Articles

About ArticlesThe below articles are published by the Alternative Dispute Resolution Section of the Ontario Bar Association.  Members are encouraged to submit articles.  About Articles

Editor: Alexander Melfi

Today
Today
A Necessity for Domestic Violence Screening

A Necessity for Domestic Violence Screening

  • January 19, 2018
  • Sina Hariri

The legal profession may have a significant “blind spot” when it comes to family violence.Family law lawyers must remain vigilant in ensuring that they are up to date on some of the research and training available related to family violence so that they can ask their clients the right questions to canvas for some of these risk factors, and gauge the safety of their clients, as well as their decision-making power.

Alternative Dispute Resolution
Helping Parties Prepare Persuasive Mediation Briefs: Who Do You Think You’re Talking To?

Helping Parties Prepare Persuasive Mediation Briefs: Who Do You Think You’re Talking To?

  • January 19, 2018
  • Megan Keenberg

The mediation brief is a crucial instrument that can make or break mediation efforts. Many counsel make the mistake of treating their mediation briefs as a summary judgment factum, focusing on the legal merits of the case and presenting adversarial arguments. As mediators, we can mitigate against the undermining effects of such a mediation brief by expressly setting out what will be compelling and assistive in the mediation process (and what won’t be) in the pre-mediation conference.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

The Mediation Migration

  • April 03, 2017
  • Mitchell Rose

Why do lawyers move to mediation -- and how should they get there?

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Navigating Tribes with Cultural Competency

  • January 26, 2017
  • Sina Hariri

What is cultural competency? Living in a country such as Canada, which boasts a large and culturally diverse population, how do we ensure that our practices (as lawyers or mediators) be inclusive for clients, while embodying the values of cultural competency? This article offers some thoughts and answers to these questions.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Getting Past Impasse With Mediator Settlement Recommendations

  • January 24, 2017
  • Mitchell Rose

Reaching the end of a mediation session and learning that you and the other side are far apart in your settlement position can be disappointing. In the following weeks, after the dust settles, the mediator may follow up with you to see if positions have softened, or if there is a new way of resolving the dispute. However, despite everyone’s best efforts, there may still be an impasse. This article offers some tips on how to get past that impasse.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Cultural Competency and Your ADR Practice – It's About Professionalism

  • December 06, 2016
  • Angela Bradley

On November 23, 2016 by webcast and in-person over lunch at the Twenty Toronto Street Conference Centre, ADR Section Chair Eric Gossin and Secretary Nicole Stewart Kamanga co-chaired a panel discussion titled “Cultural Competency and Your ADR Practice,” featuring speakers Christa Big Canoe and Christine Kim.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Avoiding Pitfalls in Drafting Arbitration Agreements

  • October 25, 2016
  • John Kelly

S. 1 of the Arbitration Act 1991 provides that an arbitration agreement is “an agreement by which two or more parties agree to submit arbitration a dispute which has or may arise between them”. The failure to properly describe the obligations of the parties in an agreement can completely frustrate the purpose of the agreement.

Alternative Dispute Resolution