WASHINGTON, D.C., March 24, 2010 --- With an increasing number of states legalizing gay marriage, dissolution of same-sex relationships may soon present lawyers with unfamiliar terrain. This and other issues, including reforming commercial arbitration, online dispute resolution and healthcare, will be discussed at the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution 12th Annual Spring Conference April 7-10. The conference is to be held at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco, located at 5 Embarcadero Center in San Francisco.
Keynote speakers include Lawrence E. Susskind, Ford professor of urban development and planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who will speak about strategies in settling disagreements involving values — such as those related to abortion or gun control. Also speaking will be Thomas J. Stipanowich, William H. Webster chair in dispute resolution and professor of law at Pepperdine University School of Law, and Dr. Frederic Luskin of Stanford University.
An "Annual Symposium on Court ADR" will be held April 7 from 10:30 a.m. — 5:45 p.m. The symposium will focus on innovations and technology, as well as ways to improve court-annexed and court-directed alternative dispute resolution processes.
A variety of law professors will come together at the Legal Educator's Colloquium on April 10, to debate and discuss teaching tactics and the future of ADR practice. Topics range from making a negotiations class more creative to applying neuroscience in the field. The event is co-sponsored by the Association of American Law Schools Section on Alternative Dispute Resolution and the Northern California Legal Educators. It features professors from University of California Hastings College of Law, UC Davis School of Law, UCLA School of Law and, Stanford Law School among others.
For more information on the 12th Annual Spring Conference, please click here.
Key programs include:
April 8:
The Obama Administration and Collaborative Government
Negotiation Pedagogy in China
Mandatory Employment Arbitration
Disputes, Elder Abuse Cases and Adult Family Elder Mediation
"Whiskey is for Drinking and Water is for Fighting" -- Does Mediation Work in Large Scale Water Disputes?
A New Level of Dialogue Between Litigators and Mediators: A Conversation with Some of San Francisco's Finest Mediation Advocates
Interest Arbitration and the Employee Free Choice Act
Measuring the Impact of the California Dispute Resolution Council on Conflict Resolution in California
Measuring Healthcare Disputes and Conflicts that Arise in Hospital Settings
Online Dispute Resolution by Federal Agencies
Lawyers in Asian Arbitration: A Comparative Look at Techniques, Approaches and Trends in Major Jurisdictions
April 9:
How to Cost Effectively Deal with E-Discovery in Employment ADR Cases
A Hybrid ADR Process: Judges and Mediators Collaborate
Mediating Same-Sex Dissolutions in an Era of Legal Uncertainty
Conflict, Governance and Free Speech
Party Participation in Mediation
Resolving Construction Disputes in the Recession Trifecta
Negotiating Labor and Employment Disputes in the Shadow of the Employee Free Choice Act
The Art and the Practice of Mediation in Hong Kong, China and Korea
Applying New Understandings from the Behavioral Neurosciences in Conflict Resolution Practice
The Section of Dispute Resolution, established in 1993, is one of the ABA's newest and fastest growing sections with over 19,000 members already. The section's objectives include maintaining the ABA's national leadership role in the dispute resolution field; providing information and technical assistance to members, legislators, government departments and the general public on all aspects of dispute resolution; studying existing methods for the prompt and effective resolution of disputes; adapting current legal procedures to accommodate court-annexed and court-directed dispute resolution processes; activating state and local bar involvement in dispute resolution, conducting public and professional education programs and conducting a program of research and development including programmatic and legislative models.
With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.
