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Just Court ADR

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Posts Tagged ‘funding’

End of One Era, Beginning of Another

Susan M. Yates, August 31st, 2018

August 31, 2018, will mark the end of an era at RSI. Our five-year foreclosure mediation grant from the Office of the Illinois Attorney General will come to an end.

This grant, which we received 15 years into our operation, was our opportunity to prove that when given sufficient resources, RSI could deliver the kind of quality court mediation program that we had been recommending to others all those years. I used terms like “practice what we preach,” “proof is in the pudding” and even, “put up or shut up!”

At that time, we promised to:

  • Work with courts and other stakeholders to design and operate three foreclosure mediation programs in three judicial circuits in northern Illinois
  • Develop and conduct training for mediators in our programs and those operated by our partner organizations farther downstate
  • Develop an online system to collect data about the programs enabling us to produce regular statistical reports and two comprehensive evaluations

I am happy to report that we delivered!

In the process, we confirmed some maxims about how to do quality court ADR and added a few corollaries.

  1. Study first

Before we start working with a court on their ADR program, we update our knowledge of the particular area in which we will be working. In this situation we researched what was happening across the country with foreclosure and how courts were using alternative approaches.

Corollary: Sometimes you have to build the plane while flying it. In the midst of a national foreclosure crisis, courts across the country were scrambling to keep up. While it was helpful to see what others were doing, we needed to figure out how to do foreclosure mediation in a way that worked in Illinois courts with their particular needs and resources.

  1. Work with stakeholders

We know that it is critical to bring together all the stakeholders while developing a court ADR system so that their various needs can be considered. In foreclosure mediation, the usual stakeholders – judges, court administrators, mediators and lawyers for both lenders and borrowers – were joined by a new addition: housing counselors, who were critical to the success of many of the programs.

Corollary: As important as it is to have all the voices heard, in the end, judges often have to make decisions about exactly how court ADR programs will work, and these decisions may not satisfy everyone. Fortunately, RSI doesn’t “have a dog in the fight,” so we can offer unbiased, expert advice about pros and cons of various approaches.

  1. Value the people who do the work

Never underestimate the importance of visible, capable staff. These programs are being continued because of dedicated program coordinators, who kept the cases moving and kept the courts informed of program progress, and because of skilled mediators who worked with intelligence and compassion in the midst of foreclosure – which is a crisis for each homeowner, even once the nation’s crisis has abated.

Corollary: These programs are not easy to administer. Juggling spinning plates is an apt metaphor for the challenge of administering programs with sometimes complex court rules that apply to everyone from sophisticated lawyers to overwhelmed homeowners.

  1. Collect and use reliable data

Turning data into meaningful information means different things to different stakeholders at different times. In the foreclosure mediation programs, we produced everything from monthly statistical reports for judges about numbers of cases in their programs and how they were being resolved to a mega-evaluation of all the programs that compared strengths of the various approaches and made recommendations about how each might improve.

Corollary: In a situation like this one in which every program was different, finding ways to make “apples to apples” comparisons was critical. Doing that successfully allowed RSI to make recommendations for improvement from a place of knowledge, not opinion.

Success and a New Era

September 1st will mark the beginning of a new era, as all three of our foreclosure mediation programs continue to operate thanks to the support of their local courts! We take this as the surest sign of success, that the courts value these programs enough to find a way to continue them when outside funding ends. We are grateful to the Attorney General for supporting these programs, to courts for their partnership and to the skilled mediators for conducting the mediations. We are pleased to continue to provide services to homeowners and their lenders when foreclosure looms.

Courting Funds: How to Finance an ADR Program

Just Court ADR, August 20th, 2015

Recently, an administrator from a southern US state reached out to RSI with questions concerning financial support for court ADR programs. After having a substantially well-funded program for many years, the state was hit hard by the recession and had to cut many services. Hoping to rebuild the robustness of her state’s ADR offerings, she reached out to RSI about developing a proposal for a new pilot program, asking specifically how to finance such an undertaking. (more…)

Resolution System Institute’s Evening of Firsts

Susan M. Yates, June 2nd, 2014
Susan Yates and Judge Morton Denlow listen to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan

Susan Yates and Judge Morton Denlow listen to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan

Last Wednesday was a great evening for RSI! We held our first-ever “friendraising” event and presented our first-ever RSI Appreciation Award. Our generous friends at the Chicago office of the Skadden Arps law firm kindly hosted a beautiful reception for about 60 people. This was our first reception designed to introduce RSI to new friends in the Chicago corporate and legal world. Attendees included lawyers from some of Chicago’s largest corporations and law firms, judges from the counties where RSI conducts foreclosure mediation programs, and RSI’s own Board and staff members, with a sprinkling of local neutrals, funders and others. The two highlights of the program were remarks by the Illinois Attorney General and the presentation of the RSI Appreciation Award. (more…)

How Court ADR is Faring Amidst Judicial Budget Cuts: A Snapshot

Just Court ADR, August 20th, 2012

RSI was recently asked to participate in an American Bar Association meeting about support for the courts during the recent economic downturn. In the past few years, court systems around the country have had their budgets cut, to the point where some are closing courthouses altogether. RSI Executive Director Susan Yates commented on the effect these cuts have had on support for court ADR programs. To prepare for the meeting, we did some research and reached out to ADR administrators to find out what’s happening in their programs. This handout discusses what we found.

Is your ADR program facing similar funding challenges? If so, what impact has it had on your services?

Part 2 of 3: Foreclosure Mediation Best Practices

Just Court ADR, March 7th, 2012

PRE-MEDIATION SESSION ELEMENTS

Conduct Extensive, Personalized Outreach to Borrowers

Outreach to borrowers is key to getting participation in the program. Most people do not open their mail or answer the phone when they are in foreclosure. For those that do, legal notices should be written in simple language with a clear instruction for what borrowers should do next. Programs should find ways other than mail to help borrowers access mediation programs.

One jurisdiction has dedicated funds for (more…)

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