The Alternative Dispute Resolution Section of the State Bar of Michigan will present an online “Mediator Forum: Where Mediators Learn from Each Other” Tuesday, July 11, from noon to 2 p.m. via Zoom.
The forum will feature small group discussions where mediators share their favorite techniques, experiences, interventions,m and approaches. Registrants will be randomly divided into small groups by Zoom. Each group will have a discussion leader and a “scrivener” to keep notes for posting in the ADR Section resource library. After a time, everyone will return to large group to share the best ideas. New groups will then be randomly assigned to continue the discussion and exchange with a different group of colleagues. Three sessions in all are expected, each of which will focus on different topics from the list below:
• Techniques Specific to Zoom
a. How has your practice changed with Zoom?
b. Likes and dislikes about working on Zoom.
c. Techniques more effective on Zoom; less effective on Zoom
d. Plan B if technology fails
e. Dealing with time disparities and party paranoia on Zoom vs in person
f. Communication with the parties when not in room with them
• Management of the Negotiation Process
a. Timing
b. Dealing with party/advocate impatience
c. Techniques for responding to charges an offer has “nuisance value”
d. Encouraging building a rationale for offers
e. Managing extreme opening offers and counter-offers
• Pre-mediation Work
a. Conference calls with attorneys
b. Ex parte calls with attorneys
c. Pre-meetings with parties
d. Written submissions or not?
e. Educating parties and attorneys to get the most out of mediation
f. Pre-mediation homework (e.g. discovery) and planting seeds (e.g. do a cost analysis for litigation)
The facilitators for the Mediator Forum will be arbitrator and mediator Shel Stark and Zena Zumeta of Mediation Training and Consultation Institute.
Stark is a Distinguished Fellow of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals, a Distinguished Fellow with the International Academy of Mediators, and an Employment Law panelist for the American Arbitration Association. He is also a member of the Professional Resolution Experts of Michigan (PREMi). Stark is past chair of the SBM ADR Section. Stark was a distinguished visiting professor at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. He was a partner in the law firm of Stark and Gordon specializing in employment discrimination, wrongful discharge, civil rights, business litigation, and personal injury work.
Zumeta is president of the Mediation Training & Consultation Institute, Zena Zumeta Mediation Services, and The Collaborative Workplace in Ann Arbor. She is a former board member and president of the Academy of Family Mediators (now merged into the Association for Conflict Resolution), past president of the Michigan Council for Family and Divorce Mediation, and past regional vice president of the Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution. She is a member of the editorial board of the American Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Magazine.
To register for the Mediator Forum, visit https://connect.michbar.org/adr/home.
