A recent article in the Lawyers Journal published by the Allegheny County Bar Association, “Early Neutral Evaluation in the Western District of PA,”[1] addressed the early neutral evaluation (ENE) and mediation opportunities that are part of the mandatory ADR program in the U.S.
I find it surprising that sometimes people do not appreciate that mediation is an artform. There are some who hold the misguided view that mediation is simply another form of court-directed settlement conference. However, mediation is not a settlement conference.
We had a very productive business meeting at ABI’s Annual Spring Meeting, where we discussed a number of issues, including:
Editor's Note: This article was originally published in the January 2018 edition of the Global Restructuring Review (GRR).
In December, 2016, the executive committee of ABI’s Board of Directors created the ABI Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy. The Commission is comprised of seventeen members charged with examining the consumer bankruptcy system and delivering a report in December 2018 with recommended improvements.
On June 12, 2017, the American Bar Association’s Section of Dispute Resolution published its “Report of the Task Force on Research on Mediator Techniques.” Notably, this report makes no reference to any research on bankruptcy mediation — not even a single study.
The Mediation Committee looks forward to another productive year. Our ABI-published mediation book, Bankruptcy Mediation, is an excellent resource for mediators and representatives of parties in mediation.
In 2009, I had a summer intern and together we spent the entire summer compiling an outline summarizing the contents of local rules concerning the use of mediation and other ADR processes in bankruptcy courts throughout the nation (I did some other stuff too like having lunch in the park instead of at my desk). This was long a project on the bucket list of the former ADR Committee of the Ameri
We are pleased to report that many bankruptcy judges responded to our survey on the use of mediation in their courts. The response rate was 26 percent, and we are told this is a very high rate of return. We appreciate the time and effort each of the participating judges expended in this effort and hope you will find this summary of results to be useful.
The Mediation Committee had a tremendous 2016! We strived to continue to provide our members with enlightening and useful substantive information while also offering enjoyable and valuable social and networking opportunities.
