clients Make Good Litigation Decisions, co-authored with Michaela Keet and Heather Heavin.

Family

Problem-Solving Approach in Family Law Cases: Alternative Dispute Resolution as Appropriate Dispute Resolution
This program will explore the family law attorney's role in partnering with courts to bring problem-solving and non-adversarial approaches into family law case practicing. You will learn how to reinforce cultural norms around problem-solving, counsel clients on healthy ways of resolving disputes, and encourage courts to provide non-adversarial processes that benefit clients.

Elder Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation Screening Guidelines for Elder Mediations
Abuse, neglect, and exploitation can be unfortunate realities for the elder population. How do you screen for it during a mediation and what are your options for intervention? Panelists will present guidelines developed by the ABA Dispute Resolution Section Task Force on Screening for Elder Abuse and Neglect for Mediators. Join us to ensure maximum protection of elders in the mediation process.

Family-Centered Care: A Model for Mediation of Family Disputes
This webinar will introduce family and elder law attorneys and mediators to the concept of family-centered care and how it can be applied to the resolution of family disputes. Sarah J. Gross, attorney & mediator, will explain how family centered care applies to effectively resolve caregiving, eldercare, and multi-party family disputes.

Free to all

The Many Roads to ADR: The Volunteer Experience, Doing Well by Doing Good
The journey as a dispute resolution professional varies for many. In this first session of a multi-part series, we will examine one path through the industry - volunteer involvement. Panelists will focus on opportunities to gain experience, credentials and contacts by doing volunteer ADR work.

The Many Roads to ADR: ADR Jobs in Organizations
This is the second in a series sponsored by the Membership Committee that is free to nonmembers. This panel will discuss experience in obtaining full time employment as an ADR professional within an organization and provide tips for participants looking for such jobs.

Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: Opening the Floodgates of International Disputes
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine set in motion wide-ranging humanitarian, economic and legal repercussions that go beyond borders. The crisis is still unfolding, spurring on a new wave of international disputes. The discussion will focus on the legal avenues pursued in international courts and tribunals against the Russian Federation by Ukraine, its nationals, and other affected parties.

The Many Roads to ADR: ADR as a Second Career
Are you a lawyer or judge considering a career change to alternative dispute resolution (ADR)? Not sure where to start? Join our expert panelists to hear how they each made ADR a second career and what they wish they knew along the way.

Free to DR members

Taking Ombuds / Mediation Skills to the Protest
Activism seeks to cause discomfort, demonstrate opposition, and highlight differences while ombudsing / mediation seeks to facilitate a collective approach that focuses on shared interests and goals. Is the work of ombuds and mediators as compared to activism contradictory? Or could they somehow work together to solve these deep-rooted societal issues?

Elder Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation Screening Guidelines for Elder Mediations
Abuse, neglect, and exploitation can be unfortunate realities for the elder population. How do you screen for it during a mediation and what are your options for intervention? Panelists will present guidelines developed by the ABA Dispute Resolution Section Task Force on Screening for Elder Abuse and Neglect for Mediators. Join us to ensure maximum protection of elders in the mediation process.

Writing Reasoned Awards in Commercial Arbitration: Beyond the Basics
Once you are selected as an arbitrator, the actions that you take or do not take may impact whether the award will be subject to a challenge. The webinar will guide you through the process. You will learn about different types of awards, the need for disclosure, how the contract affects the award, tips for drafting and how to protect an award from a potential challenge.

Dispositive Motion Practice in Arbitration: The Tide is Rising
Parties in arbitration proceedings are increasingly requesting and filing dispositive motions, thus arbitrators are increasingly being presented with dispositive motions in the proceedings over which they are presiding. With that, it has never been more important for arbitrators to be well versed in the objectives, applicable rules, procedures, and best practices relating to dispositive motions.

American Arbitration Association Higginbotham Fellows Program Roundtable
Mentorship and networking are crucial ways to ensure diverse members of any workforce get the proper tools to succeed. Join us as we highlight one such effort to create these opportunities in the dispute resolution field: the AAA Higginbotham Fellows Program. Learn how you could benefit from this program or bring its inclusion efforts to your own workplace.

Transcending Intractable Conflict
Transcending intractable arguments is never easy. Supporting clients to view mediation as a dance rather than a boxing match can help bring even the most heated discussions to peaceful resolution. This program will provide practitioners simple tools to help parties unmask untold stories that ultimately will help resolve even the most entrenched conflicts in unexpected ways.

Cybersecurity: Safeguarding Case Data
The protection and privacy of customer and case-related information should be a top priority for all dispute resolution professionals. Join us for an insightful discussion with cybersecurity thought leaders Diana Didia, SVP and CIO at the American Arbitration Association, and Gary Benton of the Silicon Valley Arbitration & Mediation Center on what you need to do to keep information safe.

ADA Workplace Accommodations – Managing the Maze
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations. But what does this mean? HR professionals have been inundated with accommodation requests because of COVID-19. Defining reasonable accommodation has confused both employers and employees. This webinar will provide you with a step-by-step approach to answering this challenging question.

Help Clients by Combining “Facilitative” and “Evaluative” Mediation
Do you want to help clients by ethically and appropriately combining "facilitative" and "evaluative" mediation techniques? Professor John Lande will describe how you can do this based on his new ABA book, Litigation Interest and Risk Assessment: Help Your Clients Make Good Litigation Decisions, co-authored with Michaela Keet and Heather Heavin.

Arbitration of "Surprise" (Out of Network) Medical Bills
Several states now provide for the arbitration of disputes regarding medical bills from a provider who is not covered by a patient's insurance policy. Often these "surprise" bills pertain to emergency medical services. This webinar explains how two of these programs operate and examines how effective arbitration is in this context.

Constructive Community Conversations 2: Solution Strategies Roundtable
This meeting style program is a follow-up to the December Constructive Community Conversations event which focused on how to facilitate constructive conversations around the roles of all community members in matters concerning racism, policing and the law. Part 2 will bring back legal, law enforcement and bar association thought leaders to discuss current realities and solutions for healing.

Family-Centered Care: A Model for Mediation of Family Disputes
This webinar will introduce family and elder law attorneys and mediators to the concept of family-centered care and how it can be applied to the resolution of family disputes. Sarah J. Gross, attorney & mediator, will explain how family centered care applies to effectively resolve caregiving, eldercare, and multi-party family disputes.

Dispute Prevention: From Reaction to Proaction
As more businesses and employers seek to avoid the costs of litigation, they have begun to add another tool to their arsenal besides mediation and arbitration: dispute prevention. This session will examine dispute prevention. What is it? How do you implement it? What does it have to do with arbitration?

Resolving Disputes with Assemblies and Deliberative Bodies: Let's Vote and Move on With It!
Do you serve clients that meet as associations, societies, boards, and other deliberative bodies? Join us to understand the legal landscape of the law of business meetings - a crucial aspect of helping these types of clients reach their goals.

Strategic Representation in Mediation
Too often lawyers leave the success of a mediation up to the mediator. This program is intended to empower counsel to have greater influence on the outcome of mediations. Two experienced mediators with extensive litigation backgrounds will share strategies and techniques to help you improve results when using mediation.

2021 Dispute Resolution Ombuds Day Event
Conflict is inevitable. Ombuds/ombudsman can help you handle conflict effectively. Our Ombuds Day 2021 panelists discuss how ombuds/ombudsman provide a unique resource for addressing conflict—no matter the setting or type. Join us to recognize the fourth annual Ombuds Day on October 14, 2021 and learn more!

Mediation Advocacy: What Litigators Need to Know
Litigators and dispute resolution professionals: join this program to learn all you need to know to conduct a successful mediation. You will gain needed insight regarding the benefits of mediation and walk through those steps necessary to ensure success. You will leave with a toolkit of information applicable to all your future mediations, regardless of the claims and issues involved.

What Do Counsel and Mediators (Really) Want From Each Other?
A candid conversation among two counsel - one in-house, one outside - and two mediators about what each wants from the other in a mediation, to improve the mediation process from the perspectives of both mediators and counsel.

You Help Others, But Who Helps You? Introducing ADR Notable
This interactive webinar will introduce you to a new emerging legal technology that can help you bring automation to the management of your cases. ADR Notable is a comprehensive mediation software platform designed especially for dispute resolution professionals. Participants will learn how best to manage their tasks at every stage of the dispute resolution process in a digital online context.

Best Practices and Considerations for ADR Practitioners for Addressing Health Issues in the Workplace in the COVID-Era
The COVID-19 pandemic has forever changed how we work. How are your organizations adapting to these fluid times? What is your response to issues, i.e., remote working vs. a hybrid-model; social distancing protocols; mental health concerns; or vaccination and testing policies? This program is designed to address workplace conflicts attributable to COVID-related and intensified health issues.

Overcoming Conflict with Co-Mediation
This webinar will explore co-mediation as a way to leverage subject matter experts for facilitation of dispute resolution in complex cases. Attendees will hear legal, claims and ADR professionals in a 360-degree discussion about collaborative conciliation.

Arbitration Efficiencies
The import of full-fledged discovery and classic court procedures jeopardizes arbitration's promise of lower cost, greater speed, and increased efficiencies. Janice Sperow, Saloni Mavani, and Aaron Gothelf will share ideas to recapture those efficiencies and maintain arbitration's role as a genuinely alternative dispute resolution solution.

The Mediator's Role in De-escalating Public Debate: A View from Mediators Beyond Borders International (MBBI)
How can you as a mediator help efforts to build community cohesion around the world? Learn about Mediators Beyond Borders International, their mission to build local skills for peace and promote mediation worldwide, and their partnership to form the Trust Network, a broad U.S. network designed to prevent violent conflict and build community cohesion.

Developing Dispute Resolution Practitioners and ADR Leaders: Mentorship, Apprenticeship, Coaching, and Other Approaches
This roundtable will bring together practitioners, educators, dispute resolution program administrators, and other members of the DR community to explore how to expand our field through the development of new practitioners.

Building a Mediation Practice from Scratch
Come hear how Alyson Carrel, Michael Aurit, and Lynn Cohn have built successful private mediation practices outside traditional routes. This presentation will dispel the myth that the only path to becoming a successful mediator involves being a retired judge, joining an ADR Provider, or having a noteworthy career as a trial attorney.

The Many Roads to ADR: The Volunteer Experience, Doing Well by Doing Good
The journey as a dispute resolution professional varies for many. In this first session of a multi-part series, we will examine one path through the industry - volunteer involvement. Panelists will focus on opportunities to gain experience, credentials and contacts by doing volunteer ADR work.

Eviction Mediation in a Time of Crisis and Pandemic
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, landlord-tenant disputes, and the interest in mediation as a response, have increased significantly. Join our panel of experts and learn how early mediation reduces evictions and takes pressure off the courts, how to handle power imbalances between Landlord and Tenant, and how Tenants and Landlords can access rental relief programs throughout the country.

Forgetting and Choosing Remembrance: Evolving Toward a Responsive ADR Practice
How can the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) industry respond to today's society's high conflict reality and resolution needs? Presenters will provide background on the industry's history and how the field got to where it is today. Join us to discuss future areas of growth for the field in responding to conflict support needs in all arenas.

The Many Roads to ADR: ADR Jobs in Organizations
This is the second in a series sponsored by the Membership Committee that is free to nonmembers. This panel will discuss experience in obtaining full time employment as an ADR professional within an organization and provide tips for participants looking for such jobs.

Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: Opening the Floodgates of International Disputes
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine set in motion wide-ranging humanitarian, economic and legal repercussions that go beyond borders. The crisis is still unfolding, spurring on a new wave of international disputes. The discussion will focus on the legal avenues pursued in international courts and tribunals against the Russian Federation by Ukraine, its nationals, and other affected parties.

Captivating Conversations that Connect and Convert: Best Practices for Marketing Your ADR Practice Online
Online platforms are now the norm in the ADR profession. Are you a part of the online-first generation, or do you still feel like you're catching up on how to get your name out via the internet? No matter where you're starting from, join us to learn how to develop the best online marketing strategy for your ADR practice.

The Many Roads to ADR: ADR as a Second Career
Are you a lawyer or judge considering a career change to alternative dispute resolution (ADR)? Not sure where to start? Join our expert panelists to hear how they each made ADR a second career and what they wish they knew along the way.

2022 Ombuds Day Event - Ombuds: Resilience, Respect, Resolve
Ombuds are impartial conflict management professionals in a wide variety of organizations. Attendees will hear from ombuds with a broad spectrum of experiences and explore paths to and through ombudsing. Join us if you are interested in an ombuds career or if you simply want to learn more about the profession!

2022 Mediation Week Event: Winning from the Beginning
Whether you're a mediator, an in-house lawyer, or outside counsel, join us to celebrate Mediation Week by learning from high-profile practitioners on how to better prepare for and improve your odds for a successful mediation by using Early Dispute Resolution (EDR).

Mediation Career Opportunities: What Law Students Should Know
Law students: Have you learned about mediation in school but wondered if you could really make it into a career? Let us show you how with panelists who have done it themselves. This free webinar will walk you through how to set yourself up for success while still in school, and the wide range of possible career paths in mediation.

How You Can Prevent Inadvertent Discrimination in Dispute Resolution
Did you know you might accidentally be discriminating in how you send e-mails? Join two published experts who will share data on how bias affects even the smallest aspects of your dispute resolution work practices, and the negative effect it has legally and ethically. They will also give you tools to help you notice disparities, address them, and prevent them in the future.

Leading Change: How ADR Can Address Affordable Housing Disputes
Has your community been impacted by affordable housing disputes? In many communities, the subject of developing affordable housing generates a range of reactions, from supportive to destructive. This webinar will help you identify dispute resolution strategies and approaches to consensus building and developing collaboration with the public about affordable housing development.

Why Your Company Needs an Organizational Ombuds Program to Succeed
Are you a company decision-maker who is looking to create a psychologically safe workplace that fosters trust and collaboration while reducing quiet quitting? Join us to learn how an Ombuds program may be just what you need. Not sure what an Ombuds program is? That's ok! We'll tell you everything you need to know about a powerful, transformative new tool to benefit your organization.

Arbitration Arising from the War in Ukraine: Taking Stock and Looking Ahead
Alongside major humanitarian consequences, Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine has caused significant damage to Ukraine's economy - its infrastructure, its most productive industries, domestic and foreign investments. The discussion will focus on international arbitration as a means to recover resulting economic losses.

Health Care

ADA Workplace Accommodations – Managing the Maze
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations. But what does this mean? HR professionals have been inundated with accommodation requests because of COVID-19. Defining reasonable accommodation has confused both employers and employees. This webinar will provide you with a step-by-step approach to answering this challenging question.

Arbitration of "Surprise" (Out of Network) Medical Bills
Several states now provide for the arbitration of disputes regarding medical bills from a provider who is not covered by a patient's insurance policy. Often these "surprise" bills pertain to emergency medical services. This webinar explains how two of these programs operate and examines how effective arbitration is in this context.

Best Practices and Considerations for ADR Practitioners for Addressing Health Issues in the Workplace in the COVID-Era
The COVID-19 pandemic has forever changed how we work. How are your organizations adapting to these fluid times? What is your response to issues, i.e., remote working vs. a hybrid-model; social distancing protocols; mental health concerns; or vaccination and testing policies? This program is designed to address workplace conflicts attributable to COVID-related and intensified health issues.

Insurance

Arbitration of "Surprise" (Out of Network) Medical Bills
Several states now provide for the arbitration of disputes regarding medical bills from a provider who is not covered by a patient's insurance policy. Often these "surprise" bills pertain to emergency medical services. This webinar explains how two of these programs operate and examines how effective arbitration is in this context.

International

International Focus -The Globalization of Mediation
Mediation is increasingly being included in international legal laws and standards. It's most effective amidst growing international political and socio-economic uncertainty and rapidly changing business practices within and post-pandemic. Join us to learn what every legal professional needs to know about alternative dispute resolution in the context of international standards.

The Mediator's Role in De-escalating Public Debate: A View from Mediators Beyond Borders International (MBBI)
How can you as a mediator help efforts to build community cohesion around the world? Learn about Mediators Beyond Borders International, their mission to build local skills for peace and promote mediation worldwide, and their partnership to form the Trust Network, a broad U.S. network designed to prevent violent conflict and build community cohesion.

Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: Opening the Floodgates of International Disputes
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine set in motion wide-ranging humanitarian, economic and legal repercussions that go beyond borders. The crisis is still unfolding, spurring on a new wave of international disputes. The discussion will focus on the legal avenues pursued in international courts and tribunals against the Russian Federation by Ukraine, its nationals, and other affected parties.

Mediation Around the World: Leveraging our Shared Experiences for a Brighter Future
Learn from a panel of international experts about what's new in global mediation trends, as well as challenges to expect and opportunities to further build and connect the field globally.

Arbitration Arising from the War in Ukraine: Taking Stock and Looking Ahead
Alongside major humanitarian consequences, Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine has caused significant damage to Ukraine's economy - its infrastructure, its most productive industries, domestic and foreign investments. The discussion will focus on international arbitration as a means to recover resulting economic losses.

Legal Education

The Today and Tomorrow of ADR Research
The ABA Dispute Resolution Section long recognized the importance of multidisciplinary and social science research studying the efficacy of and best practices for ADR. This program brings together researchers to share current projects and ideas intended to inform the reinvention ADR, as well as provides space for others to suggest critiques, resources, and ideas to advance ADR research.

Developing Dispute Resolution Practitioners and ADR Leaders: Mentorship, Apprenticeship, Coaching, and Other Approaches
This roundtable will bring together practitioners, educators, dispute resolution program administrators, and other members of the DR community to explore how to expand our field through the development of new practitioners.

Litigation

Mediation Advocacy: What Litigators Need to Know
Litigators and dispute resolution professionals: join this program to learn all you need to know to conduct a successful mediation. You will gain needed insight regarding the benefits of mediation and walk through those steps necessary to ensure success. You will leave with a toolkit of information applicable to all your future mediations, regardless of the claims and issues involved.

What Do Counsel and Mediators (Really) Want From Each Other?
A candid conversation among two counsel - one in-house, one outside - and two mediators about what each wants from the other in a mediation, to improve the mediation process from the perspectives of both mediators and counsel.

Impasse Management Unpacked! (Pt. 2) – Really Useful Analytical Tools
The panel will present litigation forecasting approaches using a simple online outcomes-forecasting tool that can be useful to practicing mediators, advocates, and party decision makers alike.

Mediation

Stepping into the Future: Ethical Implementation & Best Practices of ChatGPT in Mediation
Join us for an exciting journey into the digital frontier, where artificial intelligence becomes an instrumental ally in the art of mediation. This compelling webinar explores the intersection of traditional mediation and innovative AI technology like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Bard. With a lens firmly set on efficiency and transformative solutions, our esteemed panelists lead the way.

Taking Ombuds / Mediation Skills to the Protest
Activism seeks to cause discomfort, demonstrate opposition, and highlight differences while ombudsing / mediation seeks to facilitate a collective approach that focuses on shared interests and goals. Is the work of ombuds and mediators as compared to activism contradictory? Or could they somehow work together to solve these deep-rooted societal issues?

Elder Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation Screening Guidelines for Elder Mediations
Abuse, neglect, and exploitation can be unfortunate realities for the elder population. How do you screen for it during a mediation and what are your options for intervention? Panelists will present guidelines developed by the ABA Dispute Resolution Section Task Force on Screening for Elder Abuse and Neglect for Mediators. Join us to ensure maximum protection of elders in the mediation process.

Transcending Intractable Conflict
Transcending intractable arguments is never easy. Supporting clients to view mediation as a dance rather than a boxing match can help bring even the most heated discussions to peaceful resolution. This program will provide practitioners simple tools to help parties unmask untold stories that ultimately will help resolve even the most entrenched conflicts in unexpected ways.

Cybersecurity: Safeguarding Case Data
The protection and privacy of customer and case-related information should be a top priority for all dispute resolution professionals. Join us for an insightful discussion with cybersecurity thought leaders Diana Didia, SVP and CIO at the American Arbitration Association, and Gary Benton of the Silicon Valley Arbitration & Mediation Center on what you need to do to keep information safe.

Help Clients by Combining “Facilitative” and “Evaluative” Mediation
Do you want to help clients by ethically and appropriately combining "facilitative" and "evaluative" mediation techniques? Professor John Lande will describe how you can do this based on his new ABA book, Litigation Interest and Risk Assessment: Help Your Clients Make Good Litigation Decisions, co-authored with Michaela Keet and Heather Heavin.

Let's Get Evaluative...How and When Do We Do It?
Good mediators constantly evaluate what is happening in our cases. And we keep our opinions hidden - or do we? Data shows that mediators regularly convey their viewpoints, indirectly and even unconsciously. We'll show video examples and ask you to discuss in small groups: When do you provide direction to parties? On what topics, using what techniques? Do you ever "leak" a viewpoint?

Corporate Accountability: A New Lens for the Selection of Diverse Arbitrators and Mediators
ABA Resolution 105 is an accountability measure offered to promote the use of diverse neutrals. As corporations focus on diversity in environmental, social and governance (ESG) measures, corporate counsel adapt and demand diversity to align corporate goals, achieve better outcomes and to limit risk exposure. This panel of in-house counsel offer their perspectives on agility in our new world.

Ethical Issues for Mediators and Arbitrators in the New World
The Corona virus, new technology and declining court resources have come together to create a new virtual world for ADR profession. This new world of virtual communication presents new challenges with respect to the ethical rules mediators and particularly attorney mediators, arbitrators and referees have to face as they navigate a myriad of new rules and circumstances.

Notoriously Good Trouble: Dispute Resolution Professionals Continuing the Legacies of Legends, Ruth Bader Ginsberg and John Lewis
This entertaining and inspirational presentation will honor the legacies of Ruth Bader Ginsberg and John Lewis and highlight their messages of equality, diversity and inclusion and how they may be carried forward by dispute resolution professionals. Using the words and actions of the Legends as guidance, the panel will share quotes and anecdotes about them both that can inform our work and lives.

Mediation and Bankruptcy: Pitfalls and Opportunities
Bankruptcy dramatically changes economic relationships and adds a new forum for mediation. Our panel of experts will explore the pitfalls of a bankruptcy during mediation and also the opportunities for creative use of mediation both as an adjunct to a family law case and for civil and business cases within the bankruptcy.

Confidentiality: Is It an Essential Ingredient in a Successful Mediation?
Mediators generally assume that confidentiality is an essential ingredient in a successful mediation. This panel will explore developments that bring the efficacy of mediation confidentiality into question. Jeff Kichaven will challenge the conventional wisdom by questioning whether mediators need confidentiality, and Ana Sambold, Debra Berman, and Homer LaRue will offer different perspectives.

Family-Centered Care: A Model for Mediation of Family Disputes
This webinar will introduce family and elder law attorneys and mediators to the concept of family-centered care and how it can be applied to the resolution of family disputes. Sarah J. Gross, attorney & mediator, will explain how family centered care applies to effectively resolve caregiving, eldercare, and multi-party family disputes.

Using the Mediation Guide to Create and Implement an Efficient and Successful Dispute Resolution Process
Looking for a “one-stop shop” to increase your mediation skills? The Mediation Guide combines mediation theory, process, and strategy to assist mediators in refining the mediation process to more easily facilitate successful dispute resolutions. Join us to learn more!

Strategic Representation in Mediation
Too often lawyers leave the success of a mediation up to the mediator. This program is intended to empower counsel to have greater influence on the outcome of mediations. Two experienced mediators with extensive litigation backgrounds will share strategies and techniques to help you improve results when using mediation.

Mediation Advocacy: What Litigators Need to Know
Litigators and dispute resolution professionals: join this program to learn all you need to know to conduct a successful mediation. You will gain needed insight regarding the benefits of mediation and walk through those steps necessary to ensure success. You will leave with a toolkit of information applicable to all your future mediations, regardless of the claims and issues involved.

Early Dispute Resolution - Protocols for Smarter Processes & Swifter Outcomes
Would your clients rather resolve their disputes quickly, economically, and on the merits? Or after a year (or more) of contentious, expensive, time-consuming litigation when they're finally exhausted and need to move on? This expert panel of ADR pioneers and problem solvers will demonstrate how to Make Resolution of Disputes Within 30 Days a Reality with the Early Dispute Resolution Protocols.

Effective 'Presuasion' & Persuasion in Mediated Settlement Negotiations - The Subtle Science Behind Influence
Because all conflict resolution involves people behind negotiations and decision-making, all mediated problem solving is equal part people and problem. Ignoring the people and focusing only on the problem assuredly inures to one's detriment. This plenary explores how psychological dynamics impact negotiations in all phases of mediation.

ODR - The Digital Age of ADR is Here
The shift to online modes of communication and dispute resolution was rapid for most practitioners, but not all. The members of this panel are some of the leading online mediation and ODR experts in the world who have been at the forefront of the field for many years. They will provide a look at online capabilities for practitioners both today and in the future.

Ethics in the Real World - How the ‘Fourth Party' Affects Mediation Ethics
In the best of times, ethics canons for both advocates and mediators are often afterthoughts. In the worst of times, the “Fourth Party” (technology) shines a bright light on some of these standards, especially competence, confidentiality, and process (e)quality. Join us for ethical guidance that is both useful and necessary in navigating the current mediation environment.

International Focus -The Globalization of Mediation
Mediation is increasingly being included in international legal laws and standards. It's most effective amidst growing international political and socio-economic uncertainty and rapidly changing business practices within and post-pandemic. Join us to learn what every legal professional needs to know about alternative dispute resolution in the context of international standards.

Technology-Driven ADR - Marketing & Branding for Results
As the world has shifted so rapidly to an online medium, in many ways so has our marketing and outreach. In the newly virtual world, digital marketing outlets such as social media, websites, video, and more have become even more important. The panel will discuss current strategies to get on top of your virtual presence and use it to market yourself and your practice.

Mediation Beyond Boundaries - Staying True to Our Core Principles, Training & Values
The digital age has equipped us with new tools that can streamline the mediation process, especially during pandemic times. However, technology does not replace the human aspect and touch that we bring as trained mediators and ADR professionals. In this keynote, Angela will remind you of the core principles that inspired each of you to join the profession and that drive the work you do every day.

What Do Counsel and Mediators (Really) Want From Each Other?
A candid conversation among two counsel - one in-house, one outside - and two mediators about what each wants from the other in a mediation, to improve the mediation process from the perspectives of both mediators and counsel.

Overcoming Conflict with Co-Mediation
This webinar will explore co-mediation as a way to leverage subject matter experts for facilitation of dispute resolution in complex cases. Attendees will hear legal, claims and ADR professionals in a 360-degree discussion about collaborative conciliation.

The Mediator's Role in De-escalating Public Debate: A View from Mediators Beyond Borders International (MBBI)
How can you as a mediator help efforts to build community cohesion around the world? Learn about Mediators Beyond Borders International, their mission to build local skills for peace and promote mediation worldwide, and their partnership to form the Trust Network, a broad U.S. network designed to prevent violent conflict and build community cohesion.

Building a Mediation Practice from Scratch
Come hear how Alyson Carrel, Michael Aurit, and Lynn Cohn have built successful private mediation practices outside traditional routes. This presentation will dispel the myth that the only path to becoming a successful mediator involves being a retired judge, joining an ADR Provider, or having a noteworthy career as a trial attorney.

Effective Mediation Skills: What You Need to Succeed
Learn the skills of dispute resolution while developing your mediation competency. Explore the stages of mediation and gain a deeper understanding of convening activities, handling opening sessions and navigating the negotiation process, including overcoming impasse. Become a more effective communicator and adept at working in an environment of high emotions.

Employment Dispute Resolution Revolution - Online Dispute Resolution at the EEOC
The Covid-19 Pandemic required the EEOC to transition to Online Dispute Resolution ("ODR"). First, external program evaluators will present robust data establishing that ODR is successful across a wide range of measures. Then, a panel of experienced EEOC mediators will address these results. This presentation will raise the issue of whether mediation returns to an in-person format or evolves into new patterns of mediation service.

Diversity in ADR: Lessons Learned and the Path Forward
Join us to link the lessons of the past (including where the system has come up short) with new, outside-the-box thinking about the future of diversity in ADR.

Industry Self-Regulation ADR as a Tool to Mitigate Litigation
ADR is an efficient way to manage litigation risk, but it is underutilized. This panel will discuss how businesses of all sizes can leverage self-regulatory ADR models to resolve conflicts with both consumers and other businesses directly without going to court. Attendees will learn how to apply best practices from the leading US ADR models to save time, money, and stay out of the courtroom.

Friend, Not Foe: E-Discovery as a Tool for a Successful Mediation
Today, people communicate almost exclusively electronically. Mediators and practitioners often view the exchange of electronically stored information (ESI) as a burden and cost that hinders a successful mediation. This seminar will explore how a cooperative exchange of ESI in mediation can be used to streamline matters, making mediation preferable to the courts, both financially and equitably.

Safeguarding Confidential Data: What is Our Responsibility in Dispute Resolution?
A core tenet of the dispute resolution process is confidentiality. But what does that mean in an online/hybrid/technological environment? This course will look at the basic steps of the dispute resolution process, and what are practical implementable steps for keeping client/visitor data confidential through a variety of processes and platforms.

Lights, Camera, Action: Mediating Online for Mediators and Advocates
Attendees will go behind the scenes of video mediations and arbitrations. They will walk away understanding the rules, ethics, best practices, and may even pick up a few tips along with hardware and software recommendations. The goal is for attendees to feel prepared and comfortable on both sides of the screen.

The First Five Minutes: Maximize the Potential for Success in Mediation
Like many important events, we often win (or lose) the most important people to the process during the first five minutes of a mediation session. Mediators should make intentional decisions about strategy and procedures to ensure a successful mediation. Decisions about whether to convene a pre-mediation meeting, who participates, and whether to include opening statements will shape the mediation.

Insulting First Offers: Why They Are Made and How To Respond
In this highly interactive session, two experienced lawyer-mediators will collaborate with participants to explore options for pre-mediation meetings and ways to begin a mediation session. We will begin by considering how processes included in appreciative inquiry, narrative conflict theory, and conscious curiosity may impact the mediation structure. Then, through a facilitated discussion and short role-play, participants will discover how to make those first five minutes effective and powerful within their individual mediation style.

Can I Ask That? The Ethics and Practice of Assessing Capacity to Mediate
How can mediators ensure party capacity without compromising their impartiality? Historically, many have associated capacity deficits with specific contexts such as abuse, disability, and intoxication. This session will teach mediators how to assess capacity based on observed behaviors without acting on stereotypes based on the party's situation.

Eviction Mediation in a Time of Crisis and Pandemic
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, landlord-tenant disputes, and the interest in mediation as a response, have increased significantly. Join our panel of experts and learn how early mediation reduces evictions and takes pressure off the courts, how to handle power imbalances between Landlord and Tenant, and how Tenants and Landlords can access rental relief programs throughout the country.

Forgetting and Choosing Remembrance: Evolving Toward a Responsive ADR Practice
How can the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) industry respond to today's society's high conflict reality and resolution needs? Presenters will provide background on the industry's history and how the field got to where it is today. Join us to discuss future areas of growth for the field in responding to conflict support needs in all arenas.

2022 Mediation Week Event: Winning from the Beginning
Whether you're a mediator, an in-house lawyer, or outside counsel, join us to celebrate Mediation Week by learning from high-profile practitioners on how to better prepare for and improve your odds for a successful mediation by using Early Dispute Resolution (EDR).

Impasse Management Unpacked! (Pt. 2) – Really Useful Analytical Tools
The panel will present litigation forecasting approaches using a simple online outcomes-forecasting tool that can be useful to practicing mediators, advocates, and party decision makers alike.

Impasse Management Unpacked! (Pt. 1) - Effective Emotional Interventions
Join us for an exploration of the emotional dimension of impasse, including cognitive barriers to agreement and effective interventions to manage the psychological condition popularly referred to as "amygdala on overdrive."

Mediation in a Time of Crisis
Kenneth Cloke, a world-recognized pioneer and leader in the field of mediation and conflict resolution, discusses how we as mediators can shift the way we think and act in times of increasing conflict and crisis.

Changing Hats: Ethical Challenges in Mixed Mode Dispute Resolution, or From Med to Arb (or Arb to Med) and Back Again
Join us for an exploration of ethical issues facing neutrals and advocates when dispute resolution involves multiple modes, whether med-arb, arb-med, or other "mixed mode" permutations.

Technology in Practice: ODR and More
Join us to learn how to select which technology to use that best fits your dispute resolution practice needs and gain advance knowledge of what technology will be available in the future.

Ask for More: Strategic Negotiation for Legal Professionals
Learn from Wall Street Journal Best Selling author and expert negotiation trainer Alexandra Carter how to achieve immediate results in your legal negotiations with tools such as uncovering interests, asking the right questions, and framing proposals.

Mediation Around the World: Leveraging our Shared Experiences for a Brighter Future
Learn from a panel of international experts about what's new in global mediation trends, as well as challenges to expect and opportunities to further build and connect the field globally.

Developing (and Growing) Your Mediation Practice Overnight – Strategic, Smart, and Effective Marketing Approaches
Learn from the top leaders in the legal marketing field the necessary approaches and tools that you will need to develop your mediation practice quickly and how to keep it growing.

Co-Mediation: How Do You Ensure that Two Heads Really Are Better Than One?
Co-mediation is valuable to mediators of all experience levels because it provides them opportunities to learn from one another, expand their practice areas, and broaden their skills. However, it can invite complications if co-mediators can't work well together. Join us to hear from experienced co-mediators about what works, what doesn't, and how best to avoid foreseeable pitfalls.

Negotiation

The Good, Bad and Ugly: The Art of Negotiations Online
Three expert mediator-arbitrators share their best tips for enhancing the process.

Effective 'Presuasion' & Persuasion in Mediated Settlement Negotiations - The Subtle Science Behind Influence
Because all conflict resolution involves people behind negotiations and decision-making, all mediated problem solving is equal part people and problem. Ignoring the people and focusing only on the problem assuredly inures to one's detriment. This plenary explores how psychological dynamics impact negotiations in all phases of mediation.

Industry Self-Regulation ADR as a Tool to Mitigate Litigation
ADR is an efficient way to manage litigation risk, but it is underutilized. This panel will discuss how businesses of all sizes can leverage self-regulatory ADR models to resolve conflicts with both consumers and other businesses directly without going to court. Attendees will learn how to apply best practices from the leading US ADR models to save time, money, and stay out of the courtroom.

Friend, Not Foe: E-Discovery as a Tool for a Successful Mediation
Today, people communicate almost exclusively electronically. Mediators and practitioners often view the exchange of electronically stored information (ESI) as a burden and cost that hinders a successful mediation. This seminar will explore how a cooperative exchange of ESI in mediation can be used to streamline matters, making mediation preferable to the courts, both financially and equitably.

Insulting First Offers: Why They Are Made and How To Respond
In this highly interactive session, two experienced lawyer-mediators will collaborate with participants to explore options for pre-mediation meetings and ways to begin a mediation session. We will begin by considering how processes included in appreciative inquiry, narrative conflict theory, and conscious curiosity may impact the mediation structure. Then, through a facilitated discussion and short role-play, participants will discover how to make those first five minutes effective and powerful within their individual mediation style.

Impasse Management Unpacked! (Pt. 1) - Effective Emotional Interventions
Join us for an exploration of the emotional dimension of impasse, including cognitive barriers to agreement and effective interventions to manage the psychological condition popularly referred to as "amygdala on overdrive."

Ask for More: Strategic Negotiation for Legal Professionals
Learn from Wall Street Journal Best Selling author and expert negotiation trainer Alexandra Carter how to achieve immediate results in your legal negotiations with tools such as uncovering interests, asking the right questions, and framing proposals.

Neuroscience/Psychology

Impasse Management Unpacked! (Pt. 1) - Effective Emotional Interventions
Join us for an exploration of the emotional dimension of impasse, including cognitive barriers to agreement and effective interventions to manage the psychological condition popularly referred to as "amygdala on overdrive."

ODR

The Good, Bad and Ugly: The Art of Negotiations Online
Three expert mediator-arbitrators share their best tips for enhancing the process.

Ombuds

Taking Ombuds / Mediation Skills to the Protest
Activism seeks to cause discomfort, demonstrate opposition, and highlight differences while ombudsing / mediation seeks to facilitate a collective approach that focuses on shared interests and goals. Is the work of ombuds and mediators as compared to activism contradictory? Or could they somehow work together to solve these deep-rooted societal issues?

2021 Dispute Resolution Ombuds Day Event
Conflict is inevitable. Ombuds/ombudsman can help you handle conflict effectively. Our Ombuds Day 2021 panelists discuss how ombuds/ombudsman provide a unique resource for addressing conflict—no matter the setting or type. Join us to recognize the fourth annual Ombuds Day on October 14, 2021 and learn more!

2022 Ombuds Day Event - Ombuds: Resilience, Respect, Resolve
Ombuds are impartial conflict management professionals in a wide variety of organizations. Attendees will hear from ombuds with a broad spectrum of experiences and explore paths to and through ombudsing. Join us if you are interested in an ombuds career or if you simply want to learn more about the profession!

Why Your Company Needs an Organizational Ombuds Program to Succeed
Are you a company decision-maker who is looking to create a psychologically safe workplace that fosters trust and collaboration while reducing quiet quitting? Join us to learn how an Ombuds program may be just what you need. Not sure what an Ombuds program is? That's ok! We'll tell you everything you need to know about a powerful, transformative new tool to benefit your organization.

Practice Development

Confidentiality: Is It an Essential Ingredient in a Successful Mediation?
Mediators generally assume that confidentiality is an essential ingredient in a successful mediation. This panel will explore developments that bring the efficacy of mediation confidentiality into question. Jeff Kichaven will challenge the conventional wisdom by questioning whether mediators need confidentiality, and Ana Sambold, Debra Berman, and Homer LaRue will offer different perspectives.

Technology-Driven ADR - Marketing & Branding for Results
As the world has shifted so rapidly to an online medium, in many ways so has our marketing and outreach. In the newly virtual world, digital marketing outlets such as social media, websites, video, and more have become even more important. The panel will discuss current strategies to get on top of your virtual presence and use it to market yourself and your practice.

Building a Mediation Practice from Scratch
Come hear how Alyson Carrel, Michael Aurit, and Lynn Cohn have built successful private mediation practices outside traditional routes. This presentation will dispel the myth that the only path to becoming a successful mediator involves being a retired judge, joining an ADR Provider, or having a noteworthy career as a trial attorney.

Ethics in Your Practice: Learn How to Ethically Market Your Practice While Staying Compliant
Like a great opera, avoiding ethics and malpractice issues your practice requires talent and finesse. Learn proven techniques for promoting your practice while staying within the ethics rules, as well as everything you need to know to ethically promote your practice. This program will have an overview of relevant Model Rules of Professional Conduct, ethics opinions, and cases that refer to ethical communication with potential clients, including RPC 7.1.

Captivating Conversations that Connect and Convert: Best Practices for Marketing Your ADR Practice Online
Online platforms are now the norm in the ADR profession. Are you a part of the online-first generation, or do you still feel like you're catching up on how to get your name out via the internet? No matter where you're starting from, join us to learn how to develop the best online marketing strategy for your ADR practice.

Developing (and Growing) Your Mediation Practice Overnight – Strategic, Smart, and Effective Marketing Approaches
Learn from the top leaders in the legal marketing field the necessary approaches and tools that you will need to develop your mediation practice quickly and how to keep it growing.

Public Policy

Leading Change: How ADR Can Address Affordable Housing Disputes
Has your community been impacted by affordable housing disputes? In many communities, the subject of developing affordable housing generates a range of reactions, from supportive to destructive. This webinar will help you identify dispute resolution strategies and approaches to consensus building and developing collaboration with the public about affordable housing development.

Research

The Today and Tomorrow of ADR Research
The ABA Dispute Resolution Section long recognized the importance of multidisciplinary and social science research studying the efficacy of and best practices for ADR. This program brings together researchers to share current projects and ideas intended to inform the reinvention ADR, as well as provides space for others to suggest critiques, resources, and ideas to advance ADR research.

Restorative Justice

Constructive Community Conversations 2: Solution Strategies Roundtable
This meeting style program is a follow-up to the December Constructive Community Conversations event which focused on how to facilitate constructive conversations around the roles of all community members in matters concerning racism, policing and the law. Part 2 will bring back legal, law enforcement and bar association thought leaders to discuss current realities and solutions for healing.

Skills

Dispositive Motion Practice in Arbitration: The Tide is Rising
Parties in arbitration proceedings are increasingly requesting and filing dispositive motions, thus arbitrators are increasingly being presented with dispositive motions in the proceedings over which they are presiding. With that, it has never been more important for arbitrators to be well versed in the objectives, applicable rules, procedures, and best practices relating to dispositive motions.

Best Practices for a Tri-Partite Arbitration Panel
Tri-Partite Arbitration Panels have become more common as the size of arbitration claims continues to increase necessitating, either by specific ADR Provider Rules or language in an arbitration clause, the use of three arbitrators to resolve disputes. This program explores best practices for arbitrators working together as part of a Tri-Partite Arbitration Panel.

Let's Get Evaluative...How and When Do We Do It?
Good mediators constantly evaluate what is happening in our cases. And we keep our opinions hidden - or do we? Data shows that mediators regularly convey their viewpoints, indirectly and even unconsciously. We'll show video examples and ask you to discuss in small groups: When do you provide direction to parties? On what topics, using what techniques? Do you ever "leak" a viewpoint?

The All-Important Arbitration Preliminary Hearing
Almost all arbitrations begin with a preliminary hearing where the arbitrator & the parties discuss all steps necessary to adjudicate the case, with the goal of assuring a cost-effective & efficient arbitration. This session will address, from the perspectives of both the advocate & the arbitrator, how best to use the preliminary hearing to provide a comprehensive roadmap for the entire process.

Arbitration Discovery and Motion Practice
The increasing use of discovery and motions, including dispositive motions, has caused arbitration to more closely resemble litigation. Many practitioners welcome this trend, while others abhor it. This session will address the appropriate use of discovery and motions in arbitration, and how the arbitrator can act to prevent abusive tactics.

The Arbitration Evidentiary Hearing
This session addresses the A to Z of managing the evidentiary hearing efficiently and fairly including final status conferences, subpoenas, time management, handling objections and the introduction of documents, opening and closing arguments, the when and how of arbitrator questions, and other issues.

Arbitration Awards and Post-Award Issues
The hearing is over. This session will address the best ways to prepare the Award, including dissenting opinions, independent research, post-hearing briefing, punitive damages, attorney's fees, enforcing or challenging the Award and other subjects.

Effective Mediation Skills: What You Need to Succeed
Learn the skills of dispute resolution while developing your mediation competency. Explore the stages of mediation and gain a deeper understanding of convening activities, handling opening sessions and navigating the negotiation process, including overcoming impasse. Become a more effective communicator and adept at working in an environment of high emotions.

Co-Mediation: How Do You Ensure that Two Heads Really Are Better Than One?
Co-mediation is valuable to mediators of all experience levels because it provides them opportunities to learn from one another, expand their practice areas, and broaden their skills. However, it can invite complications if co-mediators can't work well together. Join us to hear from experienced co-mediators about what works, what doesn't, and how best to avoid foreseeable pitfalls.

Technology

Stepping into the Future: Ethical Implementation & Best Practices of ChatGPT in Mediation
Join us for an exciting journey into the digital frontier, where artificial intelligence becomes an instrumental ally in the art of mediation. This compelling webinar explores the intersection of traditional mediation and innovative AI technology like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Bard. With a lens firmly set on efficiency and transformative solutions, our esteemed panelists lead the way.

Cybersecurity: Safeguarding Case Data
The protection and privacy of customer and case-related information should be a top priority for all dispute resolution professionals. Join us for an insightful discussion with cybersecurity thought leaders Diana Didia, SVP and CIO at the American Arbitration Association, and Gary Benton of the Silicon Valley Arbitration & Mediation Center on what you need to do to keep information safe.

New Ethical Issues That Arise in an Online Arbitration Environment
The online environment for arbitration poses new ethical dilemmas for advocates and arbitrators. Among them: ethically inquiring about potential arbitrators; applying the traditional ethical standards to advocates and online conduct; and arbitrators assuring parties a full and fair opportunity to present their cases when they may prefer and even insist on an in-person opportunity to do so.

Remote Arbitration Hearings: A Practicum
There is now an expectation that remote online arbitration will remain an alternative to in-person arbitration even after COVID restrictions are lifted. This roundtable discussion will focus on the advantages and disadvantages of remote arbitration, the future of online arbitration, and provide practical information and skills for conducting a successful remote arbitration.

ODR - The Digital Age of ADR is Here
The shift to online modes of communication and dispute resolution was rapid for most practitioners, but not all. The members of this panel are some of the leading online mediation and ODR experts in the world who have been at the forefront of the field for many years. They will provide a look at online capabilities for practitioners both today and in the future.

Technology-Driven ADR - Marketing & Branding for Results
As the world has shifted so rapidly to an online medium, in many ways so has our marketing and outreach. In the newly virtual world, digital marketing outlets such as social media, websites, video, and more have become even more important. The panel will discuss current strategies to get on top of your virtual presence and use it to market yourself and your practice.

You Help Others, But Who Helps You? Introducing ADR Notable
This interactive webinar will introduce you to a new emerging legal technology that can help you bring automation to the management of your cases. ADR Notable is a comprehensive mediation software platform designed especially for dispute resolution professionals. Participants will learn how best to manage their tasks at every stage of the dispute resolution process in a digital online context.

Strengthening Advocacy in Virtual and Hybrid Arbitrations
Future arbitrations will likely combine in person and virtual hearings and opportunities for improvements in effective advocacy. This program will examine how advocates, and the arbitrators before whom they will appear, can best take advantage of these changes. The panel will discuss a wide variety of issues that arise in these circumstances.

Employment Dispute Resolution Revolution - Online Dispute Resolution at the EEOC
The Covid-19 Pandemic required the EEOC to transition to Online Dispute Resolution ("ODR"). First, external program evaluators will present robust data establishing that ODR is successful across a wide range of measures. Then, a panel of experienced EEOC mediators will address these results. This presentation will raise the issue of whether mediation returns to an in-person format or evolves into new patterns of mediation service.

Lights, Camera, Action: Mediating Online for Mediators and Advocates
Attendees will go behind the scenes of video mediations and arbitrations. They will walk away understanding the rules, ethics, best practices, and may even pick up a few tips along with hardware and software recommendations. The goal is for attendees to feel prepared and comfortable on both sides of the screen.

Captivating Conversations that Connect and Convert: Best Practices for Marketing Your ADR Practice Online
Online platforms are now the norm in the ADR profession. Are you a part of the online-first generation, or do you still feel like you're catching up on how to get your name out via the internet? No matter where you're starting from, join us to learn how to develop the best online marketing strategy for your ADR practice.

Technology in Practice: ODR and More
Join us to learn how to select which technology to use that best fits your dispute resolution practice needs and gain advance knowledge of what technology will be available in the future.

Young Lawyers

American Arbitration Association Higginbotham Fellows Program Roundtable
Mentorship and networking are crucial ways to ensure diverse members of any workforce get the proper tools to succeed. Join us as we highlight one such effort to create these opportunities in the dispute resolution field: the AAA Higginbotham Fellows Program. Learn how you could benefit from this program or bring its inclusion efforts to your own workplace.

Developing Dispute Resolution Practitioners and ADR Leaders: Mentorship, Apprenticeship, Coaching, and Other Approaches
This roundtable will bring together practitioners, educators, dispute resolution program administrators, and other members of the DR community to explore how to expand our field through the development of new practitioners.

The Many Roads to ADR: The Volunteer Experience, Doing Well by Doing Good
The journey as a dispute resolution professional varies for many. In this first session of a multi-part series, we will examine one path through the industry - volunteer involvement. Panelists will focus on opportunities to gain experience, credentials and contacts by doing volunteer ADR work.

The Many Roads to ADR: ADR Jobs in Organizations
This is the second in a series sponsored by the Membership Committee that is free to nonmembers. This panel will discuss experience in obtaining full time employment as an ADR professional within an organization and provide tips for participants looking for such jobs.

Mediation Career Opportunities: What Law Students Should Know
Law students: Have you learned about mediation in school but wondered if you could really make it into a career? Let us show you how with panelists who have done it themselves. This free webinar will walk you through how to set yourself up for success while still in school, and the wide range of possible career paths in mediation.