Happy Hybrid Mediation New Year!

  • January 13, 2021
  • Mitchell Rose

January 12, 2021: Happy New Year, or a very belated (and, thus, now ridiculous) Happy New Year if you are reading this in February or beyond!

You will be relieved to know that, in this article, I will not be making any:

  1. resolutions, or
  2. predictions

for 2021, other than that I resolve not to make predictions.

That won’t stop me, however, from anticipating (or simply guessing) a new mediation trend for 2021, particularly for the second half.

First, though, I need to bring to your attention an important change to the Rules of Civil Procedure as of January 1, 2021:

According to the new R. 1.08 (8), one of the parties shall propose the method of attendance at a mandatory mediation under R. 24. 1 or 75.1. If the other party objects then a case conference is held, and the court shall make an order directing the method of attendance and consider the availability of telephone or videoconference facilities (and if such a conference is ordered, then direct requirements and procedures that the court considers appropriate).