Blog

“Arbitrators can wear many hats. Sometimes they can even pop on a mediator's hat. But what happens when they swap hats back and forth? Enter the decision of the Supreme Court of New South Wales earlier this month.”

Read the full article from Mondaq
(click "close me" to avoid the pop-up)

Once again Marsh is offering exceptional group insurance benefits to ADRIC practicing members at minimal cost. By now all ADRIA members currently covered should have received renewal notices for July 1st, 2018, and new members to the program are always welcome. Over 600 ADRIC members across Canada currently participate, and the plan's steady growth attests to its affordability. The cost of premiums has not been increased for 2018/19, and there are additional discounts, plans and benefits that many members will be eligible for. With a maximum discount of 25% available, these include:

• Commercial General Liability (CGL) discount of 5% for those who have been claim free for 5 years;

• Chartered member discount now increased to 15% for Professional Liability (E&O) insurance, for those without claims

• Qualified member discount of 5% for E&O coverage, for those without claims;

• A discount of 10% for those taking an approved ethics courses (contact ADRIA or Marsh for details);

• Post-practice coverage;

• Inexpensive USA coverage; and

• Mobile office coverage (NEW), Personal legal expense insurance, Cyber coverage and Identity restoration service options.

The ADRIC website has full details and Marsh contact information.

We are moving! 

You may experience some delays in service between June 20-27 as we re-locate our offices. 

Please email info@adralberta.com if you have any immediate concerns during this time. 

The federal government introduced new family law legislation that seeks to better foster the "best interests" of children in divorce. Provisions in the draft legislation are aimed at helping families settle disputes outside court.

Bill C-78 contains a provision to the effect that "to the extent it is appropriate to do so, the parties to a proceeding shall try to resolve the matters [in issue] through a family dispute resolution process." Further, every legal advisor engaged to assist a party with the new Act will have a duty "to encourage the person to attend to resolve [the issues] through a family dispute resolution process," unless the circumstances "clearly" would not render such a process "appropriate."

"The ADR processes contemplated in this legislation mirror ADRIC's mission," stated ADRIC president Thierry Bériault, a Quebec-based mediator. "Access to timely justice sometimes means resorting to effective alternatives to the court system," added Bériault. "These are positive developments. ADRIC supports mediation and other non-judicial dispute resolution processes which allow for much greater party autonomy, speedier and, often, more meaningful justice," remarked Bériault.

Read ADRIC’s full news release, ADRIC Supports Less Adversarial Divorce Act.

Did you know that ADRIA has a forum on our website to connect learners who want to practice their communications or mediation skills?

Despite having the forum open for more than a year, this is an underutilized opportunity to connect. We get frequent calls from learners asking if there are practice groups to join or if there are other learners in their community they can connect with so they can practice their ADR skills.

While we cannot connect learners due to privacy requirements, we encourage you to post on the forum to find other learners to role-play with. We know there are learners out there looking for practice groups, someone just needs to take the first step and reach out in the forum.

Members can login to access the forum at: https://adralberta.com/learner-forum/

With the passage in June 2017 of Bill 30: An Act to Protect the Health & Well-being of Working Albertans, the functions and responsibilities of the Medical Panels Office (MPO) have been expanded in several areas, including the responsibility to convene medical case conferences before any medical panel can be formally convened.

ADRIA was recently contacted by the MPO for assistance in creating a job description, and to source candidates with the requisite training, designations and experience.  A WCB Review Report included an emphasis on having a more “worker-centered system”, including “Recommendation 19: Establish an informal medical dispute resolution process within the MPO as a mandatory step before a full medical panel is convened”.  As such, effective June 1, 2018, the MPO is accountable for establishing Medical Case Conferences to resolve instances where there are differences and/or disputed medical opinions.  

This clearly presents opportunities for ADRIA members with group facilitation, case conferencing and mediation experience, and this employment opportunity is now posted on the ADRIA Job Board.  While one MPO Facilitator/Mediator will be initially hired to develop and initiate the process, additional contractors will likely be hired later to assist in managing the projected 30-40 case conferences per year.  Further case conference opportunities are now being pursued by ADRIA in support of Alberta's WCB case management processes. Suitably qualified ADRIA members are encouraged to apply early, as the MPO's current caseload adds a degree of urgency to their hiring process.

Alberta's first ever ADR Symposium brought government and non-profit partners together to harness   the collective wisdom of participants. The positive energy was evident throughout this important two-day event. 

Exceptional speakers, and meaningful opportunities to shape the future of ADR in Alberta characterized this mid-May gathering at the University of Alberta, and the ADR Symposium partners are now poised to act upon the recommendations and collaborative energy that flowed from some 140 participants.

Keynote presentations from Justice Joanne Goss and Nancy Mannix of the Palix Foundation provided the encouragement and motivations to see conflict resolved better.

Concurrent sessions throughout the two days provided everyone with learning opportunities in the practice areas that most interested them.

A detailed sector analysis on day one, coupled with the insights and recommendation gathered at the end of day two, will be instrumental in achieving collective impact - where like-minded organizations pool their talents and resources to achieve an objective that none could realize alone.

Advancing ADR practices and accessibility is a cause we can all get behind, and Alberta took one giant step forward last month. ADRIA members can look forward to hearing more about the Symposium outcomes in the months ahead.

ADRIA members gathered in Edmonton, Calgary and online to participate in the 2018 ADRIA AGM. The proceedings this year were informative and crisp, focussing on the many accomplishments of the past year, and what lies ahead for the profession.

ADRIA has had a successful year - building engagement and membership, contributing to public policy discussions, and demonstrating leadership within Alberta's broader ADR community. ADRIA also had a very successful year financially, and the full AGM materials can still be viewed on the members section of our website.

As part of the AGM proceedings, Thierry Beriault brought insights and messages as President of ADR Canada, and the Board welcomed three new Directors. Michelle Bonnici, Jonathan Chapman and Doug Devlin bring a wealth of experience to the Board, offering unique areas of practice that will serve the ADRIA membership well. Both Michelle Simpson & Barbara McNeil were confirmed for new three-year terms.

The Board also bid farewell to three of its members - Stan Galbraith, Dolores Herman and Alasdair MacKinnon had all served out their full terms, and were recognized for their substantial contributions to advancing the practice of ADR in Alberta. Gary Selby won AGM door prize - a Google Home Mini.

The AGM, of course, served as a prelude to the first ever Alberta ADR Symposium, and concluded with keynote remarks from Dr. Mohammed Keshavjee who spoke to Canada's leadership role on the international stage. Mohammed's remarks provided a fitting conclusion to the 2018 ADRIA AGM, reminding us all of the contributions our members make every day to promoting the early and principled resolution of conflict, both large and small.

The new ADRIA Board of Directors met the following weekend, May 26th in Calgary for its orientation and initial planning.  At that time the 2018/19 Board officers were elected, and the Board articulated a common and continued vision to substantially advance ADR practices in Alberta over the course of their mandate.  The Board is pleased to present its slate of Officers and Directors for the year ahead as follows:

The Board will commence its preparatory work over the summer, and will next meet in September. Questions, insights and recommendations from the membership are always welcome, and can be directed to board@adralberta.com.

The 2018 Alberta ADR Symposium is quickly approaching! We sat down with the Symposium Co-Chairs, Gilbert Van Nes (Alberta Environmental Appeal Board) and Gordon Andreiuk (Collaborative Divorce Edmonton) to chat about the opportunities provided by the Symposium.

Why a “Symposium”? What makes this different from a traditional conference?

The Symposium is a celebration of the powerful work that the ADR community has done in Alberta over the last 20 years. Alberta is a world leader in some sectors - but not all. We want to explore what is possible in the next 20 years. How can our ADR community come together to continue to make Alberta an even better place? How can we continue to move the public and institutions away from the courtroom, and make ADR the first choice to resolve disputes? In choosing the word Symposium, we wanted to make it clear this will be the beginning of a sustained conversation about ADR. We are bringing together groups practicing ADR find out about each other, build on our common goals and interests, and to begin having a collective impact.

What does “Collective Impact” mean?

Collective Impact provides a framework for community change, situated within the broad frame of collaborative efforts focusing on creating systems changes and policy change. There are five core conditions for a collective impact to take root:

• the development of a common agenda;
• using shared measurement to understand progress;
• building on mutually reinforcing activities;
• engaging in continuous communications and
• providing a backbone of resources to move the work forward.

Just like interest-based skills help manage a conversation during conflict, collective impact is a way to manage a conversation during cooperation and working together to encourage change. It provides a structure for the conversation, and a method to identify and achieve the change necessary for the wider use of ADR in Alberta over the next 20 years. We want to build on common goals held by the diverse range of ADR practitioners and work together as partners to achieve positive change.

Who are the Symposium partners?

The Symposium partners are the Government of Alberta’s Dispute Resolution Network (DRN) and the many non-governmental organizations doing work in the ADR sector.

The DRN is a volunteer community of ADR practitioners who work for or provide services to all parts of the Government of Alberta, and the DRN regularly provides training for its membership.

The Symposium is the DRN’s first opportunity to partner with ADR practitioners outside Government, in community groups, not-for-profits, and education organizations. The non-governmental partners include the ADR Institute of Alberta, the Collaborative Divorce Alberta Association, the Foundation for Administrative Justice, and the National Conciliation and Arbitration Board for Canada, to name but a few. It is the broadest opportunity we have ever had to have a conversation about the core values of dispute resolution, and barriers to the expansion of ADR. We are looking to partner with anyone in the community who believes that ADR is a better way to resolve disputes.

What is the expected outcome of the Symposium?

We have no preconceived notions about the outcomes of the Symposium; it is truly up to the participants. We believe it is time for us to critically analyze how Albertans conduct and engage in dispute resolution. We believe that continuous improvement requires critical and constructive analysis of how we are doing things. What can we accomplish together if we look critically at how ADR has developed within institutions? What can we do better than we are doing now? Are there ways of doing things that need to be left behind? We are ready to identify common goals of the participants and develop a plan to move forward in Alberta.

Why should I attend the Symposium?

The Symposium will be a wonderful opportunity to learn about the broader dispute resolution community, discuss, learn, and contribute to something that connects to the core values of every ADR practitioner. We invite you to join the conversation and engage in shaping the future of ADR of Alberta.

The 2018 Alberta ADR Symposium is May 15 & 16, 2018 at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. The Early Bird rate of $249 goes until April 12, 2018.

For more information, visit the 2018 Alberta ADR Symposium website.

Are you applying for a Qualified Mediator (Q.Med) designation this March?

A Supervised Mock Mediation is a valuable opportunity for you to meet your experiential requirements for the application and to be supervised by an ADRIA approved and experienced Chartered Mediator.

There are two ways to arrange for a Supervised Mock Mediation:

Option 1

You contact coaches on your own and arrange your own role-players and meeting space.

This option is great if you have been participating in practice groups and you have made a peer group from which to draw your role-players (it is very important that you choose role-players whom you trust to provide the appropriate level of conflict, recognize when to shift, and recognize when not to shift). 

You must bring the Supervised Mock Mediation Form with you.  Available here.

You can save about 50% this way (prices are negotiated with the coaches). 

Contact education@adralberta.com for a list of approved coaches in Edmonton and Calgary.

Option 2

If you decide to have ADRIA arrange your Supervised Mock Mediations (SMMs) then you will need to provide the following:

1. Indicate to education@adralberta.com that you wish to proceed with booking
   
2. Provide ADRIA with a minimum of two options of date and time .The deadline for arranging a Supervised Mock Mediation is no later than 2 weeks before the designation application deadline.
   
3. ADRIA will invoice you ($350 + GST per SMM) and once paid we will book a supervisor and two role-players.
   
4. I will confirm via email once room, supervisor, and role-players have been booked
   
5. You can choose your own role-play scenario (send me the file you wish to use and I will distribute to role-players), or one can be chosen for you.