The Mediation Committee looks forward to another productive year. Our ABI-published mediation book, Bankruptcy Mediation, is an excellent resource for mediators and representatives of parties in mediation. The book has an impressive list of authors and does a great job of covering the issues a reader would want to learn about. We hope you saw it at the Annual Spring Meeting and either bought the book from ABI or at least looked over its content. If you are interested in the topic or are preparing to experience a mediation, this book is highly recommended.
We are very excited about the program that was presented at the Annual Spring Meeting on cross-border mediation. This was a collaboration between our committee and the International Committee. The panel offered insights on the particular issues that arise in international mediation and offered many insights from true experts that are beneficial in domestic mediations as well. We are very grateful to William Brandt, Jr., Peter Borowitz, Jack Esher and Justice Glenn Haney for presenting on the panel. We took great pride at the interest people expressed about this committee at the Annual Spring Meeting. We were very pleased with the number of people who joined us at our meeting at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, as well as the participation and enthusiasm of those attending. Our committee is already planning a program with the Business Reorganization Committee for the Winter Leadership Conference.
Our committee is also engaged in producing webinars for ABI. In fact, a webinar is planned for September on mediation advocacy. This program is designed to help lawyers become more effective in representing clients in mediation. Both programs were organized by Scott Brown and Frank Monaco.
We are working on the continued roll-out of the Model Local Rules for Mediation. This is a big and important job and could have a major impact on bankruptcy practice. Heading the roll-out effort are Don Swanson and Bob Fishman. The rules are designed to help bankruptcy judges develop rules for mediation in their districts and to serve as a resource for districts that are updating their rules. It never hurts to have suggestions from experts in the field of bankruptcy mediation when a circuit is working on its own rules. The rules are intended to be flexible and can be easily altered to reflect local needs and attitudes. Special thanks to former bankruptcy judges Ray Lyons and Lou Kornreich for their willingness to communicate with sitting bankruptcy judges about this project, as well as David Bird.
Along similar lines, we are also exploring an amendment to the Federal Bankruptcy Rules that would be aimed at establishing confidentiality rules for all bankruptcy mediations. We feel that confidentiality rules are essential so that parties can participate openly and without fear of harm to their ongoing cases, should mediation not be successful.
We recently conducted a survey of bankruptcy judges about mediation, which received a very high rate of return, and the results have been quite interesting. We are analyzing the survey and expect to be able to react in a positive manner given the willingness of so many judges to participate.
Mediation Friday, created by Don Swanson, is proving to be very popular. A matter of interest is posted on our committee listserve each Friday. This is designed to educate the members of our committee and to stimulate discussion among committee members on current topics.
In addition, we successfully established a monthly mediation column in the ABI Journal. Committee members who have something to share or who want to express their views on mediation topics are invited to participate. We have many articles lined up for the next few months and are looking for articles for future publications. Please direct inquires to Leslie Berkoff, the contributing editor for this project.
Our committee is exploring ways to let people know about our committee members and their interest in the bankruptcy mediation field. We think that this can only enhance the use of mediation in bankruptcy cases, as recipients of our materials might be more apt to consider mediation as a possible solution to problems they face in practice. Judy Weiker is heading up this endeavor.
We are also exploring the possibility of having bankruptcy mediation discussions as part of the curriculum at ABI regional conferences. This idea came from John Loughnane. Russ Blain is working on ways to collaborate with other committees, including joint social events.
We are very excited about the progress of this committee. The committee only became an official committee a couple of years ago, and the number of projects undertaken and the quality of those projects is nothing short of staggering. We look forward to working on our upcoming projects and hope that you will become involved in our committee!