Deadline Nearing to Register for Dispute Resolution Conference

By Kathleen Maloney | February 15, 2018

Immerse yourself in the latest dispute resolution approaches at the upcoming one-day Dispute Resolution Conference in Columbus. Register by Feb. 27.

National and state experts will share new ideas for using dispute resolution in courts at the Ohio Supreme Court’s first statewide dispute resolution conference on March 13. The deadline to register is Feb. 27.

The conference, which will take place at Ohio State University in Columbus, will feature 40 breakout sessions as well as a distinguished lunch panel. The event has been approved for six hours of CLE.

Nancy Hardin Rogers, professor emeritus and former dean of the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law and former Ohio attorney general, will moderate the panel’s discussion involving scenarios before the hypothetical “Buckeye County” Court. Panelists are:

Benjamin Davis: chair, American Bar Association’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Section; professor, University of Toledo College of Law
Dwight Golann: professor of law, Suffolk University
Judge Jeffrey Hooper: Muskingum County Domestic Relations Court; member, Ohio Supreme Court Commission on Dispute Resolution
Marya Kolman: director, Franklin County Domestic Relations and Juvenile Court Mediation Program
Layn Phillips: founder, Phillips ADR Enterprises; former U.S. district judge; former U.S. attorney

Colin Rule: vice president of online dispute resolution, Tyler Technologies, San Jose, California
Thomas J. Stipanowich: dean, Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, Pepperdine University School of Law
Roselle Wissler: director of research, Lodestar Dispute Resolution Center, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University
Zena Zumeta: Zena Zumeta Mediation, Michigan

High-Profile NFL Mediation
Phillips also will speak to attendees at the opening of the conference about his experience as the court-appointed mediator in a dispute between the NFL and 4,500 retired players over alleged concussion-related brain injuries. Phillips spent two months going back and forth between the parties to help find a resolution acceptable to both sides. The $765-million settlement he presented to the judge in the case was designed to resolve thousands of potential individual lawsuits, pay players some medical costs for certain cognitive impairments, and create a research and education fund on concussions.

Problem-Solving Power of Dispute Resolution
Staff from the Franklin County Municipal Court will demonstrate their online dispute resolution program, which won an innovative court practices award last year from the Ohio State Bar Association. Other sessions will identify how dispute resolution is helping address an array of issues, such as the opioid crisis, truancy, public records disputes, child support enforcement, and eldercare conflicts, and how courts are using the approach in all of these areas and more.

Conference Hosts
The conference is hosted by the Ohio Supreme Court’s Commission on Dispute Resolution and Dispute Resolution Section. The section promotes statewide rules and uniform standards concerning dispute resolution programs; develops and delivers innovative dispute resolution services to Ohio courts and sponsors training programs for judges, court personnel, and dispute resolution professionals; and provides mediation for Supreme Court litigants, Ohio Court of Claims litigants, and Ohio public officials. The commission advises the Court and its staff on these activities.