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…)
