ADR Section News & Tips October 2019
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This month our focus is on “MENTORING.” The ADR Section wants to encourage less-established Certified Mediators through our Inaugural Mentoring Academy.
ARE YOU A MENTOR OR A MENTEE? Are you still learning the ropes, or do you have wisdom to share? At any stage of your career, you can participate in mentoring. The American Inns of Court describes mentoring as the sharing of knowledge and information from someone more experienced with someone less experienced.
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Why Mentor? Mentors end up honing their own skills, such as active listening and interpersonal relationship building. In addition to lifting up the mentee, involvement with mentoring can help increase the mentor’s sense of self-worth and re-energize his/her own career.
Have You Found Your Mentor or Mentee? The best place to connect for possible mentoring is through your local bar association and professional networking opportunities. Start a group of friends in different practice areas with varied levels of skill to brainstorm and share practice tips. Schedule coffees with attorneys whom you respect and less experienced attorneys who would appreciate guidance.
Mentoring requires a conscious effort to stay in touch and check in. Connecting with others within the legal community is rewarding and builds lasting relationships, as well as establishes a strong professional network.
Take the chance.
It’s Here! Your Chance to Up Your Game. Will you be a part of the
Inaugural Mentoring Academy for Certified Mediators? You don’t want to miss this unparalleled opportunity to learn from the masters. These
seasoned professionals who are deep in the trenches will be available to model intuitive approaches to conflict resolution and provide feed back to you, the next class of dispute resolution practitioners.
Last chance! Space is limited. Earn both Professionalism and Ethics CLE and CME.
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Kim Watson Torres
2019-2020 Section Chair
Torres Mediation Services, Melbourne
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Our faculty members set us apart. Join us at the
Mentoring Academy
on Oct. 25-26, 2019 and expand your competency and experience. Faculty for the 2019 Mediation Academy are among the most experienced mediators in Florida. Some work in large firms and others practice solo. Each is certified as a County, Circuit Civil or Family mediator. View the
brochure
.
COURSE NO. 3260
.
10.0 hours General CLE; 10.0 hours CME
. 1.0 Ethics CLE/CME; 9.0 Professionalism CLE. ADR Section members register for only $390. Non-section-member registration is $425 and includes a one-year section membership.
- Practice techniques and receive live, immediate feedback that will make you a better mediator.
- Learn best practices for transitioning your practice from direct client representation to dispute resolution as a neutral.
- Gain appropriate, ethical mediation techniques to address a complex circuit civil litigation.
- Advance your experience in handling hurdles that can appear in complex cases.
- Improve how you handle openings in circumstances ranging from hostile to congenial—what to do and when.
- Get pro tips on how to test party-imposed limitations without overstepping ethical boundaries.
- Increase your statewide network of mentors and co-mediators.
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The Professional Approach to Arbitration
By Lawrence H. Kolin
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Arbitration has devolved into “arbi-gation” of late and has been criticized by scholars as costly, time-consuming, and subject to hardball advocacy.
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This trend is not surprising given that career litigators, having been trained in the techniques of scorched-earth discovery and constant motion practice, are hesitant stepping outside their comfort zone.
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This includes the increasing filing of dispositive motions with requested additional hearing time for rancorous argument by counsel.
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This is precisely what arbitration is supposed to avoid.
Avoiding increasing the costs of the arbitration proceeding and/or delaying its conclusion must be paramount. How sound is a motion and what is its likelihood of success? Are there issues of fact that would preclude ruling in favor of the motion? Will a motion, if granted, really reduce costs and expedite the arbitration, or will it lead to just the opposite result? In many cases, striking a few claims or defenses of several asserted would not serve to abbreviate the proceedings. Consideration of a motion not likely to succeed will waste time and money. The cost and dilatory impact of court-style motion practice, where the making of dispositive motions is the norm, is troublesome.
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As an arbitrator, I am not against streamlining a case – just be careful in considering the potential challenges to final awards that defeat the purpose of an efficient process with finality.
Lastly, interpersonal communications are essential to maintaining civility in arbitration practice. Arbitrators do not want to be copied on snarky email correspondence amounting to posturing or previewing what should be left for final hearing. Professionalism in arbitration will lead to a better experience for counsel and client alike, in an increasingly maligned form of alternative dispute resolution.
Endnotes
1 See generally Thomas J. Stipanowich, Arbitration: The “New Litigation,” 2010 U. of Ill. L. Rev. 1.
2 See generally Hon. James P. Kleinberg, Dispositive Motions in Arbitration, Jud. Arbitration and Mediation Serv., Inc. (JAMS), Summer 2015.
3 See generally Edna Sussman and Solomon Ebere, Reflections on the Use of Dispositive Motions in Arbitration, 4 N.Y. Disp. Resol. Law. 1, Spring 2011.
Lawrence H. Kolin
is a qualified arbitrator and Federal and Supreme Court of Florida Certified Circuit-Civil and Appellate Mediator at Upchurch Watson White & Max in Orlando. He is a member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals and served as a General Magistrate in the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court for Orange County. He was founding chair of the Orange County Bar Association’s Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Committee and is currently an executive council member of The Florida Bar ADR Section and chair of its standing Arbitration Committee. He authors “
Orlando Mediator
.”
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Michael J. Gelfand
, Managing Shareholder of the West Palm Beach condominium and homeowners’ association law firm of Gelfand and Arpe, P.A., presented “2019 Statutory & Decision Highlights” for the Palm Beach County Bar Association’s 30
th
Annual Community Association Law Seminar.
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October is Pro Bono Month, and Executive Council member
Natalie Paskiewicz
for the fourth year in a row has offered five free mediations during the month of October. She offered the mediations on a first-come, first-served basis in the Tampa Bay area for qualifying pro bono, low bono, pro se or sliding scale cases.
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Hard-to-Find CME Credit for Mediators
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DID YOU KNOW ... that CLE qualifying courses can also be used for CME credit? Why not earn both at the same time? The ADR Section offers webinars and seminars that can be reported for both CLE and CME credits (except for presentations on the topic of Arbitration). Take a look at our
catalog of offerings. We are adding more selections all the time.
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This webinar on Ethics for mediators is available in our catalog of On-Demand offerings:
- Mediation Confidentiality: Ethical Considerations and Case Law, live audio webcast by Meah Rothman Tell. 1.5 hours of Ethics CMEs and 1.5 CLE; 1.5 Civil Trial; 1.5 of which can be used toward Ethics.
- And, coming soon: The Ethics of Mediated Settlement Agreements: Lessons Learned from Case Law, live audio webcast by Fran Tetunic. 1.0 hours General CME, including .5 hours Ethics CME and 1 CLE; 0.5 of which can be used toward Ethics.
Coming in November: Interpersonal Violence CME.
Look for a two-part webinar series on
Human Trafficking: Understanding Modern Day Slavery,
among our CME offerings. Presented by Lisa Haba, a former Seminole County Assistant Prosecutor who focuses on cases involving human trafficking. She will speak to us about the problem and the need for others who are complicit in this illegal trade to be held accountable. It’s real. It’s here and we don’t see those who are victims walking among us. Earn 1.0 hours of IPV CME credit for each webinar.
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Learn More About Compassion Fatigue
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"
Compassion fatigue is the c
umulative physical, emotional and psychological effect of exposure to traumatic stories or events when working in a helping capacity, combined with the strain and stress of everyday life."
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Compassion fatigue affects those in the helping professions, including the legal profession, and is treatable. Symptoms include perceiving the resources and support available for work as chronically outweighed by the demands; having client/work demands regularly encroach on personal time; feeling overwhelmed and physically and emotionally exhausted and becoming emotionally detached and numb in professional and personal life.
This article
explains more about compassion fatigue and how to treat it. Please share the article if you know someone who could benefit.
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LegalFuel Practice Resource Center
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LegalFuel connects Florida Bar members with strategic tools designed to help you fuel your law practice with increased efficiencies & profitability.
Have you not yet lined up a mentor? Legal Fuel offers virtual options for practice tips.
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LegalFuel's library of free webinars, podcasts, articles and more are available online for you to access 24/7. LegalFuel also offers a
free document library of sample documents and forms for you to utilize in day-to-day activities in your legal practice.
Here is a sample of LegalFuel's content offerings:
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2020 Annual Meeting of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution
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The ADR Section is pleased to participate
as a “cooperating entity”” in the 2020 annual meeting of the International Institute of Conflict Prevention and Resolution.
When: Thursday, February 27 - Saturday February 29, 2020
Where: The Vinoy Renaissance St. Petersburg Resort & Golf Club
The CPR is inviting you to help change the world, one wave at a time, by considering a new way of doing business that incorporates the critical aspects of dispute prevention and resolution. At this highly interactive and informative leap-year event, dozens of high-level panelists will challenge your preconceived notions and send you home with the practical and actionable takeaways, tools and strategies you need to succeed. Details about the CPR 2020 Annual Meeting are available at
this link
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You received this email because you are a member of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Section of The Florida Bar or you have expressed interest in our section.
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