Doug Van Epps and Michelle Hilliker of the Michigan Court System (and the creators of MI-Resolve) have just shared a document that consolidates their experience to date in designing, implementing, and testing a court ODR system.  The resulting “Considerations” document also includes items gleaned from conversations with their colleagues around the country, publications, and web materials. 

As they describe the document, “Perhaps more than other resources we’ve seen to date, this document also suggests that it may be helpful to differentiate between the goals of ‘disposing of cases’ and ‘resolving disputes,’ the ‘DR’ of ‘ODR,’ as well as between ‘ODR’ and ‘Online Court.’  It remains to be seen whether these distinctions are helpful to others, but they have guided our thinking along the way.” 

I think this document is very well considered and put together, and it will be extremely helpful for other court leaders in thinking through how ODR can and should be integrated into court operations.

Check out the document here:   courts.mi.gov/ODRConsiderations