Join me at Lawyer/Mediator Forum at Florida Bar President’s Showcase!

In order to improve the mediation process, The Florida Bar’s Trial Lawyers and Alternative Dispute Resolution Sections are engaging in a unique collaboration to co-host the first “Litigator-Mediator Forum” at the President's Showcase during our Annual Convention in Orlando on June 23, 2022 from 1-4 pm. This two-part CLE presentation will provide trial lawyers and mediators a direct platform to discuss how to make mediation more effective and efficient. The purpose of the Forum is not just to provide continuing legal education to trial lawyers and mediators on ethical rules and mediation advocacy skills, but to exchange ideas for improving the mediation process in all areas. Mediation has never been a more critical and timely topic in Florida due to the over one million case backlog created by the pandemic that continues challenging our courts and delaying access to justice for Florida litigants. As nearly all cases are now settled before trial, and most cases are settled at mediation, effective mediation advocacy and negotiating skills are essential to achieving justice. This topic is also timely because the Florida Supreme Court is presently considering several significant changes to the ethical rules governing mediation as well as case management restructuring and these rule changes will be discussed during the Forum. I am honored to have been selected as one of the Table Leaders who will facilitate discussion between trial lawyers and mediators regarding three topics designed to encourage recommendations by the audience on how trial lawyers and mediators can partner better together to improve mediation within the ethical rules governing dispute resolution. See more about this exciting program here-- https://tinyurl.com/w54a3je9

Join us next month in Orlando!

Next month, at The Florida Bar Annual Convention in Orlando, our Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Section Executive Council (EC) will hold its annual meeting at the Hilton Bonnet Creek and an ADR CLE/CME Program: Inside the Mediator’s Mind. The June 14th CLE/CME will occur at 1:00pm, followed by a reception to take place from 4:30-6:30pm. The ADR EC meeting is set for June 15th at 9:00am. The ADR Section plans to continue advancing new programs and opportunities for continued growth and participation in the section. The ADR Section was established in 2010 to provide a forum for lawyers interested in alternative dispute resolution and to provide for discussion and exchange of ideas leading to an improvement of individual ADR skills and abilities. The ADR Section keeps members informed and updated regarding legislation, rules, and policies in connection with mediation and other ADR processes and the responsibilities they impose on mediator and arbitrator members, as well as provide quality continuing legal education programs. Additionally, ADR Section committees are open to members to plan and execute section activities, events, and programs to benefit section members. More information can be found at ADR section website, www.fladr.org. Our goal is to make the ADR Section more accessible to all Florida Bar members, engaging them through information on available on the website, such as links to MEAC opinions, and by our social media posts on Facebook and Twitter (@FlaBarADR). In addition, each issue of the section’s "News & Tips" publication can be viewed from the website. See the Bar's Annual Convention page for a full schedule of events here-- https://bit.ly/2G2J98F and https://bit.ly/2wDFzmf Join our ADR Section by applying here-- https://bit.ly/2wLlIRQ or click to add it when paying your Florida Bar dues renewal-- https://bit.ly/2k0fTXT

International Arbitration in Florida

The Supreme Court of Florida last week approved a Florida Bar board certification specialist (BCS) program for international litigators and arbitrators due to Florida increasingly becoming an international arbitration hub. In a decade-long effort by the International Law Section to create a board certification program, international litigators and arbitrators now have a novel certification helping to position particularly Miami as an attractive place for foreign companies to resolve their disputes. To meet the requirements for board certification, practitioners will have to have a significant amount of experience and will have to submit references of arbitrators, judges and opposing counsel. Practitioners also will need to show that they have completed a certain number of hours of continuing legal education in the particular area. Finally, practitioners will have to take a lengthy exam. Another rules decision now allows foreign attorneys to work as authorized in-house counsel for companies in the state. Previously, only American attorneys could be in-house counsel, but companies often have foreign lawyers in-house if they are doing lots of foreign business. Reportedly, those attorneys would have run the risk of being subject to Florida Bar prosecutions for practicing law without a license. Communications between these in-house foreign attorneys and their companies in the event of litigation are also protected under the change when opposing counsel seek such communications, enabling businesses to hire the people they desire to advise them. As a sidebar, I recently attended our annual retreat of the Executive Council of our Florida Bar ADR Section where we discussed board certification for arbitrators and mediators by the bar for civil cases in the state. It was decided the section would discontinue pursuing such a specialization certification from the state bar in these forms of ADR, as it does not actually constitute the practice of law. Regardless, there are already a non-BCS certification for mediators and a qualification for domestic arbitrators by The Supreme Court of Florida. That court will soon decide if court connected cases require certified mediators be assigned. Stay tuned! See full news story here-- http://bit.ly/2zPfq1H and Supreme Court of Florida case In re: Amendments to the Rules Regulating the Florida Bar (Biennial Petition) SC16-1961 here-- http://bit.ly/2j0klVr

Did Mediation Disrupt Law?

Mediation was once viewed with the same suspicion found in the present disruption of industries and professions. After all, it was boldly called Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). Over the past couple of decades in Florida, we have vastly reduced the number of disputes going to trial, such that less than two percent of cases actually go that way. Because of skilled mediators and the embrace of the process by the bench and counsel, parties are participating in less formal court proceedings, having been encouraged to engage in early resolution of disputes in a cost effective manner. Trial courts remain available for the minority of legal matters unable to be resolved through facilitated negotiation. ADR processes offer litigants court-connected opportunities to resolve their disputes without judicial intervention. In Florida, this has resulted in one of the most comprehensive court-connected mediation programs in the country. The Florida Dispute Resolution Center (DRC) was created during the mid-'80s to provide assistance to the courts in developing ADR programs and to conduct education and research on ADR in general. Legislation some thirty years ago resulted in Chapter 44, Florida Statutes, Mediation Alternatives to Judicial Action. This law granted civil trial judges the statutory authority to refer cases to mediation or arbitration, subject to rules and procedures established by the Supreme Court of Florida. The Supreme Court duly established minimum standards and procedures for qualifications, certification, professional conduct and training for mediators and arbitrators who are appointed pursuant to this chapter. Since then, the statute has been revised several times and procedural rules, certification qualifications, ethical standards and continuing education requirements for mediators have been implemented. Currently, rules requiring mediators of filed cases in circuit and family court to be certified are being debated and were recommended by the ADR Section of The Florida Bar as outlined in a recent post on this blog. The ADR Rules & Policy Committee of the Supreme Court of Florida will next consider and likely recommend such changes. See more here-- http://bit.ly/2lTmIN0 and http://bit.ly/2lTiCEj and http://bit.ly/2mrhTbA and http://bit.ly/2mrxyr9

FL Bar ADR Section Supports Mandatory Certification

Yesterday, the Executive Council of the ADR Section of The Florida Bar convened in Orlando at its winter meeting. Among the topics for discussion were proposed rules that will ultimately be considered by the ADR Rules & Policy Committee of The Supreme Court of Florida which asked for the section's input on the matter of mandatory certification for mediators in court cases. Two recommendations were made to ADR Rules & Policy that is likely to have its own language changes and submit for public comment before the Florida Supreme Court passes them. This effort was brought about after a survey of the ADR Section's members indicated the majority preferred using certified mediators and felt all people in Florida mediating cases for the courts should be required to follow the ethical rules. The rules address things like conflicts of interest, confidentiality, coercion, self-determination and other traditional hallmarks of the mediation process. The first proposal requires that professional standards would apply to non-certified mediators voluntarily selected or retained by the parties in the absence of a court order and applies to circuit and family cases. A second motion passed for requiring mandatory certification of mediators in filed cases retained or appointed by the court in the same divisions, with the exception of dependency. While these proposals are perhaps controversial in some circles, it was thought the ADR Rules & Policy Committee would act on this with or without the ADR Section's input. Therefore, the preference for rulemaking reflected by the section survey was formally expressed through these resolutions. Stay tuned for next steps. See court committee link here-- http://bit.ly/2jmRTv0 and section link here-- http://bit.ly/2jmPlxa

The Florida Bar ADR Section Turns 5

The ADR Section of The Florida Bar, now in its fifth year, will meet at the annual convention in Boca Raton tomorrow, to continue advancing new programs and opportunities for continued growth and participation in the section. The ADR Section was established in 2010 to provide a forum for lawyers interested in alternative dispute resolution and to provide a forum for discussion and exchange of ideas leading to an improvement of individual ADR skills and abilities. The ADR Section will keep the Bar membership informed and updated regarding legislation, rules, and policies in connection with mediation and other ADR processes and the responsibilities they impose on mediator and arbitrator members, as well as provide quality continuing legal education programs. During The Florida Bar’s 2014 Annual Convention, the ADR section hosted a working meeting for ADR section members. Those in attendance nominated new executive council members. I was pleased to be nominated, having already founded and chaired the ADR Committee of the Orange County Bar Association in Orlando. New members elected to the ADR executive council included my Upchurch Watson White & Max Mediation Group (UWWM) colleagues, Robert A. Cole and Michelle Jernigan, who edits our section newsletter. Additionally, ADR section committees were established that plan and execute section activities, events, and programs to benefit section members. Among the busiest were: Website, Newsletter, and Legislation. The Website Committee, which I chaired, worked with the executive council and a vendor and launched the new ADR section website, www.fladr.org. The immediate goal is to make the ADR section and its benefits more accessible to all Florida Bar members, which will provide information on available CLE programs and links to MEAC opinions. In addition, each of the section’s News & Tips can be viewed from the website. The CLE committee plans to host programs with other Florida Bar sections that will not only benefit members of the ADR section, but all members of The Florida Bar. We recently presented a June UWWM webinar on issues relating to "Other ADR" in Florida with incoming ADR Section Chair, Bob Hoyle, who plans to present additional webinars on ADR through the section this year. The ADR Section will also present a seminar on mediation and arbitration today at the 2015 Florida Bar Annual Convention. For additional information on how to join the Alternative Dispute Resolution Section, visit the ADR section website-- www.fladr.org