Upcoming ADR Programs of Interest

I'd like to bring to your attention two programs that will take place in Toronto the week of June 3, 2013. I apologize for the short notice.

The first is scheduled for June 4, 2013.  It's a dinner program being offered by the ADR Section of the Ontario Bar Association. The topic is The Art of the Opening Offer.   The format is a moderated a panel discussion with mediators from four different practice areas: personal injury, employment, commercial and construction.  The discussion will focus on the challenges and opportunities of making the first offer in a mediation, in each of these areas.  Topics for discussion will include the effect of mediation chill, who should make the first offer, the impact of anchoring and strategies for responding to an absurd offer.  I recently wrote on this topic on my blog (see Pre-Mediation Offers: Help of Hindrance). There are both in-person and webcast attendance options.  For further details and to register, click here. 

The second program, on judicial mediation, is being presented by the ADR Institute of Ontario (ADRIO) on June 7, 2013 as part of the offerings for its Annual General Meeting scheduled to run from 8:00 am - 2:00 pm that day. 
ADRIO is conducting a panel discussion and town hall on the subject of judicial mediation.  The session is titled Judicial Mediation: Are Judges Falling Off the Bench?.  Judicial Mediation or Judicicial Dispute Resolution (JDR) has been a hot and contentious topic of conversation over the past few years and the discussion is heating up as the OBA readies to publish a report in the next few months, with its recommendations, on the creation of a formal JDR process for Ontario's civil justice system.  I wrote on JDR in a recent blog (see Should Judges Mediate?).   For those interested in attending, there are two registratrion links, one for ADRIO members and another for non-members.