For blog readers who are used to getting the latest foreclosure mediation news here, I am sorry to say that Heather Scheiwe Kulp – foreclosure ADR guru and RSI Skadden Fellow – is leaving RSI for a clinical spot at Harvard Law School. Who could blame Harvard for scooping Heather up at the end of her Skadden Fellowship? In Heather’s absence, we will continue to provide readers with the latest news on foreclosure, just as we do with other court ADR news, but we certainly will miss her!
For two years, Heather worked with RSI and the Center for Conflict Resolution (our affiliate organization) to improve access to justice for poor and low-income disputants by developing and improving court ADR systems. We are very proud that Heather’s fellowship marked the first time the Skadden Foundation supported a project focused on alternative dispute resolution.
Heather did a great job at RSI. During the fellowship she became a nationally recognized expert in foreclosure mediation. Not only did Heather write her familiar blog posts and studies of many aspects of foreclosure ADR – from administration and funding to statistical reports and studies of ethical quandaries – she also consulted on foreclosure mediation program design in four Illinois judicial circuits, and on a national level with nine states, Washington, DC, the Department of Justice and the Uniform Law Commission.
But Heather’s work was about more than foreclosure mediation. She worked on small claims and child custody and visitation mediation in Illinois studying, developing and supporting programs. She also studied small claims mediation referral models from all 50 states to determine which referral systems fit best in which contexts. Watch for a blog post about the study in the coming months.
Heather is leaving sizeable shoes to fill. In the meantime, we wish her the very best at Harvard. They are lucky to have her.
Thanks for this great post. We couldn’t agree more and are so excited to welcome Heather to our team!