News & Archive

(August 23, 2006)

Wednesday, September 20, 2006
8:30-10:00am (Continental Breakfast at 8:00)
Harvard Law School
John Chipman Gray Room, 2nd Floor, Pound Hall
(click for map)

Please join Professor Emeritus Frank Sander for the first Dispute Resolution Forum (DRF) of the 2006 - 2007 academic year.

Why are some jurisdictions so receptive to mediation and others so indifferent or even hostile to it? Can we develop some kind of metric (the MRI or Mediation Receptivity Index) to measure the extent to which a particular jurisdiction has institutionalized mediation (as well as other ADR processes)? How would such an index be constituted and administered?  What collateral benefits might accrue from formulating such an index?

Professor Emeritus Frank E. A. Sander is a leading expert on alternative methods of dispute resolution and a pioneer in the field. He was the Bussey Professor of Law at Harvard Law School for 25 years. Among other innovations, one of his early papers put forth the idea of the "Multi-Door Courthouse," a court system that helps direct disputants to the most appropriate route to resolution. Multi-Door Courthouse systems are presently in use in the United States in Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Texas, and Washington D.C., among other places, and internationally in Nigeria and Singapore.

Professor Sander has served in numerous positions related to the role and future of the American court system, including national and state councils and committees. He has also served as a labor arbitrator for over 35 years and is on the roster of the American Arbitration Association, the Federal Medication and Conciliation Service, and the Massachusetts State Board of Conciliation and Arbitration. In addition, he has served as a grievance mediator for AT&T and the Communications Workers of America, and as a mediator of franchise disputes for the CPR Institute of Dispute Resolution.  Professor Sander was also appointed by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to serve on the Standing Committee on Dispute Resolution.  He is presently working on the fifth edition of his pioneering dispute resolution course book. 

Please RSVP to clodge@law.harvard.edu.