Roger Smith, the legendary writer and thinker on legal services, has a new blog chronicling the advances in technology and access to justice.

The blog has some excellent advice about the current state of ODR, particularly from the Ministry/Court perspective.  From his latest post:

“My own advice (would that anyone would listen) to any Ministry or Court wishing to dip its toe into the waters of ODR is: wait; see what works and what does not. The chances are HiiL and Modria will come through well but some systems – probably those built in house – will fail. Watch; wait; prepare; move decisively into the market in 2018. But, who in these days of instant movement and rapid technological change wants to hear boringly sensible advice like that?”

Definitely worth the browsing time.  Read more at http://law-tech-a2j.org/

The Hague Institute for Innovations in Law (HiiL) has just released their latest Trend report titled “ODR and the Courts; The promise of 100% access to justice?”  This report will be distributed to the world’s judiciary, executive, legal professionals, innovators and wider ODR community.  It comes directly out of the conversations at ODR2016.org, which was hosted by HiiL and held in The Hague a few weeks ago.  This report is the product of a huge pooling of collective experience across many sectors, and it will likely make a big splash within legal and judicial communities around the world.

From the Executive Summary:

“The report, bringing together best practices from various legal systems, illustrates how citizens, courts, ministries of justice and the legal profession can all gain from broad implementation of ODR and related procedural innovation. Courts can improve the services to citizens, regain their market share and avoid being overburdened. Government budgets for courts and legal aid can be brought under control by a smart system of user fees for better services to citizens. The law firms working for individuals, now often struggling as a business, can add more value to more people’s lives and serve more people more effectively and efficiently. What is needed is a coordinated effort to open up the legal framework so that new roles and procedural models can freely emerge and be continuously improved.”

The first ODR2016 International Forum at the Hague in May was a great success. There will be a second ODR2016 International Forum this year. It will be held in Beijing September 19-20 (with optional tours on September 18 and 21). Information about the Beijing Forum is at http://uibesz.org/xygg/shownews.php?lang=cn&id=230 If you have any questions about attending, would like to make a presentation or would like an invitation (which you will need to obtain a visa), please email our host, Andy Lee of the The Unversity of International Business and Economics at anyu.lee@gmail-in-China or his associate Angela Zhu at odr2016@163.com or angelazjx@126.com. I hope that we will see you there.

Ethan Katsh
Director, National Center for Technology
and Dispute Resolution

The Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS) has just released a paper that calls for the implementation of the Rechtwijzer/MyLawBC ODR portal to courts in the United States.  This paper is based on a two-day conference convened by IAALS at the University of Denver in June 2016.  The paper calls for the creation of a “Family Law Portal” (FLP) that will have a large ODR component.  From the report:

“To help plan for the FLP, at the A Court Compass for Litigants convening, attendees were shown two tools designed to help people resolve their family law issues: Rechtwijzer 2.0 used in the Netherlands and MyLawBC used in British Columbia. The latter replicates the functionality of the former and adds an additional Guided Pathways feature. The features common to both include an online dispute resolution (“ODR”) system that helps families that are getting divorced with a minimum of judicial intervention. This process is based upon a concept developed for resolving consumer disputes on eBay—a system that resolves over 60 million disputes a year. The parties start the process online by following guided interviews that help them identify the issues and learn ways to resolve them. If the parties reach an impasse on an issue, they can request the assistance of a professional mediator.23 Again, this is all within the online system. Should they not be able to reach agreement through mediation, 24 they can request a decision on the issue from a non-judicial hearing examiner. At the end of the process, the parties have a settlement agreement that will be filed with the court and signed by a judge.”

The report further recommends that the Rechtwijzer/MyLawBC platform be extended to multiple courts in the US to test its effectiveness in the US market.  From the conclusion:

“Rather than reinventing the wheel, IAALS proposes to replicate the features of Rechtwijzer and MyLawBC on a platform that can be scaled throughout the United States. In addition to the features described, it will incorporate the work that is being done by the Stanford Design School to facilitate natural language search inquiries, so that users do not need to cite legalese. The Stanford project plans to work with Google to identify the terms “real people” use when looking
for answers to their legal problems. This natural language approach will be used throughout the process.”

The full report can be read here.

The winner of the 2014 Tech for Justice Hackathon held at the ODR2014 conference in Silicon Valley has released a version of their app for the 2016-2017 school year.  Check it out at otterkids.com.

The OTTER platform:

• Mitigates bullying (Conflict resolution and SEL tools mitigate bullying)
• Offers built-in training (Kid-friendly, teacher-developed, conflict resolution training)
• Provides positive reinforcement (Encourages student reflection on the positive through guided questions)
• Is self-managing (The software helps students resolve their own conflicts)
• Delivers rich reporting data (Provides valuable SEL data in multiple areas for teachers and administrators)
• Sports an easy-to-use interface (Simple interface designed for kids. Works on desktop, tablets, and phones)

Very cool system, and definitely worth checking out.  Learn more at otterkids.com

The conference is in less than two weeks.

Two weeks from now, the 15th annual conference on ODR comes to The Hague, the place with the highest density of judges and courts you can find anywhere in the world. It takes place at the Peace Palace, on Monday May 23 and Tuesday May 24. Contrary to previous editions, this year’s conference is themed ODR and the Courts and will try to answer the question: “Can ODR really help courts and improve access to justice?”

For previous editions, the most prominent practitioners, academic experts and dispute resolution entrepreneurs have met in high tech hot spots such as Haifa, Chennai, at Stanford University in Silicon Valley, and most recently in New York City. This year, the lineup of keynote speakers includes international judges, chief justices and experts on ODR and legal technology from across the world, including the father of ODR, Ethan Katsh, founder of Modria Colin Rule, Senior Presiding Judge of England and Wales, Lord Justice Fulford, and many more.

This year’s conference will be organized by HiiL Innovating Justice with the National Centre for Technology and Dispute Resolution at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

For more information, please go to the conference website (www.20160dr.wordpress.com), where you can register (https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/odr-2016-tickets-20888613405) and follow the latest news on the conference! We also invite you to join the Facebook event(https://www.facebook.com/events/677915552311509/) and to follow us on Twitter (#ODR2016)

Check out Rolando Ortega Hernandez’s new bi-lingual ODR blog odrobserver.blogspot.com.es

As he explains in the first post:

“Welcome to my blog, our blog, I’ve created this space to share information, opinions and it’ll be a free open space about Online Dispute Resolutions and access to justice, and other related subjects for citizens in the digital world. This blog will take and publish information both in English and Spanish.

Bienvenidos a mi blog, nuestro blog, he creado este espacio para compartir información, opiniones y funcionará como un espacio abierto referido a la Resolución de litigios en línea y el acceso a la justicia, y otras materias relacionadas para los ciudadanos en un mundo digital. Este blog, tomará y publicará información en Inglés y en Español.”

Feel free to visit the site and share your thoughts and feedback.

(Also remember that the latest news on ODR in Latin America, is always available at http://odrlatinoamerica.com!)

The Los Angeles Department of Consumer and Business Affairs (DCBA)  Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) Program has been recognized with an Outstanding Project Award.

The ODR program, which expanded the departments existing mediation service, allows parties involved in mediation to negotiate electronically at their convenience, without the need for in-person communication.  The program targets a number of issues including landlord and tenant disputes, neighbor disputes, debt settlements, and more.

From the award announcement:

“The program was launched December 2014. As of March 2016, 230 cases were mediated using DCBA’s expanded services. Of the 230 cases, 133 cases were resolved at a resolution rate of 57%. Thanks to the ODR program, DCBA has been able to mediate cases more effectively and better serve populations who are unable to attend a traditional face to face mediation. This service will also help the department better serve the disabled population and consumers looking for a speedy and efficient way to resolve disputes.”

Here’s more on the project from Giuseppe Leone and the Virtual Mediation Lab, who did the initial training for the DCBA:
http://www.virtualmediationlab.com/virtual-mediation-lab-usa-international/why-the-online-dispute-resolution-system-of-los-angeles-countys-department-of-consumer-and-business-affairs-is-so-successful/

And from Lyn Johnson, an independent IT and ADR consultant:
http://lmjohnsonmediation.solutions/2015/12/observations-of-the-los-angeles-countys-department-of-consumer-and-business-affairs-online-dispute-resolution-system/

Mil Milenios de Paz – UNESCO, Fundación Paz, Ecología y Arte and the artist Facundo Cousillas have specially invited Alberto Elisavetsky, Peace Ambassador, and ODR Latinoamerica, Peace Embassy, to receive “The Peace Crane” on April 15^th, 2016.

The events: Handover Ceremony of “The Peace Crane”, Ceremony of Commitment, and Handover of the Peace Flag, will take place at the Manuel Belgrano conference hall, located in the Honorable Senate of the Argentine Republic, between the 10 and 13 hrs.

Among the homages to be performed that day, Alberto Elisavetsky and ODR Latinoamerica will receive “The Peace Crane” to let it nest in Ciberspace.

The event is open to general public under previous inscription. To participate, send your name, last name and ID Card number to incripcion@milmilenios.org.ar

ODR LATINOAMERICA – PEACE EMBASSY
ALBERTO ELISAVETKSY – PEACE AMBASSADOR

 http://www.odrlatinoamerica.com
http://www.milmilenios.org.ar