Welcome to Resolution Systems Institute’s blog: Just Court ADR. I hope the play on words works for you. With this name, we sought to communicate two ideas. First, we are focused on court ADR. We will give ourselves some latitude in how closely the topics we cover relate to court ADR, but, at the core, court-related ADR is our interest. Second, we are interested in fair court ADR systems that provide justice. While there is much discussion about efficiency in court systems, we at RSI believe the underlying quality of court ADR programs is about much more.
At first, I wanted to call the blog “Why Rob Banks?” – an allusion to the quote from the bank robber Willy Sutton who famously said he robbed banks because that’s where the money is. That phrase resonates for me in terms of court ADR. Why do court ADR? Because that’s where the conflicts are. No matter how much we may want to identify cases pre-filing and get them resolved through mediation, the vast majority of legal conflicts will go through the court system – often because the responding party will not see the case as sufficiently “real” until a court case is filed. If we want to have an impact on how conflicts are resolved, working with court systems is the most effective way to do so. My colleagues wisely convinced me that “Why Rob Banks” was too obscure.
As for who is producing this blog, Resolution Systems Institute (AboutRSI.org) has been working to strengthen justice by enhancing court ADR systems since 1995. The blog will be written by three RSI staff, as well as guest bloggers from time to time. The three staff people are Jennifer Shack, RSI’s knowledgeable Director of Research, Jessica Glowinski, RSI’s high-energy Resource Center Coordinator, and me, RSI’s long-time Executive Director. We will bring three voices, three perspectives to the discussion of court ADR.
We look forward to this blog being a conversation. Jump in. Make your voice heard. We want to learn about what is happening in court ADR where you are and what you think.
Tags: court programs
