During a recent day of strategic planning at RSI, one of the ideas our staff explored was how alternative dispute resolution (ADR) helps to increase access to justice (ATJ or A2J). This idea is close to my heart; improving the accessibility of our justice system has been a passion of mine for years and has driven my decisions to attend law school, train as a mediator, and ultimately, join RSI’s team. (more…)
Archive for the ‘Program Design’ Category
Designing Access: Introduction to a Three-Part Series
Just Court ADR, November 19th, 2015Turning Arbitration into a Political Football
Susan M. Yates, November 6th, 2015Did you read the three articles on arbitration The New York Times published on October 31, November 1 and November 2? They tell a series of horror stories about arbitrations in employment, consumer and religious settings. I was sorely disappointed by them because they continued the trend to politicize arbitration.
This trend toward treating arbitration as political football didn’t just start last week in the Times. For some time now, one side has painted arbitration as bad for consumers because it limits class actions. They contend that class actions tackle the small issues that no individual would litigate. They say they help keep big corporations honest. Another side has said arbitration is good for consumers because it is less expensive and more accessible than litigation. They contend that class actions are bad for consumers because when class action litigation settles, the consumers may receive small gift certificates while the lawyers get big legal fees. See, for example, this article by the US Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform in response to the Times articles.
Here’s the thing: arbitration is not the problem. (more…)
What is Court ADR? Clearing Up Some Misconceptions
Jennifer Shack, October 2nd, 2015How can you make good decisions if the information you have is limited or wrong? That’s the question that drove me to the fields of research and program evaluation – good policy and effective programs are passions of mine, and there’s no way to have either without accurate, reliable information. It’s also the question that ran through my head as I read the article, “To Mediate in Court or out of Court, that is the Question” in Financier Worldwide. In the article, the author distinguishes between court and private mediation in a way that is not consistent with the wide variety of court and private mediation that exists in the United States. The article provides a good example of the misconceptions I often see in articles about mediation, misconceptions that can lead to poor decisions about the use of mediation. (more…)
Ensuring Safety in Family Cases: Screening for Intimate Partner Violence
Jennifer Shack, August 28th, 2015While the debate continues as to whether cases in which a party has alleged intimate partner violence (IPV) should be mediated, new research adds to the evidence that current screening may not be identifying all family cases in which violence has occurred in the relationship. As discussed in, “Detection of Intimate Partner Violence and Recommendation for Joint Family Mediation: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Two Screening Measures” (21 Psychol. Pub. Pol’y & L. 239) [subscription required], the researchers found that when ADR program staff used a common type of screening procedure, reports of IPV were lower than when using a screen that asked more specific questions about what occurred in the relationship. (more…)
