Great set of comprehensive statistics around Franklin County’s ODR program have now been released. Two results that stood out to me:
Kudos to the Franklin County team for their great work in compiling these metrics and key performance indicators, and for embracing transparency by sharing them widely. Check the full set out here:
New article in India’s Economic Times on ODR. An excerpt:
‘ODR offers a more accessible, transparent and faster option, particularly for companies dealing with high volume and low value transactions done online. With more Indians transacting online — whether for e-commerce or banking — stakeholders say the timing is right for ODR to gain acceptance as an easy mechanism to resolve grievances. A year ago, a Nandan Nilekani -led panel on digital payments suggested that all payment system operators “must implement a fast and fair online dispute resolution system”.
Globally, ODR growth was fuelled by the e-commerce boom, with eBay and PayPal resolving millions of disputes online. “ODR can be used across sectors — from insurance to banking – and also for family disputes. It is about leveraging tech to prevent and resolve disputes,” says Chittu Nagarajan, a pioneer in ODR who headed Community Court initiatives at eBay and PayPal.
After the acquisition of her last ODR firm Modria by Tyler Technologies, Nagarajan in 2019 launched CREK ODR, an industry- and dispute-agnostic platform, which can be accessed by clients anywhere in the world. She underlines the need for a strong technology layer while implementing ODR. Her startup is an end-to-end SaaS platform with multiple features like virtual mediation rooms. “ODR is not just about applications. You need a fantastic tech platform. The design can’t be the same for platforms resolving family and e-commerce disputes.”
Players are aware of the challenges in the adoption of ODR in India — from the lack of enough arbitrators to building trust among consumers. “People need to accept that disputes can be resolved without the parties seeing each other,” says Jaswal. “The bigger test will be dealing with people who are not used to the digital ecosystem.”
Sama’s Sinha says capacity building is also a concern. “Lawyers can now explore providing online arbitration and mediation services as a viable career option too.”
Nevertheless, there is growing conviction that it is only a matter of time before ODR is adopted at scale in India. CODR’s Mahendra points to two recent judgements. In the first case, the Bombay High Court pulled up Tata Capital Financial Services when it was found to have used the same arbitrator for over 2,200 cases, paying him Rs 1,000 per case, which highlights the need for a large number of arbitrators at acceptable price points.’
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
If you want to visit the homepage of Cyberweek 2019 Spanish Chapter go here: http://odrlatinoamerica.com/cyberweek-pagina-de-acceso/
Password: cyberuser58
FOR CYBERWEEK 2020, CLICK HERE!
Thank you for a wonderful Cyberweek!
We had a great time pulling it together. We’re already making plans for 2020. Make sure to click on the agenda to watch the sessions
you missed on youtube.
“Leah Wing and I and the National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution are most grateful to Colin and others who organized this year’s Cyberweek. The first Cyberweek was in 1998. To those of you who enjoyed the week’s activities, please follow ODR.INFO and join ICODR. It is clear that the future we imagined in 1998 is largely here. We look forward to an even more ambitious Cyberweek next year. For those of you who can, please attend ODR2020 in Dublin in May 2020.” – Ethan Katsh
Congratulations to Luca Dal Pubel from San Diego University — he was the top performer in the Grand re-Opening of the International eNegotiation Exhibition. He passed all the written exams with flying colors and demonstrated his mastery of Smartsettle ONE in the practicum (the contest) having achieved a score of 90. Congrats, Luca!
Note: the Agenda has youtube links so you can replay sessions you missed
Thank you to Cyberweek 2019 Supporters! (Click for the full list)
(To visit the Spanish Cyberweek, which is happening concurrently, just visit
http://odrlatinoamerica.com/esp-cyberweek-topics/)
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:
Learn more at
https://sites.google.com/view/fcmcdataproject/about
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.
“LANSING, MI, August 7, 2019 – The Michigan Supreme Court today announced the availability of MI-Resolve, an online service that provides an efficient and affordable way of resolving disputes that are typically filed as small claims, general civil, or landlord-tenant cases in the district court. Initially available in 17 counties, the online service is one of the first of its kind in the nation.
“Making court services more accessible means opening both real and virtual courtroom doors,” said Chief Justice Bridget M. McCormack. “With the help of groundbreaking services such as MI-Resolve, Michigan is a national leader in boosting access to justice online.”
Through MI-Resolve, parties can resolve their disputes online with or without the help of a trained neutral person, known as a mediator. The mediator works to help parties identify a solution to a dispute that best works for them; the system walks the parties through the steps to reach a resolution. The new online service is a game changer because people who are busy with work or children can benefit from mediation on their own schedule. Individuals do not need to have a case filed in court to use MI-Resolve, but if they do have a case pending in court, they can still use this service to try to reach a settlement before a hearing or trial date. Currently, there is no fee to use MI-Resolve.
Michigan’s pilot project is expected to expand statewide in the near future.”
To learn more, visit
https://courts.michigan.gov/News-Events/press_releases/Documents/Statewide%20Media%20Release%20ODR.pdf
We are pleased to announce the list of speakers and presenters for the 2019 International Online Dispute Resolution conference. This year’s conference will be held in Williamsburg, VA from October 28-30. It is being hosted by the National Center for State Courts and co-sponsored by the National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution. In addition to many sessions on the use of ODR in the private sector, a major focus of the conference this year will be on ODR in the courts. We hope that you will be able to join us.