ADR Tip of the Month - October 2016

These practice tips are drawn from the October 11, 2016, MSBA CLE sponsored by the ADR Section:  "Consider an Alternative:  ADR," by speakers Allison Anastos McGuire, Elise Chambers, Lymari Santana, and Rebecca Bernhard. 

• The best advice for law students and others interested in entering the ADR field is to become a volunteer at one of the local Community Mediation Programs, such as Community Mediation & Restorative Services (New Hope), Conflict Resolution Center (Minneapolis), Dispute Resolution Center (St. Paul), and others.

• There is widespread use of ADR in most legal practice areas, including in each of the speaker's careers, whether one is an employment law litigator, a family law attorney, a program director for a community mediation organization, or a mediation coordinator for a state civil rights agency.   

• The speakers identified a wide variety of ADR processes used in their various practice areas, including private mediations, state and federal agency civil rights mediations, grievance arbitrations, private arbitrations, Section 8 public housing arbitrations, social early neutral evaluations, financial early neutral evaluations, mandatory settlement conferences, state agency conciliations, and facilitated meetings.

• You can use your ADR skills in your personal and business life too.  These skills include "deep listening" to figure out what is really important to the other person that they are not telling you (thus revealing underlying interests), thinking creatively about problem solving, and ensuring the other person feels truly heard.

CLE Credits:  Event Code: 228790;
1.0 standard CLE & ADR Rule 114 credit

Compiled by Linda Mealey-Lohmann, Moderator & Past Chair MSBA ADR Section