the neutral zone

vol.6 issue 8
11.07

News and Updates
CMC-TVMA Winter Holiday Party, Dec. 18
News from the Front
Legal Language
Mediation Balloons
Blog World
Tennessee Mediation Archives
 

2003
Archives for 2003

2002
Archives for 2002

2001
Archives for 2001

Quid Novi?
News and Updates:

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CMC DATES:
Wednesday, January 16, 12-1pm, Next CMC Executive Committee Meeting, CMC Gay St Office conference room.
Thursday, January 24, 6-8pm, Board Meeting, place TBA

CMC Volunteer Basic Training, time and place TBA in January/February 2008.  Please go to our website to fill out a volunteer application.

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TVMA DATES:

Tuesday,  January 15.  TVMA'S regular monthly meetings are held on the 3rd Tuesday of each month at TVUUC, 6:30pm social time, Meeting time, 7-8pm, Program TBA,, Click here for directions to the meeting.

In January, we will hold a "peer review" where two experienced mediators will describe a mediation experience (taking care not to breach confidentiality) and will then "debrief" with the audience, talking about what they did well and what they feel they could have done better.  Audience feedback will be appreciated.   

Tuesday, February 19, there will be a speaker for CME and CLE credit.

Tuesday, March 18, there will be another "peer review" experience with two mediators.

In April, we will host O. Russell Murray, Esq. a renowned speaker on the uses of mediation in litigation.  More information to follow on TVMA's website at www.tnmediators.com

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KNOXVILLE BAR ASSOCIATION DATES:
KBA ADR Section: 
Meetings will be held at the law office of Butler, Vines & Babb (2701 Kingston Pike) from 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. The programs have each been approved for one hour of general CLE credit (unless otherwise noted). KBA Members not wishing to receive CLE credit may attend the program at no charge (handout materials not included). A reservation is required in advance of the program. $5 additional the day of the program.  The cost is $20 for KBA members & $30 for non-KBA members.  The cost includes one hour of CLE credit and the handout materials.  CMC volunteers and staff may attend for the same price as a KBA member.

Monday, December 3, 5:30-6:30PM, Mediation of a Medical Malpractice Case from the Perspective of the Plaintiff and the Defendant

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UT COLLEGE OF LAW DATES:

Collaborative Law Update Knoxville:  The Collaborative Family Law training scheduled for Dec. 6-7 at UT College of Law has been postponed until Spring, 2008, and will still be held at UT.  Please contact Jackie or  Natalie for more information and to get on our mailing list! Here is the new (August 9, 2007) ABA Formal Ethics Committee Opinion on Collaborative Law

 

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Our Mission “By actively advocating conflict management and alternative dispute resolution - and giving a public voice to the professionals dedicated to it - we heighten awareness of the many benefits of conflict management as a proactive approach to avoiding litigation when possible. We accomplish this by engaging, informing and educating families and the general public - at home, school and work." Our Vision “Through the combined efforts of our constituents and this Alliance we will help to provide a better, healthier quality of life for the citizens and families of Tennessee in the years to come. Our aggressive statewide initiatives to improve our children’s ability to effectively and compassionately communicate will yield healthy family and home lives needed to empower our citizens to improve and nurture the communities and businesses in which they live and work.” Go to the Tennessee Alliance for Alternative Dispute Resolution Advocacy (T3A) or Contact Clay Phillips in Nashville for more information.

 

ashville trainings: :: Tennessee Association of Professional Mediators (TAPM) :: Lipscomb University Institute for Conflict Management : Contact: Rich McPherson 3901 Granny White Pike Nashville, TN 37204 Phone: 615-966-6680 Fax: 615-966-7141 Email: icm@lipscomb.edu Web Site: www.icm.lipscomb.edu Tuesday, December 18 The next entering class for the Institute's Masters in Conflict Resolution degree begins January 8, 2008.  Apply now!             Left, Larry Bridgesmith, JD, Executive Director, Lipscomb University Institute for Conflict Management (ICM); Right, Marietta Shipley, retired 2nd Circuit Ct Judge in Davidson Co, first President of TAPM, and founder of the Mediation Group.     Nashville Conflict Resolution Center  (NCRC)  www.MargaretHuffMediation.com This is the nonprofit mediation center of the Nashville Bar Association.  They conduct civil mediations in General Sessions Ct and have done a remarkable job training mediators able to conduct bi-lingual sessions!

 

Jean Munroe provides excellent Rule 31 mediation training for civil and family mediators in the Knoxville area and across Tennessee, with cross-over training offered. She is also considered to be the "go-to" trainer for domestic violence issues in mediation. Click here for her 2007 training schedule.  Jean and her partner Paul donate many hours of their time to pro bono mediation work, including assisting and mentoring CMC in its training needs.  Also see Jean's page at www.tennmediators.org/jeanmunroe/

 

WE ALL SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM ON FIRST TUESDAY!  Buy a Ben & Jerry's ice cream at Western Plaza between 5pm-8pm, and 20% of what you pay will go directly to Community Shares! If your group is interested in becoming a Community Shares member group, apply now.

 

One of our volunteer mediators, Lisa Collins Werner, has a new mediation service called Consensus Mediation Group.  She provides mediation services, and she has beautiful mediation conference spaces (with wireless internet, fully audio-visual capable, kitchen and  breakout facilities, and plenty of parking) in a office complex in convenient West Knoxville.  She's also offering the space for legal conferencing needs:  settlement meetings, depositions, and out of town attorneys needs.

 

By Don K. Ferguson
(CMC volunteer mediator in Knox County General Sessions Court and author of the "Grammar Gremlins" column that appears in The Knoxville News-Sentinel every Sunday.) 

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leave of court

To ask leave of court is to ask judicial permission to follow a nonroutine procedure. In the sense of permission, leave had become archaic by the 19th century in every field but law.
--A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage
 

TCMA accomplished what it set out to do this year:  host a smashing good Mediation Day event with participants from across the state.  This coming year, 2008, we'll do the same thing, but even better!  If you would like to be on our planning committee for Mediation Day in Tennessee 2008, please contact one of us closest to you and join us:

Larry Bridgesmith at larry.bridgesmith@wallerlaw.com
Jackie Kittrell at jkittrell@2mediate.org, 865-594-1879;
Max Williams at maxwms@bellsouth.net,
Mary Ellen Bowen, vorp7@hotmail.com;
Doris Brocker, scvorp@aol.com;
Lisa Collins Werner, consensusmediationgroup@comcast.net  

We'd like to recognize Marnie Huff for providing a huge amount of leadership and office support during TCMA's first year and two Mediation Day events (2006 and 2007).  She is an amazing and talented attorney, mediator, and human being!  Check out her wonderful website at: www.margarethuffmediation.com

 

About the Coalition

The Tennessee Coalition for Mediation Awareness was formed in 2006 to maximize the resources and expertise of various groups in the state committed to increasing awareness of mediation as an alternative to litigation. The mission of the Coalition is to support programs and activities that educate the public and the legal profession on the benefits of mediation and other forms of conflict resolution.  For more information about the Coalition, see http://www.2mediate.org/tcma.html. 

Letter to CMC's Executive Director, Jackie Kittrell from Marnie Huff:

Dear Jackie,
The statewide celebration of Mediation Day on October 18 such a wonderful success.  Mediators from across Tennessee were honored to have UT College of Law Professor Emeritus and mediation visionary Grayfred Gray receive the first annual Grayfred Gray Public Service Mediation Award at the Lipscomb University Institute for Conflict Management in Nashville. 

As you know, Tennessee Attorney General Bob Cooper, Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, and retired UT College of Law Dean Dick Wirtz were on hand as the award was presented to Professor Gray, for his original and lasting contribution to public service through mediation in Tennessee.  Mayor Dean, in welcoming remarks, supported the work of ADR professionals, and recognized the importance of "saving time and saving money for the city" through mediation. 

Your presentation with Becky Jacobs and Bob Swan to highlight the accomplishments of Grayfred Gray was delightful, including information about Grayfred's course on Teaching Clients the Law as a way of empowering people.  It's not surprising that when faced with a tough decision, folks in Knoxville often see the light by asking, "What would Grayfred do?"  Your educational PowerPoint slide show on community mediation in Tennessee formed a fitting backdrop during the Mediation Day luncheon.  

On top of everything else, you jump started a new Tennessee mediation history timeline project* that was unveiled at the Mediation Day event.

Thank you for your tireless work supporting mediation awareness in Tennessee!

Warm regards, Marnie Huff

* We've begun composing a History of Mediation in Tennessee time line.  I will have it posted soon online, so go to our TCMA page and check it out and email us with additional events and corrections!
 

Our staff email addresses:

Jackie Kittrell:  jkittrell@2mediate.org
Sharon Upshaw: supshaw@2mediate.org
Jen Comiskey:  jcomiskey@2mediate.org  

Our contact info:

912 South Gay Street
Suite L-300
Knoxville, TN  37902
(865) 594-1879, voice
(865) 594-1890, fax

Juvenile Annex office
(865) 215-6570, voice
(865) 215-6564, fax

Website:  www.2mediate.org

 

From the Tennessee Mediation Archives: Memphis Daily News  May 18, 2006   Law & The Courts  By ANDREW  ASHBY Nowadays, Mediation is to Law As Reality Shows are to Prime Time TV   Although mediation only took off locally in the 1990s, it has become a standard practice to help solve civil and family disputes.  Mediation is an informal process by which a third party helps people reach mutually acceptable agreements out of court.   Jocelyn Dan Wurzburg, who operates Jocelyn Wurzburg Mediation, claims to be Memphis' first professional mediator. After working as a full-time volunteer for various organizations, she became an attorney at age 41 and worked divorce cases at her first job. She didn't enjoy the process.  "I was just heart sickened," she said. "I just thought there had to be an easier way that wasn't so hurtful and degrading."   Wurzburg started her own practice focusing on uncontested divorces, but read a pamphlet in 1984 about a mediation course in New Orleans. Wurzburg took the course and found mediation to her liking. When she returned to Memphis, she told fellow attorneys about it, but it wasn't well received because it was new and didn't fit what they were trained to do. Also, conflict resolution is less expensive, and lawyers thought it might interfere with their business, Wurzburg said.  "I kept trying to tell them that this train had left the station and we attorneys were either going to be the engine or we were going to be the caboose," Wurzburg said. "This was taking off across the country like wildfire."    Rule 31 is set of judiciary rules establishing the policies and procedures for court-ordered ADR in lesser courts throughout the state.  "Then, all of the sudden, it took off," Wurzburg said.  The state Supreme Court then came up with a list of attorneys whom judges could recommend as mediators. To be on the list, lawyers had to go through a designated amount of training.  In 1991, Wurzburg joined a committee of the Tennessee Bar Association that was exploring the use of mediation and alternate dispute resolution (ADR) in the state court system. TBA professionals studied the issue for a year and then petitioned the Tennessee Supreme Court to study it as well.    In 1992, the court created its own commission, called the ADR Commission, to examine the issue. The state Supreme Court, following the recommendation of the commission, established Rule 31 in January 1996.    Mediation is divided into two types: one dealing with general civil cases such as personal injury and employment disputes, and the other dealing with family disputes. To be on the state's mediator list, general civil case mediators need a 40-hour course on civil mediation,  while family mediators need either a 46-hour family course or a 40-hour family course with an additional six hours of Tennessee family law education.     To the drawing board    Local mediator Hayden Lait tried commercial, personal injury and domestic lawsuits for 20 years before being introduced to mediation in the early 1990s. After receiving 13.5 hours of training from the American Academy of Attorney Mediators, he said he saw it was a great  way for people to resolve their problems. Still, he noticed other lawyers were reluctant to try mediation when it was first being used.    "When I was first invited to take a mediation training course, I didn't know the difference between mediation and arbitration," Lait said.    In arbitration, opposing parties present their cases to a neutral third party and agree to abide by that person's decision. In mediation, the mediator does not make a decision, but helps parties reach an agreement. Rule 31 changed the perception of mediation in Tennessee, making it more common statewide.    "That kind of institutionalized it, and it has become more prevalent," Lait said. "People are becoming used to doing it."    Even so, mediators come up against definite challenges when working with opposing parties. "You have to give people an opportunity to vent," Lait said. "Sometimes folks come into mediation and they look at it like a lawsuit. In mediation, your jury is the other side, so it's not productive to beat up on them. Sometimes that takes some time for people to understand."    A mediator wants to build rapport and an element of trust with all parties, which can be tricky as well. "At the end of the day, they may look to the mediator for guidance," Lait said. "A mediator has to be careful not to give that opinion too early because then one party might figure out the mediator is not on their side."    The order of the day    In 2005, Lait became a chairman of the state's ADR Commission, which was appointed by the Tennessee Supreme Court to oversee ADR in the state's courts.  The commission approves 20 to 40 people as mediators during each quarterly meeting, he said. Currently, 128 mediators are available to serve Shelby County in general civil matters and 62 are able to serve in family matters, according to the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts. The state now has more than 900 court-qualified mediators, which is almost double from five years ago, Lait said.    Over the past year, the commission performed an evaluation to get feedback from courts, lawyers and participants on how effective mediation is and how it's being used. The evaluation looked at 12 counties and consisted of mostly anecdotal information. "There are mediators available and people seem to be using them," said Mary Rose Zingale, programs manager for the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts. "In general, people are positive about mediation."    While the evaluation was favorable to present-day mediators, Wurzburg remembers when the practice wasn't so popular. "I'm just proud that mediation finally became accepted," Wurzburg said. "It's pretty much the order of the day, where people will try it before they resort to litigation."    If It Doesn't Fit, You Must ... Mediate  *1991 - *Tennessee Bar Association created a commission to explore how  Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) could be used in the state.  *1992 - *Tennessee Supreme Court created a commission to study ADR in  the state.  *January 1996 - *Tennessee Supreme Court enacted Rule 31, which  established a court-based ADR statewide.  *December 1996 - *Rule 31 was amended to include more detail regarding  credentials and training for mediators.  *March 1997 - *First list of Rule 31 mediators was sent to state's  clerks and judges.

 

 

"There are more reasons to fear a dispute
than a tiger."

- Saying from the Semai people on the Malay Peninsula
(The Semai have a gift economy and are known for their nonviolent societal ethos.)