Just Court ADR

Our series My Favorite Resource, features interviews with ADR friends across the country to learn about their favorite resources. This month, I spoke with Cassie Lively, Executive Director at the Center for Conflict Resolution, to learn about her favorite ADR resource.

NW: What is one of your favorite ADR resources?

CL:  My favorite resource is the Virtual Library offered by the National Association for Community Mediation (NAFCM).

NW: Why do you value this particular resource?

CL:  NAFCM provides a range of resources for community mediation centers, and the virtual library is one that I reference all the time. There are great tools for new community mediation centers that are developing their governance structure and policies. For more established centers like the Center for Conflict Resolution, there are program-specific resources, training tools, and ideas for expansion and best practices. NAFCM is always looking for new additions to the resource center, so if you have simulations, evaluations, best practices, case studies, or anything else to share, please e-mail admin@nafcm.org. 

NW: How did you first learn about this resource?

CL:  CCR has been a NAFCM member center for many years. When I was first training as a case manager at CCR, I used NAFCM tools as I was learning more about community mediation, and have always been grateful for their resources over the years as CCR has expanded our mediation programs. This year, I am fortunate to be serving as co-chair of NAFCM’s Board.

NW: For those unfamiliar with this resource, what is one part of this resource you wouldn’t want someone to miss?

CL: Toolkits from NAFCM’s grant program, funded by the JAMS Foundation, are a highlight of the Virtual Library. Toolkits cover topics including branding for community mediation centers, legislative advocacy, building mediation programs to work with veterans, program sustainability, and working in partnership with law enforcement. The newest resource, on working with older adult populations, just became available. The great thing about the resources that are built through this program is how timely they are – each year, a group of community mediation centers works on a project that is very relevant for the field and for the clients we serve.

Our series My Favorite Resource, features interviews with ADR friends across the country to learn about their favorite resources. This month, I spoke with Alyson Carrel, RSI Board Member and Clinical Associate Professor and Assistant Director of Northwestern Pritzker School of Law’s Center on Negotiation and Mediation, to learn about her favorite ADR resource.

NW: What is one of your favorite ADR resources?

AC: One of my favorite ADR resources is the Dispute Resolution Resources for Legal Educators section of the University of Missouri Law School’s Center for the Study of Dispute Resolution website.

NW: Why do you value this particular resource?

AC:  This resource is a one-stop-shop with almost everything a person might need when they take on the daunting task of teaching or teaching a new class for the first time. While some textbooks include a teacher’s manual with a sample syllabus and a set of exercises, not all textbooks do. And even those that do present a single perspective on how best to teach a subject. But this website provides sample syllabi from multiple legal educators across the country (and the world) for multiple courses (including unique iterations of those courses). For instance, there are at least 30 mediation syllabi posted on the website, and another 30 syllabi for more unusual or specialized courses such as “Mediation and Collaborative Lawyering: Consensual Dispute Resolution” or “Introduction to Dispute Resolution in Healthcare.”

NW: How did you first learn about this resource?

AC: This resource is regularly referenced on its corresponding listserv, Dispute Resolution for Legal Educators listserv (DRLE), yet another fantastic resource available through Missouri’s website. The listserv is a place for individuals teaching a Dispute Resolution course in the legal education context to ask questions, provide answers, and share new information and tidbits. (Those interested in applying to the listserv can email listserv@po.missouri.edu and in the body of the email write: subscribe DRLE.)

NW: For those unfamiliar with this resource, what is one part of this resource you wouldn’t want someone to miss?

AC: I would absolutely make sure to check out the Teaching Materials section of the website. I previously described the extensive set of simulations and exercises posted on the site, but you will also find links to other teaching resources compiled by the ABA, Suffolk University and more. Instead of having to remember all the different resources out there, Missouri has gathered them all in one place: Dwight Golann’s “class in a box” provides a folder with simulations, teaching notes and corresponding videos; the ABA has a list of exercises for “lawyer as problem-solver”; and Mitchell-Hamline’s video re-enactments of legal cases involving mediation ethics.

I often receive emails from individuals teaching for the first time, asking me for advice and guidance. The first thing I do is send them to this site. It is simply the best and most comprehensive site for ADR teaching resources.

Our series My Favorite Resource, features interviews with ADR friends across the country to learn about their favorite resources. This month, I spoke with James Alfini, RSI Board Member and Dean Emeritus and Professor of Law at South Texas College of Law, to learn about his favorite resource.

NW: What is one of your favorite ADR resources?

JA: My favorite resource is the Center for Judicial Ethics (CJE) at the National Center for State Courts (NCSC). The Director of the CJE is Cynthia Gray who had been at the helm for well over twenty years when the CJE was located at the American Judicature Society. When AJS was dissolved a few years ago, soon after it had celebrated its 100^th anniversary, Cindy Gray and the CJE moved to the NCSC.

NW: How did you first learn about the Judicial Ethics Center?

JA: I worked at the American Judicature Society (AJS) in the 1970s and 1980s and helped to organize the Center for Judicial Conduct Organizations, the predecessor of the Center for Judicial Ethics. AJS, as the premier court reform organization in the twentieth century, had been the catalyst for the establishment of state judicial conduct organizations to receive, investigate, and prosecute charges of judicial misconduct. These were viewed as necessary counterparts to judicial independence to insure that judges were not only independent but accountable to the public and would be held to high standards of conduct. The first judicial conduct organization was established in California in 1961. There are now state level judicial disciplinary organizations in every state and the District of Columbia. The CJE serves a very valuable function in reviewing and cataloging the decisions of the judicial conduct organizations and state high courts. These decisions are based on the judicial ethics rules adopted in each state, and usually referred to as the code of judicial conduct for that state.

NW: Why do you value this particular resource?

JA: The Center for Judicial Ethics is the national clearinghouse for information on judicial ethics and discipline. It is an essential resource for the state judicial conduct organizations in researching instances of judicial misconduct and applying relevant provisions of the code of judicial conduct. It is also the key resource for me and my co-authors of our treatise, Judicial Conduct and Ethics, which is currently in its 5^th edition. The CJE also publishes the Judicial Conduct Reporter and other materials on judicial ethics. It responds each year to numerous inquiries from citizens, journalists, lawyers, court administrators and judges. Every other year CJE holds a national conference on judicial conduct and ethics.

NW: What interests you most about judicial ethics?

JA: In a democratic society, it is essential that we have an impartial judiciary of great integrity. That is, a judiciary that is beyond reproach and worthy of the public trust. Standards of judicial ethics permit us to hold our judges accountable and thus worthy of that public trust. It is an essential tool in holding judges accountable for their actions and is thus an important counterpart to the independent judiciary we value in a democratic society.

NW: For those unfamiliar with the Judicial Ethics Center, what’s one aspect of the Center that you wouldn’t want someone new to the resource to miss?

JA: For my colleagues in the court ADR field, I would stress that there are intersections between judicial ethics and court ADR. For example, a provision in the code of judicial conduct in most states requires judges to make appointments impartially and avoid the appearance of favoritism. This would include the appointment of mediators and other dispute resolvers. In Texas, ethical concerns about judicial selection of mediators (often turning on whether the mediator contributed to the judge’s re-election campaign) prompted the passing of a state statute, which mirrored the ethics rule (requiring fairness and transparency in the selection of mediators). The CJE thus offers the court ADR community an important resource on judicial ethics rules and cases.

Our series My Favorite Resource, features interviews with our ADR friends across the country to learn about their favorite ADR resources. This month, Resource Center Director Nicole Wilmet spoke with D.G. Mawn, National Association of Community Mediation, to learn about his favorite resource.

NW: What is one of your favorite ADR resources?

DM: One of my favorite resources is the NAFCM On Demand webinars.

NW: Why do you value this particular resource?

DM: The On Demand feature is great for several reasons. First, if I am not able to listen in on the second Thursday of the month, I can listen to the webinars at times that are convenient for me.  Secondly, I get a second chance to listen and hear things I generally miss the first time. Thirdly, the On Demand feature helps me with an easy tool for training inspiration. There are 85 webinars presently housed for continual usage.

NW: How did you first learn about this resource?

DM: I first learned of this resource when I joined NAFCM in 2011 and listened to the webinar provided by Elaine Dickhoner, “Put Community First in Your Mediation Center,” in early 2012.

NW: For those unfamiliar with this resource, what is one part of this resource that you wouldn’t want someone to miss?

DM: The opportunity for continual learning, both as a listener and as a presenter. NAFCM webinars include a wide range of presenters, many of whom are practitioners in the field of community mediation. If you have something you want to share, please contact NAFCM to let them know. This is a great platform for expanding knowledge and creating connections.

If you have a favorite resource you would like to share in an upcoming edition of our newsletter and on our blog, please reach out to our Resource Center Director and Court ADR Connection Editor, Nicole Wilmet at nwilmet@aboutrsi.org!