Over the holidays, I visited a relative who works at a major retail store. I wanted to purchase a long, warm winter coat to ward off the cold Chicago wind. With a smirk, she led me to what was, only a few weeks before, the coat section. It was filled with swim suits.
While I’m not ready to exchange my mittens for a beach blanket quite yet, I am thinking fondly about the upcoming spring activities in the ADR world. Specifically, I’m excited to hear (more…)
The Florida Supreme Court issued an order Monday, December 19, 2011, terminating the mandatory mediation program it created in 2009 as an emergency measure to deal with the foreclosure flood in Florida. While individual circuits can create localized mediation programs or refer foreclosures cases to mediation on a case-by-case basis, and some programs commit to remaining active, the statewide program will receive no new referrals as of yesterday.
Without commenting on whether this is a good or a not-so-good move, (more…)
Court ADR lost a champion yesterday when Judge Harris H. Agnew, RSI’s long-time Executive Committee Chair, passed away after a long struggle to regain his health. Judge Agnew led by example, with kindness and courage. This blog post I wrote back in April talks about the tremendous role he played in advancing court ADR in Illinois. But there was so much more to Harris than just his work with ADR.
Those of us who were fortunate to know him learned a lot from Harris:
Leading sometimes means doing what is right, even when others don’t see it.
Whether it was mentoring the first women to join the bench in the 17th Judicial Circuit or implementing arbitration and mediation there, Harris stuck his neck out. He opened doors for people and ideas that would bring positive change even in the face of opposition.
Be kind, but don’t be a patsy.
Harris was so kind to everyone he met that it took me a while to understand just how politically savvy he really was. (more…)
RSI invites you to participate in a free webcast of an upcoming conference, The Future of Court ADR: Mediation and Beyond, on Friday, September 23. Practitioners, policymakers and academics with backgrounds in family and civil ADR will come together to learn, to discuss potential cross-pollination and collaboration between these traditionally disconnected groups, and to develop recommendations moving forward. We want you to be a part of that discussion. (more…)
I suspect that every state that has successful court ADR programs has a Judge Agnew. He is the judge who championed ADR when people were still confusing mediation and arbitration. He led by example, experimenting with ADR in his own jurisdiction, and led by persuasion, convincing other judges to give ADR a try in their jurisdictions. He led on a statewide level, working inside the structure of the courts and bar associations. He used the standing and relationships he had developed through years of dedicated service, to promote a new way to serve those who turn to the courts for justice, while also meeting the needs of the lawyers, judges and court personnel who work within the justice system every day.
Yesterday RSI honored the Honorable Harris H. Agnew, former Chief Judge of the 17th Judicial Circuit, based in Rockford, Illinois for his decades of tireless work to expand and enhance the use of court ADR (more…)