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This is the story of how RSI is working with courts to confront two crises: the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic downturn. Much of the story will be very familiar to anyone running court mediation programs: having to respond to rapidly changing circumstances and figuring out how to operate in remote processes. Some of it may be less familiar to those whose programs don’t deal with housing issues. I hope this story provides some nuggets of insight or at least a feeling of support for the efforts being taken to maintain programs throughout these crises. Although the story is split into three phases, the phases bleed into one another. So although I end the story in Phase III: Planning for the Future, aspects of Phase I: Dealing with the Unknown and Phase II: The Crisis New Normal (to steal a phrase from John Lande) still remain.
Background
RSI runs three programs for two courts in Illinois. In Kane County, Program Manager Kevin Malone administers both the court’s foreclosure mediation and child protection mediation programs. In Lake County, Program Coordinator Olga Ivari is in charge of the court’s foreclosure mediation program. The other two staff involved in this story are RSI Executive Director Susan Yates and Associate Director Eric Slepak-Cherney. Together, I’ll be referring to them as “the team.”
The story will focus on the foreclosure mediation programs, for reasons that will become clear. These programs have a two-step process. The homeowners contact Kevin or Olga to enroll and learn about how the program can help them. In the first step in Kevin’s program, the homeowners can then opt to work with a housing counselor to learn about the options for avoiding foreclosure and to get help pulling together the documents they need to send to their lender with their request for a loan modification. In Olga’s program, homeowners are required to meet with a housing counselor as their first step. They then work with their housing counselor to submit the required documentation to request a loan modification. In both programs, the most time-consuming and difficult part of the process is facilitating the exchange of these documents between the homeowners and their lenders. The second step in both programs is mediation.
Phase I: Dealing with the Unknown
During this first phase, the team was not only facing something they had never faced before, but were reacting to a constantly changing landscape. It seemed that every day brought new information and changes to how they needed to work. During this phase, flexibility, teamwork and, above all, communication were key.
Susan’s main concern at this time was to keep Olga and Kevin safe, and to be sure they had the support they needed. For her, it was important that she and the rest of the team remain flexible in order to respond to the changing landscape. This required constant communication. Eric saw his role as making sure that the programs could maintain continuity and to support Olga and Kevin in their efforts to do this. As the situation was rapidly evolving, this required daily calls among the three of them. The calls were meant to be sure that the team was thinking of everything that needed to be addressed as their programs were shifting to remote services.
At the same time, Kevin, Olga and Eric needed to communicate with the courts. As the courts were issuing new orders changing how they provided services, the team was discussing how these orders would affect their programs and program timelines, and how to ensure these were addressed by the court. Eric noted, “Judges have the big picture of the programs. We have the day-to-day perspective.” So they worked with the judges to make sure that mediation was included in orders extending deadlines and that specific issues were considered in the order. For example, if the parties were given a 35-day continuance in the foreclosure mediation program, how does that change impact when and how the borrowers file paperwork with the lender?
Based on the court’s new orders, the team began making decisions about whether to reschedule mediations or have the mediators conduct distance mediations. In Kane County, Kevin discussed the options with the judges and together they decided to postpone all child protection mediations, in which parents whose children have been taken into protective custody following a substantiated allegation of abuse and/or neglect can discuss issues with others involved in their children’s case. This was done due to a concern that the mediators wouldn’t have the same control over the process as they would if everyone was in the same room. This is especially problematic if one participant had coercive control over another. If the parties weren’t in the same room with the mediator, there was no way to know, for example, whether that participant was texting threats to the other one.
For foreclosure mediation, the situation was different. There was no question of participant safety. Instead, the mediations were postponed so that the team could have the time to figure out the best way to conduct the mediations and to think of all the details that would need to be figured out before mediations took place. It also gave time to mediators, who much prefer in-person mediations, to think about how they would deal with remote mediations.
There was another reason to postpone mediations, as well. In response to the economic repercussions of COVID-19, banks began to offer three-month forbearances to homeowners who were in danger of foreclosure. In Lake County, the court has relatively short and strict deadlines, so Olga wanted to be sure that those homeowners who received a forbearance would be able to stay in the program once the forbearance ends in order to obtain a more permanent agreement, rather than having to withdraw because they had reached the court’s deadline for being in the program.
The decision to postpone the mediations meant Olga and Kevin had to communicate with everyone involved in the programs and in the mediations that were already scheduled. They contacted mediators to let them know what was going on and emailed lawyers and parties about rescheduling mediations to mid- to late-May, after the courts were set to reopen. They also discussed new processes with the housing counselors who help homeowners in their programs and made sure that communications between them remained open.
Phase II: The Crisis New Normal
During Phase II, Kevin and Olga began to settle in to new processes put in place and to run their programs as the situation dictated. They also started thinking about how remote mediations might eventually be conducted. As the initial time of being completely off-balance came to an end, the team began to meet once a week, with ad hoc conversations as issues arose.
The major task for both Kevin and Olga was to continue helping borrowers who had entered the program to continue to move through the beginning steps of the foreclosure mediation process. For Kevin, this means taking phone calls from borrowers who have questions, as well as emailing with them, the lenders and housing counselors as the borrowers provide the lenders with the documents needed in order for the lenders to assess whether borrowers are eligible for a loan modification. Housing counselors have stepped up during this time, taking on a larger role than they had before in facilitating the exchange of documents.
Olga spends much of her time talking with borrowers, enrolling them in the program and scheduling their initial meetings with the housing counselors (now done remotely) and their mediations. For those homeowners with a forbearance, Olga has been trying to schedule housing counseling sessions and mediations as far out as possible so that they can remain in the program once the forbearance ends.
Although both Olga and Kevin had postponed foreclosure mediations, they worked with Eric to decide on how they should be structured once they started. They decided to use Zoom, but only conduct the mediations by phone. This decision was based on their concern that borrowers wouldn’t have the technical ability to use videoconferencing. In addition, mediators would be required to learn all the ins and outs, as well as new best practices for videoconferencing. This latter consideration also led to the decision for Kevin and Olga to host the mediations, which means giving each individual permission to enter the teleconference and to send parties to “breakout rooms” when caucus is requested.
Taking mediations online meant that confidentiality needed to be addressed differently than for in-person mediations. Prior to her first teleconference mediation, Olga and Eric modified the program’s confidentiality agreement to explicitly prohibit recording audio of the mediation. As Olga needed to monitor the mediation for any issues or caucus requests, she signed the confidentiality agreement along with the parties and the mediator. Because it was unusual to listen in on a mediation, she also decided to provide a greater sense of confidentiality to the parties by muting the conversation and responding to mediator requests for help over chat.
Another issue that arose was how to deal with sharing documents during mediation. These documents are generally brought to mediation, but due to the privacy and security issues that were being raised about Zoom, the team decided that the borrowers would submit their documents to Olga prior to mediation, who would then redact them and email them to the mediator.
Phase III: Planning for the Future
Phase III is similar to Phase II, but with the addition of planning for the courts reopening and the expected new foreclosure crisis that will result from the pandemic. The team has also started taking stock of what will be needed if the courts must suspend operations again. Both are also using this time to update forms and revise their informational materials as they prepare for new enrollees.
But planning for the future is what differentiates this phase from the last. As unemployment numbers soared and the banks used forbearances as never before, the team began to suspect that a new foreclosure crisis is looming on the horizon. They have begun speaking with the housing counselors they work with and with housing experts to get a clearer picture of what they might be facing.
The court in Lake County is also thinking ahead and judges have asked RSI to figure out what will be needed when the foreclosure crisis hits. The team is in a good position to do this. Because RSI tracked a lot of data during the height of the last foreclosure crisis, the team knows what percentage of cases will be mediated and thus how many mediators will be needed. They also know what supporting technologies, such as intake portals and case management systems, will be beneficial and what could be improved.
Because they have been through a foreclosure crisis before, collected data and made changes to improve their programs, and most of all have a process in place already, Kevin and Olga are much better positioned to confront the next foreclosure crisis than the last one. But there are still some unknowns. How are the federal and state governments going to respond? Will programs be put in place to help homeowners, as they were last time? And if so, what will those programs look like? Susan points to these questions as the new challenge for the team.
The Next Phase
We’re all still working in a world in which we don’t know what the new normal will be or when it will even come. Indeed, Illinois just extended its stay-at-home order for another month, meaning the team will once again have to respond to changing circumstances. So in part, the team is still in Phase I, dealing with the unknown. This means that for the foreseeable future, they will still be facing the biggest challenge identified by Eric: trying to anticipate new issues and address them before they arise.
Due to COVID-19, courts across the country have suspended in-person operations. In response, courts are in the process of transitioning their in-person court ADR programs to video or telephonic services. Courts that are currently working on implementing online dispute resolution (ODR) programs may find that Michigan’s experience with ODR can provide helpful insight for their own state’s programs.
In August 2019, I reported that the Michigan Supreme Court had launched MI-Resolve, a free ODR tool, in 17 Michigan counties. In January 2020, the Michigan Supreme Court Administrators Office of Dispute Resolution released Considerations in Implementing Court ODR Systems. Written by Doug Van Epps, Director of the Michigan Supreme Court’s Office of Dispute Resolution, and Michelle Hilliker, the Office’s Financial and Statistical Management Analyst, this guide focuses on a variety of considerations that may assist courts when assessing how to design, implement and evaluate an ODR system. All the considerations identified are either issues the Michigan Supreme Court Office of Dispute Resolution encountered when implementing MI-Resolve or lessons the Office learned from discussions with court administrators and ADR professionals across the country. Curious to learn more about what the process of launching an ODR program is like, this month I reached out to Doug Van Epps and Michelle Hilliker with a few questions.
NW: For those unfamiliar with MI-Resolve, can you explain how it works? What is the user experience like?
DVE & MH: MI-Resolve is a mirror image, with refinements, of the experience a person involved in a conflict would have in contacting a dispute resolution center (DRC). Traditionally, a person calls a DRC, shares their story and the DRC contacts the other party to see if they would like to mediate. Sometimes the parties resolve the matter without a mediator, but more often, the case is assigned to a mediator, and the parties meet face-to-face. The matter is resolved about 75 percent of the time.
In MI-Resolve, after the parties have written a few sentences outlining their conflict, they directly negotiate with each other. If the matter is the subject of a pending court case or if there have been no communications for a number of days, a mediator is automatically assigned. The parties communicate through email-style messages on the platform, and the system alerts the parties when a new message is available to read. At any point, the parties and mediator can elect to have a Zoom videoconference off the platform, or meet face-to-face. During negotiation and mediation, documents and photographs can be exchanged on the platform as well as offers and counter-offers. Caucus is as easy as one party or the mediator sending a message that is seen only by that party and the mediator. Upon reaching an agreement, parties sign electronically, and the mediator uses the system to prepare the appropriate court forms for the court in which the dispute is pending.
NW: What types of cases are using MI-Resolve and how did you decide which cases to start with?
DVE & MH: More than anything, we consider MI-Resolve to be a response to the burgeoning Access to Justice crisis in the United States, where a significant portion of the population simply cannot afford lawyers and are terrified of courts and the legal system. So we began with the cases in which lawyers are rarely present, e.g., small claims, landlord/tenant, minor general civil, and neighborhood disputes. Importantly, MI-Resolve is accessible without having to file a case in court. We are hoping that the system will help people resolve their issues “upstream” before conflicts get to the flashpoint of parties having to file in court.
NW: Overall, how long did it take for MI-Resolve to launch?
DVE & MH: We started with a vendor’s platform that served a different purpose than our intended use. It included only two parties: a defendant having received a traffic citation, and court staff that would negotiate plea bargain proposals. Extensive modification of the platform was necessary to create a system that allowed for a plaintiff and defendant in other court actions, and a mediator. The modification process took approximately one year, however after that, new sites have come online in less than one month.
NW: Are you finding that using ODR is increasing or decreasing court costs?
DVE & MH: As has been historically the case with evaluating the cost savings of ADR systems and processes, it will likely be difficult to calculate cost savings of ODR systems. Court ODR operates in an environment where there are tremendous fixed costs: salaries of judges, magistrates, referees, administrators, clerks, are all fixed, as are utilities and many other costs. Unless ODR is used to the point that staff reductions result, direct savings to courts may be difficult to calculate. That said, in the online traffic citation systems, if a significant number of citations are plea-bargained, direct savings may result from funding units’ paying fewer police officer overtime costs to attend hearings.
NW: What would you say is the greatest savings from ODR?
DVE & MH: The greatest savings may be to the public in avoiding taking time from work to go to court, pay for parking and possibly childcare, and transportation, among other costs. We do hope to gauge these savings in a future evaluation of the system.
NW: What resources were most helpful to you all when working on MI-Resolve?
DVE & MH: Our very best resource was having one highly enthusiastic DRC executive director who spent countless hours with us discussing, implementing, and then testing the new configurations, helping to evaluate how the system managed disputes online. No less important, however, was our having a Deputy State Court Administrator who tirelessly worked to secure funds for the program through the legislature. It didn’t hurt at all to also have a State Court Administrator who, as a sitting judge, had previously referred hundreds of cases to his local DRC.
NW: Is there a court rule for ODR yet? If not, is one in the works?
DVE & MH: Michigan didn’t need any additional court rules to implement MI-Resolve. Our 30-year old Community Dispute Resolution Program provided a substantial time-tested framework on which to build the system, and Michigan Court Rules authorized judges to have case referral relationships with our 17 centers. Our initial vision was that litigants could voluntarily use the system. As a result of the COVID-19 crisis and the expected backlog of cases and likely influx of new cases, it’s likely we’ll be piloting the system to accommodate mandatory use by the courts.
NW: What was it like to train mediators to use ODR? Have there been any difficulties you have encountered?
DVE & MH: After the DRC administrative staff select their mediators, training is conducted online using Zoom. Three classes are provided. The first two were created for the DRC system administrators: a one-hour session that includes an overview of the platform, and a two-hour session focused on recruiting qualified mediators, the administrative functions of the system, and assigning mediators to cases. The final three-hour session is for the mediators and covers how to use the system and considerations for writing agreements.
The mediators mediating on the platform must be comfortable with technology and have excellent writing and grammar skills. We have found that individuals that have the most confidence using technology have an easier time on the platform. We have had just a few mediators who, after going through the training, decided that they are not comfortable mediating online and prefer to continue their work as an in-person mediator.
NW: If you could go back, what do you know now that you wish you had known before you started working on MI-Resolve?
DVE & MH: We by far underestimated the amount of time we would be spending designing, implementing, and testing the system. This was likely due to the fact that Michigan was the first statewide project using a network of dispute resolution centers the vendor developed. Court Innovations was very amenable to building the system to our specifications, so our significant investment of time and resources in the design, testing, and implementation phases resulted in a product we believe will provide a great service to Michigan residents.
NW: What were the biggest obstacles you faced when launching MI-Resolve?
DVE & MH: We have not had any significant obstacles. The challenge going forward lies chiefly in marketing the system to courts and the public, just as we encountered three decades ago in launching face-to-face mediation services. We have not yet moved to piloting mandatory ODR as some states are doing, but that is also a likely option for us, particularly as we quickly move to expand the service to all our DRCs to manage what may be a backlog of pending cases, and an influx of new cases as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our vendor is working hard to bring all of our DRCs up months earlier than originally expected.
NW: What surprised you the most when working on MI-Resolve?
DVE & MH: We didn’t encounter any particular surprises. We weren’t quite sure how mediators trained in the traditional face-to-face facilitative mediation model might take to the system, but so far, the mediators participating in the training sessions have expressed a high degree of enthusiasm.
NW: The two of you have created a terrific resource, Considerations in Implementing Court ODR Systems. Of all the considerations you identify, which would you consider to be the most important?
DVE & MH: Undoubtedly, like every other publication of the last 35 years suggesting how ADR programs are best begun, the notion of having a high level “cheerleader” is important. Michigan’s Chief Justice Bridget McCormack and former State Court Administrator Milton Mack, Jr. have been exceptionally strong supporters of online dispute resolution as a means of addressing Access to Justice considerations. Their support has been key to our moving forward and creating enthusiasm among the local trial courts, online legal services providers (MichiganLegalHelp.org) and others.
Second, courts need to determine whether they just want to dispose of cases, or actually help people resolve disputes. While the experience of e-commerce is often cited as a touchstone for courts to draw on in building online systems, e-commerce systems are focused on disposition, not necessarily case resolution. Most, if not all, have binding arbitration as the final step in their processes. Anyone who has ever stepped a foot into a courtroom knows that just because a case is disposed or closed does not mean that a dispute is resolved. MI-Resolve breaks with the e-commerce systems in that it aims to actually help people communicate and develop a resolution they can live with and move on with their lives.
NW: For courts considering launching ODR due to COVID-19, how might your resource Considerations in Implementing Court ODR Systems be most helpful to them?
DVE & MH: As we write, we are very deeply involved in our office’s efforts to provide guidance on how to provide court services during “stay at home” executive branch orders, and how to prepare for managing the significant backlog of cases and predicted significant influx of new filings when courts “re-open” their doors in the weeks ahead. Courts may be operating with reduced staff, backlogs of paper and e-filed pleadings, and budget holds, among other things. Our best counsel may be to promote ODR systems as part of the solution to addressing both any backlog and influx of cases. The caveat here is that there are many factors to consider in designing, implementing, and testing ODR systems, and that time and financial resources are needed to implement a quality system.
We can also share that all DRCs, whether having implemented MI-Resolve or not are open for business during the COVID-19 pandemic and are successfully mediating cases online through Zoom. To assist in their efforts to quickly train mediators, our office developed the following resource: “Using Zoom to Conduct Online Mediation: Considerations and Resources for Community Dispute Resolution Program Centers.”
With the COVID-19 epidemic leading courts to cease in-person activities, courts may be feeling a greater urgency to start down the path of online dispute resolution programs. I thought I’d share some resources that may help courts to make decisions regarding whether and how to implement such programs.
Online Dispute Resolution Special Topic
Resolution Systems Institute
RSI has written a guide for courts who are considering, have started developing or already have ODR programs. It discusses important considerations for ODR implementation, from goal setting to costs to ethical concerns.
Read RSI’s advice about ODR on our website.
Considerations in Implementing Court ODR Systems
Doug Van Epps and Michelle Hilliker. Michigan Supreme Court State Court Administrators Office of Dispute Resolution. Jan. 6, 2020
Van Epps and Hilliker share their insights and the knowledge gained from their development and implementation of ODR in the Michigan courts in this guide. Based on both the issues they encountered and their discussions with others involved in implementing ODR systems, their considerations are meant to assist courts to determine how to design, implement and evaluate an online dispute resolution (ODR) system.
The considerations span a variety of topics including leadership and court staff; prospective users and stakeholders; goals; implementing authority and legal implications administration; platform attributes and functions; mediators; non-court dispute resolution service staff; costs, fees and funding sources; confidentiality; protections; vendor selection; data collection and evaluation; and marketing plans. The guide also includes a list of recent ODR publications and resources.
Access the Considerations document on Michigan’s Supreme Court State Court Administrator’s Office website.
Case Studies in ODR for Courts
Joint Technology Committee, 2020
This paper presents seven case studies of ODR implementation in the courts. The case studies are short, but include key takeaways about what worked and what didn’t. The ODR programs include two outside the US, and deal with small claims, family, tax and traffic cases.
Read the case studies.
Online Dispute Resolution: A Digital Door to Justice or Pandora’s Box? Parts I and II
Doug McQuiston and Sharon Sturges, Colorado Lawyer, February and March, 2020.
McQuiston and Sturges are in the midst of publishing a three-part series on ODR in the courts that examines the use of videoconferenced mediation. They note that videoconferencing may be appropriate for family cases and those involving intimate partner violence. The main obstacle to providing this service is limited or poor internet connectivity.
Part II focuses on the use of artificial intelligence in ODR. McQuiston and Sturges cite the many benefits of AI-assisted ODR for small claims and family cases, such as the ability to negotiate asynchronously, which eliminates the need to coordinate schedules. Self-represented litigants who may be reluctant to attend mediation without an attorney may be more inclined to use this technology. Further, they can save money by using this technology. McQuiston and Sturges note some drawbacks, however. These include AI’s inability to understand and address human emotions and its tendency to deviate to the mean, without reference to shades of gray in disputes or situational fairness. To help readers understand how AI in ODR would work, they end by describing systems already in place around the world.
Read Part I and Part II of the series. Part III is forthcoming in April.
Designing and Implementing a State Court ODR System: From Disappointment to Celebration
David Allen Larson, Journal of Dispute Resolution, Vol. 2019, No. 2, Jun. 5, 2019
This article chronicles the author’s work to develop an online dispute resolution (ODR) system to handle credit card debt collection in New York State courts. The author worked with the New York State Unified Court system for a little over two years to design and implement their ODR platform. The article discusses the issues related to dispute system design in this setting, explains how the project was derailed and ends with lessons learned. The four lessons discussed are (1) anticipate conflicts and resistance (2) obtain support from judges and court staff at the beginning (3) figure out the technology while also ensuring a fair vendor bidding process and (4) pick your case type carefully.
The article also touches on some issues specific to ODR such as how ODR relates to a court system that is not fully digitized and how long to retain records of online communications. It also offers general advice, such as recommending that ODR processes should “balance efficiencies, neutrality and self-determination.”
Read the full article on SSRN.
Pouring a Little Psychological Cold Water on ODR
Jean Sternlight, Journal of Dispute Resolution, 2020
This article explores online dispute resolution (ODR) from a psychological lens to examine the strengths and weakness of ODR. The article examines the psychology of dispute resolution by focusing on four different areas: the psychology of perception and memory, the psychology of human wants, the psychology of communication, and judgment and decision making. Sternlight’s article suggests that ODR may not be the best tool to assist individuals in creatively working things out with a fellow disputant and may be better employed for small and predictable disputes, like small online purchases. The article also posits that computers may not be the best forum for communication and argues that human mediators, lawyers or friends are more effective than computers in helping humans deal with their emotions and other judgement and decision-making issues. Sternlight ends by calling for empirical research for both online and in-person dispute resolution.
Read the full article on SSRN.
So far, there have been few published studies of online dispute resolution programs in the courts. Below are two conducted a while back.
Getting Divorced Online: Procedural and Outcome Justice in Online Divorce Mediation
Martin Gramatikov and Laura Klaming, Journal of Law & Family Studies, Jan. 1, 2012
This study of a Dutch experiment with ODR for divorcing couples found that the participants perceived the process to be fair, with procedural fairness, interpersonal justice and informational justice all given high marks. On a scale of 1 to 5, they had averages of 4.27, 4.5 and 4.19, respectively. The participants’ perception of the outcome was also positive, though to a lesser extent than for the procedure. They gave an average of 3.91 for distributive justice, 3.37 for restorative justice, 3.18 for functionality and 3.0 for transparency. The ratings were similar for both men and women. Other findings included men reporting higher out of pocket costs and time spent in mediation than women, and women reporting higher levels of frustration and anger than men.
The participants were referred to ODR, which was provided free of charge, if both parties had an email account and the issues were not complex. Once referred, the parties completed an intake questionnaire to provide the mediator with some details about the dispute. The parties could communicate with the mediator and each other via text message or email. The mediator moderated all communications. Each party was required to respond to the other within 48 hours as a condition of the agreement to mediate. Once all issues in dispute were finalized, the parties completed an evaluation of the procedure before the agreement could be finalized.
Read the complete abstract and access the full study in RSI’s Research Library.
Evaluation of the Small Claims Online Dispute Resolution Pilot
Marc Mason, Avrom Sherr. Sep. 1, 2008
Two courts in England tested online mediation to resolve 25 small claims cases. Those parties who were willing to try mediation were given the option of mediating face-to-face, by telephone, or online. Two mediators were responsible for all online mediations, which were conducted using TheMediationRoom.com.
The online mediations resulted in settlement in 48% of the cases, which was similar to the settlement rate for the face-to-face and telephone mediations, but lower than other small claims mediation programs have reported. Mediators and parties were surveyed post-mediation about their experiences with the process. Mediators reported using more than one method of communication outside TheMediationRoom.com platform – generally email or telephone – to complete the mediation in most cases, and as many settlements were completed outside the platform as within it. The mediators attributed this to difficulties in getting responses from the defendants, as well as to technical difficulties. Because of this and because they lacked the ability to judge non-verbal cues, the mediators said they would have preferred using telephone or email in all but four cases.
The 18 parties who responded to the questionnaire were less frustrated with their experience than the mediators. They expressed fewer issues with the technology, with 47% saying the technology was easy to use. However, they were not overwhelmingly satisfied with the process or the fairness of the outcome. Only 53% were satisfied with their experience and only 23% felt the outcome was fair. Responses to both satisfaction and fairness of outcome were more positive for those who settled their case. The small number of responses limits the reliability of these findings.
Read the full study on SSRN.
Shuttle and Online Mediation: A Review of Available Research and Implications for Separating Couples Reporting Intimate Partner Violence or Abuse
Fernanda S. Rossi, Amy Holtzworth-Munroe, Amy G. Applegate, Connie J. Beck, Jeannie M. Adams, Darrell F. Hale. Family Court Review (Association of Family and Conciliation Courts), Aug. 17, 2017
This article examines the published research on shuttle mediation, online audio-visual mediation, and online text-based mediation to discuss the applicability of these mediation methods to family law cases with a history of intimate partner violence and/or abuse (IPV/A). It first presents potential advantages and disadvantages of each mediation method in cases with IPV/A history. The authors suggest that mediators on IPV/A cases must carefully consider a variety of potential issues including the parties’ suspicion of mediator bias, confidentiality concerns and victim-perpetrator power dynamics. The authors also note the need for more empirical research comparing different effects of various mediation methods.
This article is behind a paywall on the Wiley Online Library.
Building Trust Online: The Realities of Telepresence for Mediators Engaged in Online Dispute Resolution,
Susan Nauss Exon and Soomi Lee. Stetson Law Review, Vol 49, No. 1, 2019
Exon and Lee found that trust in an experienced mediator is the same whether a mediation participant interacts with that mediator via video or face-to-face. In their experiment, a single experienced mediator conducted 31 simulated mediations with one party in the room with him and the other interacting via telepresence. Telepresence is sophisticated video conferencing, in which sensitive microphones and special cameras that pan and zoom are used to help participants follow the flow of the conversation.
During the experiment, the participants were asked to complete a questionnaire before the mediation began that measured their level of interpersonal trust. They then completed a second questionnaire after mediation that asked them about their interactions with the mediator and their perceptions of him in order to determine how much they trusted him and found him to be trustworthy. In all, 59 participants provided usable data.
Nauss Exon and Lee found that although the participants’ questionnaire responses before mediation indicated they were on average more likely to distrust others than trust them, all participants agreed mildly or strongly that they could trust the mediator and that the mediator was trustworthy. Further, they found no difference in the level of response (mild or strong) between those who were in the same room as the mediator and those who participated via telepresence, with one exception. They found that those who had a lower predisposition to trust were more likely to see the mediator as trustworthy.
Read the full study on SSRN.
ADR Empirical Research Studies
James Coben and Donna Steinstra. Mitchell Hamline Dispute Resolution Institute, Jun. 1, 2018
This compilation of abstracted studies includes a number on topics that are related to the use of ODR. These include:
Find the abstracted studies on the Mitchell Hamline website.
