The Siming Court is a basic-level people’s court located in Xiamen, a coast city in southeastern Fujian province beside the Taiwan Strait. It held a “metaverse” trial in which two traffic accident-related cases were heard. The graduate students of Xiamen University Law School observed the entire trial process. On September 23, www.people.com.cn published a news article titled, “Metaverse + Court Trial + Classroom Teaching— the Siming Court in Xiamen promotes Digitalization and Intelligentization” of  the Court System.” The news is available in English and in Chinese. Info on the metaverse technology provision can be found here.

ODR Cyberweek 2022 (Oct. 31-Nov 4) showcased online dispute resolution innovations and projects by presenters from over 20 countries including: Angola, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, England, European Union, India, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Portugal, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, United States, and Wales. All presentations are permanently archived, including Spanish and Portuguese language tracks.

October 31-November 4, 2022 Join us for this free, online conference with experts from around the world

Access the Program agenda & participation here.

Highlights include:

Series on ODR Beyond Monetary Disputes

• ODR and Healthcare
• ODR and Canadian Immigration/Refugee Cases
• EU Digital Privacy Act and ODR
• ODR and Relationship Repair: Arbitration of Labor Grievances
• Tech and Multiparty Public Dispute Resolution Post-Covid

ODR Platform Demos

A Spanish language track 

Additional topics on ODR include: women’s empowerment, leveraging technology in mediation, AI, blockchain, data protection, ODR Standards, the metaverse, medical disputes, Oarb, and more!

Join us for five days of ODR exploration and engagement! #ODRCyberweek2022

Recordings will be archived here.

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Join us October 31-November 4 for the 21st annual virtual conference on ODR. It will include panel discussions, simulations, tech demonstrations and more! #ODRCyberweek2022

On August 26, 2022 an International Online Arbitration Summit was held in China. A list of presenters in English can be found here.

NCTDR Fellow Michael FANG gave a presentation on “Meta verse Arbitration” (Meta-Arb).

As a sample of the quality of presenters, here are the panelists in one of the sessions entitled “Innovation and Development of Online Arbitration in the Era of Digital Economy”

Moderator: Zhiqiang Li, the 30th President of Inter-Pacific Bar Association
Presenter 1：Jian Tan, Principal of the Secretariat, China Academy of Arbitration Law
Presenter 2：Manqi Chen, HKSAR Deputy to National People’s Congress，Founding President of the Small and Medium Law Firms Association of Hong Kong
Presenter 3：Natalia Petrik, Deputy Secretary General, the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC)
Presenter 4：Donna Huang, Director, ICC Arbitration and ADR, North Asia
Presenter 5：Rintaro Tanaka, Head of the Department of Japan External Trade Organization in Guangzhou Representative Office, Head of the Department of the Economic Analysis and Enterprise Aid
Presenter 6：Jun Fu, Professor, School of Law, Director of the Faculty of International Law, University of International Business and Economics
Presenter 7：Jian Chen, Deputy Secretary General, Shanghai Arbitration Commission

For the full agenda, just visit http://odr.info/files/summitagenda.pdf

Full information about the event (in Chinese) is available here: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/oTGlwIf-52Rh3IG1m_uyKw

（Zeng Yating at HUT Law School）

The ICODR podcast series is hosted by NCTDR Fellow and ICODR board member, Ian Macduff who interviews ODR experts from around the world to discuss the latest developments in the field, with an eye to ethics, culture, security, and impartiality. The inaugral interview is with ODR and NCTDR founder, Ethan Katsh.

This new publication can be accessed here.

ODR Ethics and Standards: What Do They Mean to Our Practices? Thursday, June 9, 2022 @ 11am-12:30pm EST https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/j/98085295001

This international panel is moderated by Leah Wing & Daniel Rainey and jointly sponsored by The National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution & The International Council for Online Dispute Resolution. The National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution, birthplace of ODR, issued a first set of ODR Standards that it has revised in 2022 jointly with the International Council for Online Dispute Resolution (ICODR). The panel includes NCDTR Fellows and ICODR members Mirèze Philippe, Morenike Obi-Farinde, Ana Maria Maia Gonçalves, and Mohamed S. Abdel Wahab. We will discuss the relevance and implications for employing ODR ethical standards in light of the new risks that ODR raises and ways it can compound on-going ethical concerns for ADR and courts (e.g.: data security, confidentiality, power imbalances, and AI-enhanced and repeat player biases). Panelists will explore the role of ODR standards in the ethical and accountable delivery of ODR across a wide spectrum of jurisdictions, sectors, and types of practice. This event will be recorded and posted in our NCTDR Webinar Archive.

A conversation with Richard Susskind (author) & Ethan Katsh (NCTDR Founder) June 13, 2022 @ noon EST https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/j/99148280113

This event celebrates the 2022 edition of The Future of the Professions: How Technology Will Transform the Work of Human Experts by Richard Susskind and Daniel Susskind (OUP 2022). Professor Richard Susskind OBE is the world’s most cited author on the future of legal services. He is President of the Society for Computers and Law, Chair of the Advisory Board of the Oxford Internet Institute, and, since 1998, has been Technology Adviser to the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales. He will discuss the impact technology will have on the legal field and other professions in his conversation with Ethan Katsh, the father of ODR and founder of the National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution. This event will be recorded and posted in our NCTDR Webinar Archive.

While taking the real work of the people’s courts into consideration, the Opinions aim to leverage the role of blockchain in cementing judicial credibility, facilitating social governance, preventing and resolving risks, promoting high-quality development, etc., so as to reinforce the advance of smart courts on all fronts and the modernization of the judicial system and judicial capabilities. The Opinions issued May 23, 2022 include the following sections: I. Overall requirements; II. Requirements on building the blockchain platforms of the people’s courts; III. Making the most of the data tamper-proof technology of blockchain to further enhance judicial credibility; IV. Giving full play of the essential role of blockchain in optimizing business processes to constantly improve judicial efficiency; V. Fully tapping the tremendous potential of blockchain connectivity to enhance judicial collaboration; VI. Leveraging properties of the blockchain alliance of mutual recognition and trustworthiness to facilitate economic and social governance; VII. Guarantee measures. To read it please see：https://sway.office.com/TZCGYoTyLFfVqxbO (Michael Fang; Zeng Yating at HUT Law School)

NCTDR has issued a paper, Framing the Parameters for Online Dispute Resolution introducing a framework for use in considering what constitutes ODR. With the recent burst in use of videoconferencing in dispute resolution during the global pandemic, growing interest in the application of artificial intelligence, and the development of sophisticated technologically supported platforms, robust discussions are underway about the state of play of ODR. We hope this ODR Framework will contribute to increased understanding and ethical design and use of technology in dispute handling.

The National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution and the International Council for Online Dispute Resolution have jointly issued revised Online Dispute Resolution Standards.