As a follow-up to last week’s post about interpreter services being required for all mediations, I’d like to pass along a fascinating article titled The Politics and Power of Plain Language by Jane M. Siegel, a professor at Thomas M. Cooley Law School (hat tip to Richard Zorza for highlighting this article in his recent post). Siegel references The Plain Writing Act of 2010, which requires federal agencies to write all new informational or filing documents, including (more…)
Archive for the ‘Policy-making’ Category
Speak Justly: Mediators and the Plain Language Movement
Just Court ADR, August 25th, 2011Requiring Court ADR Programs to Provide Interpreters: Increasing Access to Justice, and Costs
Just Court ADR, August 19th, 2011This month’s “Be Neutral” newsletter from the Georgia Office of Dispute Resolution highlighted the Georgia Supreme Court’s revised rule on providing interpreter services for people with limited English proficiency. The rule now requires the court to provide free access to interpreters for all court-managed functions, including court alternative dispute resolution programs. (more…)
Future Justice? Online Dispute Resolution and Access to Justice*
Just Court ADR, August 8th, 2011Recently, the Internet Bar Organization hosted a fascinating online discussion entitled The Future of Justice: How Technology is Shaping the Dispute Resolution EcoSystem. The four speakers—two from the U.S., one from India, and one from China—highlighted the promising characteristics of online dispute resolution systems that could lead to greater access to justice for millions of global consumers. They also addressed some, though not all, of the challenges online dispute resolution presents to the justice landscape.
First, they drew a helpful distinction between (more…)
Suing for the Right to Victim-Offender Mediation
Just Court ADR, July 20th, 2011A fascinating story came out of Texas this week (via the Courthouse News Service, BBC and The New York Times, among others) about the victim of a shooting spree who is seeking a stay of execution for his attacker. Among his reasons for doing so is that he wants the chance to sit down at a mediation table with the attacker and talk about the crime that ties them together. (more…)
