The ABA Dispute Resolution Section Spring Conference is always a highlight. For 2016 it’s being held in New York City, making it real easy for me. The breadth and scope of the topics are, as usual, phenomenal, making this event consistently the Class Act of the ADR year.
I’m involved in two presentations. Section Chair-Elect Nancy X. Walsh has headed a Section Task Force on the recommendations of the CFPB concerning pre-dispute arbitrations and class-action waivers in consumer contracts, and I’ll join that group to help facilitate a discussion on that important topic on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. And at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday a group of students will offer their perspectives on what it’s like to learn ADR in law schools these days — not from casebooks, but from clinics, internships, simulations, international competitions, and taped exercises.
On Wednesday there’s a full-day Symposium on ADR in the Courts, including several speakers on the timely subject of mediating claims of police excessive force under Section 1983. The ABA National Competition on Representation in Mediation takes place during the conference. ABA President Paulette Brown will offer opening remarks, and between that and the Legal Educator’s Colloquium on Saturday I counted a ga-zillion and two programs, their very existence a testament to the astonishing diversity in practice and content in our field. Bob Mnookin will receive an award for scholarship. Laura Chasin, Judith Kaye and the New York Peace Institute will received deserved honors at the Section Awards Dinner on Friday night.
The link to the registration page is here. And as they say….
