Great data set from the Franklin County, Ohio Court ODR project presented at odr2019.org — check it out here.

From the presentation:

“Income and race have historically served as predictors for case dispositions. Positive dispositions are associated with high income and low minority rates while low income and high minority rates are associated with negative case dispositions. The 2015 NCSC State of State Courts Poll highlights the issue and the public desire for courts to develop innovative, technology-based solutions that promote dispute resolution options.

The purpose of the FCMC Data Project is to demonstrate the value of court-connected alternative dispute resolution, promote transparency, and provide a resource for anyone interested in court-connected mediation and online dispute resolution as an access to justice initiative.

Project analyses are defendant-focused. Project data, including party information and case dispositions, are static as of September 2019. Project data were manually collected and entered and subject to human error. In accordance with Ohio law, some data were not collected…

Low-to-middle income defendants in the non-ODR tax sample set experienced a lower percentage of dismissals than upper income and out-of-county defendants, whose income levels exceed low-to-middle income defendants. Similarly, higher minority percentage defendants experienced a lower percentage of dismissals.

ODR tax participants experienced both a higher rate of dismissals and a relatively equal percentage of dismissals across income groups. The average dollar amount at issue in the CDIT ODR dataset was $1,041.51. Low, middle, and upper income defendants had nearly identical dismissal percentages. Similarly, minority percentages increased without negative case dispositions.

A significant percentage of ODR participants accessed the portal outside of traditional business hours (8 am to 5 pm)…

The CDIT ODR portal achieved its three primary goals:

1. The Default judgment rate for CDIT cases reduced by 10%.
2. More than one-third of CDIT defendants accessed court services outside of business hours.
3. Dismissals now outpace default judgments in CDIT cases.”

Learn more at
https://sites.google.com/view/fcmcdataproject/about

• In 2020 the International Journal of Online Dispute Resolution (http://www.international-odr.com/​) will publish its first International Student Edition.
• An invitation will be issued for all graduate students in Law Schools, Dispute Resolution degree programs, and related academic programs internationally to submit articles to the IJODR.
• The subject matter of the articles is open: any topic related to online dispute resolution (ODR) will be considered.
• The articles will be reviewed by an international panel of ODR experts, and final decisions regarding publications will be made by the IJODR co-Editors-in-Chief, Daniel Rainey, Ethan Katsh, and Mohamed S. Abdel-Wahab.
• Manuscripts must be between 3000-5000 words, and must conform to the Eleven style guide (​http://www.international-odr.com/documenten/eleven_stylesheet_2013_ijodr.pdf​).
• Manuscripts must be submitted to Daniel Rainey at ​daniel@danielrainey.us​ no later than 1 April 2020.
• Questions regarding the journal or potential submissions can be addressed to any of the following email addresses: daniel@danielrainey.us – ethan.katsh@gmail.com – msw@zulficarpartners.com

The International Council for Online Dispute Resolution (ICODR) Training and Education Committee has begun work on its primary mission: to develop, disseminate, and manage ODR training norms or standards that serve the community of ​trainers​, third parties​ and the ​primary parties​ whom they may serve, as well as the developers and platform providers who constitute the corps of ​fourth parties​ providing ICT platforms.

The Committee’s work will serve the ​trainers​ by establishing standards that ensure current, accurate, and applicable content for ODR training. The ICODR seal of approval will be the hallmark ODR trainers strive to meet and proudly display.

The Committee will be developing a process for training approval management to be handled by ICODR.

The Committee’s work will serve the community of ​third parties​ by assuring them that by taking ICODR approved training they are working to maintain competency and currency in the practice of ODR.

The Committee’s work will serve the ​primary parties​ by giving them a trusted means of determining the preparation and training of third parties they may use to assist in the resolution of disputes.

The Committee’s work will serve the​ fourth party​ community by establishing training standards that will give guidance to those developing and managing ODR platforms to ensure effective and ethical performance.

In pursuit and maintenance of its work, the ICODR Training and Education Committee is committed to engaging in an open and transparent process of discussion and development, including a full cross-section of the ODR community.