Beyond Court-Ordered Mediation: Creating a Task Force to Evaluate Future Dispute Resolution Needs of North Carolinians

Jim, a white man with white hair, wears a white shirt and black jacket.By Jim Cooley

We move forward.

The Council of the Dispute Resolution Section met on December 7, 2022, with 37 Council members, committee chairs and past section chairs in attendance. Up for discussion were seven possible task force topics and the results of a survey of Council members and other section leaders about those topics. The survey included questions about whether participants would actively participate in a task force and, if so, which of the topics would be their first or second choice. Here is a summary of the survey results:

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When Should Mediators Be Able To Write The Settlement Agreement For Parties?

Frank, a white man with grey hair, wears a white shirt, black tie and black suit.By Frank Laney

In the early 1990s, I conducted mediations for divorcing couples and had a steady growing business. In most cases, one party or both had attorneys with whom they consulted, but those attorneys never came to the mediation meetings. So, I would draft a set of notes, recording the agreements the parties reached and one or the other would take it to an attorney to have it drafted into a binding separation agreement. Finally, I mediated with an elderly couple who had little money, and neither had an attorney. I prepared my notes and gave them to the couple and instructed them to have an attorney prepare their separation agreement. They had great difficulty finding an attorney who was willing to undertake that task, except one who would write it for $10,000, which they thought was outrageous. They came back to me to discuss what to do next. I remember the old man, haltingly pointing to the diploma on my wall. “You’re an attorney, aren’t you?”

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Professional Mediator Guide to Certification

Salim, a Black man with black hair, wears a white shirt, yellow tie and navy jacket.By Salim Uqdah

Salim Uqdah, a Dispute Resolution Council Member and Co-Chair of the Dispute Resolution Pro Bono Committee, discusses his journey to certification for North Carolina Dispute Resolution Commission’s Superior Court, Family Financial, and Clerk Mediation programs.

What got you interested in the Dispute Resolution field?

There are two answers to that question. A quick summary is that sometimes, you have to be lost to find your true purpose. 

In 2016-2017, I felt lost and conflicted. I no longer wanted to pursue law school, and my crisis of faith and identity felt overwhelming and nerve-racking. After six to seven months of research, I realized that mediation was a viable option for me; it also helped to have the ADR coordinator sitting one cubicle behind me. I took the MSC training in March and opened my company, Uroboros Mediations, in June 2018. I gained expertise in other areas, like divorce coaching, collaborative law neutral facilitation, arbitration in FINRA cases, and dispute system design.

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Pro Bono Committee Update

By Sean, a white man with brown hair, wears glasses, a pale blue shirt and navy suit.Sean Vitrano 

Greetings and happy autumn from the Pro Bono Committee of the Dispute Resolution Section!

Our team has been busy organizing for another successful bar year, and we invite you to participate.

The Pro Bono Committee works to identify projects and programs that provide members of the Dispute Resolution Section meaningful opportunities to use their skills and training to serve the public; support the creation of new pro bono DR opportunities and programs; and encourage section members to engage in pro bono service.

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Thirty Years of Workers’ Comp Mediation

Judge Ward, a man with brown hair, sits on the bench in a courtroom.By Judge J. Randolph (“Randy”) Ward

This year marks the 30th anniversary of mediation in North Carolina‘s Workers’ Compensation system, introduced by a pair of North Carolina Bar Association CLEs presented live on September 21, 1992, at the Raleigh’s Velvet Cloak Inn. “Mediation for Workers’ Compensation Counsel” was held in the morning, and “Worker’s Compensation for Mediators” followed after lunch. Video replays were shown through February in Raleigh, Jacksonville and Charlotte. (See brochure, infra.)

When I was appointed to the N.C. Industrial Commission in early 1989, the state and its workforce had outgrown the agency’s resources. North Carolina was at or near the top in attracting new businesses, with an attractive climate and workforce, strong educational assets, and entrepreneurial banks. Industrial employment grew to 29% of the workforce in the early nineties. When I arrived, the Commission had twelve Deputy Commissioner positions, but only nine were hearing cases. I was told that there was a twelve- to eighteen-month backlog of cases awaiting hearings. Although the three Commissioners heard appeals from the Deputy Commissioners’ hearing decisions, I was the only lawyer on the Commission. Read more

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Using a Language Interpreter in Mediation

Steve, a white man with brown hair, wears a pale blue shirt, red tie, and black jacket.By Steve Dunn

Miscommunication and misunderstanding are two of the biggest obstacles in mediation. In most cases, there is plenty to disagree about even when the parties understand each other clearly. Mixed signals and misinterpretations make it hard to settle cases, but they are quite common. When the parties speak different languages, the risk of miscommunication only increases. Using a language interpreter can greatly enhance the prospect of a successful mediation. This post contains some tips about how to use a language interpreter to your best advantage in mediation. Read more

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Beyond Court-Ordered Mediation: Should the Dispute Resolution Section Create A Task Force to Evaluate Future Dispute Resolution Needs of North Carolinians?

Jim, a white man with white hair, wears a white shirt and black jacket.By Jim Cooley

The NCBA Dispute Resolution Section (DR Section) started as a committee of the NCBA which imagined a future, first, of court-ordered arbitration for small claims matters and, later, of court-ordered mediation of civil cases throughout the State’s Superior Court Division. Over time, the Committee successfully developed and implemented programs for the court-ordered mediation of most civil disputes in the Superior Courts and many family law disputes in the District Courts. But the world of dispute resolution is being transformed before our eyes, as Colin Rule reminded the participants in the 2021 Conflict Resolution Day program sponsored by DRC. Read more

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Peace Award Recipient: John Sarratt

Frank LaneyBy Frank Laney

Many mediators describe themselves as reformed litigators – lawyers who have spent decades in the litigation trenches, fighting court battles for their clients. Then, at some point in their career, they have an epiphany – they realize that there is a better way to get their clients to where the client wants to be – past this dispute. It is the rare client who comes to a lawyer asking for as much total war as the lawyer can muster within the rules of court procedure. Instead, what the client wants is a resolution to a conflict. They want their problem solved.

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What’s Going On in the Dispute Resolution Section

By Jim Cooley

Jim Cooley here. Vice chairs, like vice presidents, don’t have much productive to do, so I thought I would give you a quick report on the Council’s December 1, 2021, meeting, and the upcoming events in March and May 2022.

Mark your calendar for the section’s CLE on March 18 featuring Ken Feinberg (not to be missed) (kudos to Steve Dunn, John Ong, Colleen Byers and especially Deb Dilman for the planning). Details will be coming soon from the NCBA. As of now [Omicron must be obeyed], the Council plans to meet live as well as via Zoom at the Bar Center at 3 p.m. on March 17. If you are in the area, join Council members at 5:30 for a social hour at nearby Okja K-Pub & Restaurant in Cary. You can then attend the CLE the next day. Please note the in-person policy when you receive the invitations.

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Happy Fall from the Chair!

By Sarah Kromer 

It is a privilege to serve as your Section Chair for 2021-2022, particularly with our team of officers this year: Vice-Chair Jim Cooley, Secretary Jim Oden, and Treasurer Denise Cline. Many thanks go to Kate Deiter-Maradei, our Section Chair last year, who worked very hard for all of us. I also want to thank all those who are generously sharing their time and talents with us by serving on our section’s Council, chairing a committee, working on our Nominations Committee, or serving as a section liaison this year.

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