Our series, My Favorite Resource, features interviews with our court ADR friends across the country to learn about their favorite resource. This month, Resource Center Director Nicole Wilmet spoke with Sally Campbell, Dispute Resolution Services Manager for the Supreme Court of Virginia, to learn about her favorite resource.
NW: What is one of your favorite ADR resources? 
SC: Aside from RSI, always a favorite resource, my favorite ADR resource tends to be what is helping me most at the moment. Appellate Mediation: A Guidebook for Attorneys and Mediators, an ABA publication written by experienced appellate mediators Brendon Ishikawa and Dana Curtis, tops my list right now.
NW: Why do you value this particular resource?
SC: Appellate Mediation contains a wealth of information for any mediator, whether newly minted or appellate veteran. I still marvel at this book’s promotion of a facilitative process with a client-centered, problem-solving approach – not what I expected when I first opened it. The book divides into five sections. The first, “Fundamentals of Appeals,” tackles appellate law basics, case evaluation, and decision tree risk analysis for case evaluation. The second, “The Appellate Mediation Process,” covers each phase of the mediation, with headings varying from “Explanation of the roles of the Mediator and Participants” and “People Get Angry; It’s Okay,” to “Brainstorm for as Many Options as Possible – Especially Options with Asymmetric Gains.” The “Practice Tips for Appellate Attorneys” section focuses on preparing attorneys and clients for mediation; strategies for the sessions; and crafting an enforceable agreement. “Practice Tips for Appellate Mediators” delivers excellent, detailed guidance for mediators.
Finally, the Appendix packs a punch with great resources for appellate mediators, like sample phone call dialogue and sample documents. Appellate Mediation is eminently accessible with a user-friendly design that makes it easy to find specific information. The authors even include a chapter on mediator professional development. That chapter’s attention to the reflective practice process generated an a-ha! moment, and facilitated our goal to design the Mediator Self-Reflection Treasury to guide and support mediators even in solitary, first-time self-reflection.
NW: How did you first learn about this resource?
SC: In 2018, the Supreme Court of Virginia approved appellate mediation pilot projects to run for two years in the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals of Virginia. I found this book while looking for resources to assist in the training of appellate mediators. It fit the bill so well that the trainer used it in the basic mediation course.
NW: For those unfamiliar with this resource, what is one part of this resource that you wouldn’t want someone to miss?
SC: For newer, non-appellate mediators, I would recommend Chapter 14 (“Phase 2, Information Exchange, and Phase 3, Identifying and Organizing the Issues”), although there is so much to be gleaned elsewhere in the book, I wouldn’t stop there. For seasoned mediators, I’d recommend Chapters 2 and 3, that address case evaluation as in “What is my best presently available option?” and case valuation through decision tree analysis. In this well-written, accessible book, these chapter materials aren’t nearly as daunting as they sound.
This book might top my list for a long time to come.
If you have a favorite resource you would like to share in an upcoming edition of our newsletter and our blog, please reach out to our Resource Center Director Nicole Wilmet at nwilmet@aboutrsi.org.
As usual…excellent, short presentation of useful practical information, not just a “filler” story. Go RSI!