NE-SPIDR News Vol. IV No. 3



JANUARY 1997

From the Nominating Committee

The Nominating Committee is pleased to recommend to the membership an outstanding slate of nominees for the 1997 New England SPIDR Board of Directors. The Committee received a relatively large number of nominations this year, attesting to the growing strength of this chapter. Thank you to everyone who contacted us about the nominations. The high quality of all of the nominees made it an exciting and difficult process.

In selecting the nominees listed below, the committee sought to insure a Board containing a balance of Officers and Directors from various states, professional backgounds and practice areas. We also considered people's contributions to New England SPIDR and to the ADR field generally.

Robin Sher, chair Ann Gosline, Fredie Kay

Nominees for Officers

President, Kathleen M. Birt (RI)
Vice-President, David A. Hoffman (MA)
Secretary, Christine L Newhall
Treasurer, Christine W. Yurgelun (MA)

Nominees for Directors

Chuck Doran (MA), (Filling the one-year remainder of Christine Yurgelun's term)

Diane E. Kenty (ME), two years

David Plimpton (ME), two years

Marsha Means Saylor (MA), two years

Eudora Shaw (NH), two years

Directors Remaining on the Board (One Year)

Maggie Bernstein (VT)
James Keil (ME)
Dan Pagnano (MA)
Robin C. Sher (MA)

Kathleen M. Birt

Ms. Birt has been a mediator and attorney since 1989, and has an ongoing mediation practice, offering comprehensive dispute resolution services for a variety of disputes, including family, divorce, commercial and insurance. Kathleen developed and co-teaches a 40-hour Divorce Mediation Training Program and is President of the Rhode Island Council of Family Mediators.

She conducts collaborative negotiation training for school committees, public employees, social service agencies and professional organizations. She played a key role in the development of both the Rhode Island Superior Court's Settlement Week, and the Rhode Island Family Court Mediation Program. She is a member of the Academy of Family Mediators, a Board Member of the New England SPIDR, and is on the editorial board of New England SPIDR's Newsletter.

David A. Hoffman

David A. Hoffman is a member of the Boston law firm of Hill & Barlow, where he chairs the ADR Practice Group. He serves as a mediator and arbitrator for CPR, AAA, Jams/Endisoute, the Private Adjudication Center, and number of court connected programs. Along with Professor David Matz, he is the co-author of Massachusetts Altemative Dispute Resolution (MICHIE, 1994,1996). David also teaches ADR and Negotiation courses at Northeastern University Law School and is a board member of the New England chapter of SPIDR.

Christine L. Newhall

In October 1994, Christine Newhall was appointed Regional Vice President for the New England office of the American Arbitration Association. Prior to that she was the Director of Regional Administration from 1988 to 1994 and the Deputy Director from 1982 to 1988. She holds a degree from Fairfield University, as well as graduate credits from Boston University and Bently. She is active in the Industrial Relations Research Association, Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution(SPIDR), the Labor Guild and New England Society of Association Executives. She has been a Board Member of the Massachusetts Association of Mediation Programs since 1990. She is also a Board Member of SPIDR since 1994. She is a trained mediator through the Cambridge Dispute Resolution Center. Christine is also an active member in the Fairfield University Alumni Association. She is the author of a chapter in the Construction Accounting Manual, 1993, as well as a contributor to various newspapers and magazines, with articles on arbitration and mediation. She is Secretary of the Society of Federal Labor Relations Professionals (SFLRF). She is also a member of the Parish Executive Council for St. Thomas the Apostle.

Christine W. Yurgelun

Graduate from Smith college (1978), attended Boston College Law School (as visiting student 1987 - 88), completed Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation (Fall, 1987) and was awarded J.D. from Marshall Wythe School of Law (College of William and Mary) in 1988. She has served as consultant, business analyst, and research analyst with the Strategic Planning Institute (Cambridge, MA) and independently. Initially trained as mediator with the Salem (MA) Mediation Program in 1981) Served as court coordinator and mediator for criminal cases in two Superior Courts in Connecticut. Currently mediator/trainer/ consultant in private practice. Active member of various bar association and ADR organizations.

Chuck Doran

Chuck Doran is a mediator, trainer, founder and Executive Director of Mediation Works, Inc., a non-profit dispute resolution organization. Chuck has successfully mediated hundreds of civil, criminal, divorce and business cases under grants from the Massachusetts Bar and other foundations in district courts though out Massachusetts. Chuck has also worked as a trainer and consultant with a variety of mediation organizations including CDR Associates, the Harvard Mediation Program at Harvard Law School and NAFCM. Chuck also completed a Specialization in Negotiation and Dispute Resolution through the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School and serves as an arbitrator with the Massachusetts Bar Association's Fee Arbitration Board. Chuck is a member of the Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution and currently serves as chair of MAMPP's 1997 Eighth Annual Conference.

Diane E. Kenty

Diane E. Kenty, Esquire, is the Director of the Court Alternative Dispute Resolution Service (CADRES) for the Judicial Branch of the State of Maine. A trained mediator and arbitrator, she completed the Master Mediation Seminar offered by SPIDR New England in September, 1996. Diane earned her J.D. at Georgetown University Law Center, M.Div. at Union Theological Seminary and A.B. at Oberlin College. She is particularly interested in ethical issues in mediation. Formerly a Boston attorney, Diane served on the board of the Massachusetts Association of Mediation Programs and Practitioners and mediated with Middlesex Multi-Door Courthouse, the Attorney General's Conflict Intervention Team and North Essex Mediators.

David Plimpton

David Plimpton has practiced law in Maine for over 30 years, and for 8 years has carried on a full-time professional dispute resolution practice, which he now conducts with Mary T. Esposito under the name of Plimpton & Esposito. He has served as a facilitator, mediator, arbitrator, factfinder, special master, hearing officer and referee in a wide range of civil disputes, and is a member of a number of national and regional dispute resolution panels. Mr. Flimpton has provided training in dispute resolution for several State of Maine agencies, the Maine State Bar Association and the National Association of Securities Dealers. He is a past president of the Maine Association of Dispute Resolution Professionals.

Marsha Saylor

Marsha Saylor has been a full time arbitrator, mediator and fact finder, since 1985, specializing in Labor, Employment, Discrimination, Special Education, Public Policy, Complex Multi-Farty Disputes and Commercial matters. She is currently the Chair of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee of the Boston Bar's Litigation Section. She previously chaired the Labor Arbitration Committees for both the Boston and Massachusetts Bar Associations. She chaired the 1994 New England SPIDR Conference and served on SPIDR's Board from 1995 - 1996.

Eudora Shaw
Dorie Shaw is the Director of the Dispute Resolution Institute and assistant clinical professor at Franklin Pierce Law Center. She is the principal trainer for the Small Claims Mediation Program and Civil Mediation Program at the Concord District Court, for the Juvenile Corrections Mediation Program, and for school peer mediation programs. Dorie also chairs the New Hampshire Mediators' Association Ethics Committee.

Peer Mediation

Amy Margalit, Peer Mediator, Amherst High School

As an active mediator for the past five years, it was a pleasure to meet with and get to know numerous other mediators from across the country and world at the first mediation youth conference that SPIDR has hosted. It was amazing for me to see how fast mediation is spreading in school systems all over and how many students are active in mediation programs.

What was most unique about this conference was the incredible diversity of students who participated in the event. This was apparent to me as soon as I arrived at the location for the conference. Although I had just come from admiring the fall foliage in New England, there was a group of students from the Yukon who had just seen a polar bear. Still others were from Australia and had come from warm skies, and of course there were mediators from as close as California, the site of this year's conference.

This great variety of cultures and ethnicities present and the resulting wide range of ideas that participants brought with them proved to be an exciting experience for me and many others. Such a diversity of outlooks made it possible for many students to share unique perspectives with each other about promoting mediation in schools, or just chat together about their different communities and how mediation skills and methods can be relevant in so many ways. It was interesting to hear what other students were doing in their home environments to help establish a general appreciation for mediation. Coming from a school where mediation is not given major recognition by students and administration it was helpful for me to hear how other students tried to incorporate mediation into their communities in other ways - Training at elementary schools, for teachers, and establishing after school programs where mediators would be available to speak with students, were all ideas that were practiced throughout the country.

Although it was wonderful to meet students from all over the country (as I now write to a friend who lives in California) this conference was a chance for me to get to know mediators who live fifteen minutes from my house. Efraim Vasquez, a street mediator from Greenfield, MA traveled with me and we were accompanied by Court Dorsey, a consultant for a nearby mediation organization. I learned a lot from both of my traveling companions with whom I attended the conference.

Efraim Vazquez has used his meditation skills to solve conflicts that would arise on the streets near his home and in his larger community. Before meeting him I had not realized how important developing mediation skills could be in trying to de-escalate dangerous situations in informal street settings. After attending a workshop held by Court Dorsey I was amazed at the particular talent that Court has. The remarkable ability to incorporate mediation methods into acting and performance was something that Court has mastered. This ability has proved to be very important, as it gives many people a basis for understanding the fundamental principles of mediation-active listening, paraphrasing, and communication.

This year's mediation conference was an opportunity where I could begin meeting new people active in their communities who will hopefully become familiar faces to me in the future. Many of the high school students were busy discussing what programs they' were going to begin at their colleges next year. With so many new contacts that were made, it will hopefully be easier for many new branches of mediation to begin and flourish.

Maine

Maine's program for court-connected mediation has recently been revamped and expanded. Now known as the Court Alternative dispute Resolution Service (CADRES), it will soon have four rosters of mediators: Domestic Relations, Small Claims, Land Use/Environmental and General Civil Litigation. Specific requirements for training and experience apply to each roster. Justice Howard H. Dana, Jr. of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, chairs the Judicial Branch's CADRES Committee -comprised of judges, court Administrators and mediators-which adopted operational rules for the new program in November, 1996.

Diane E. Kenty, Esquire, newly-appointed director of CADRES, anticipates a greater volume of mediations due to new court rules effective January 1, 1997 that establish mandatory mediation of all contested domestic relations matters. (Exceptions are Protection from Abuse cases, child protection cases and DHS paternity action.) All small claims are also subject to mandatory referral for mediation.

Massachusetts

Mediators from Massachusetts and throughout New England gather at Brandeis University, Waltham, MA on Friday, April I 1 and Saturday, April 12, 1997, as the Massachusetts Association of Mediation Programs and Practitioners presents Building Bridges. Our eighth annual conference consists of two days of half-day seminars, skill-building workshops, panel presentations, and an opportunity to network with mediation colleagues.

Building Bridges-our conference theme-highlights establishing, developing, and improving relations among and between mediators and parties, community organizations and agencies, diverse populations and groups, corporations and businesses, the legal (court) and non-legal sectors, and others.

Our conference brochure, listing events and fees, will soon be available. We ask that you "mark down' our conference dates, April 11 and 12, 1997, and we'll be in touch. For more information contact Chuck Doran, Conference Chair, (617) 451-2093

Mediation Training

Marblehead Mediation Services will hold a basic, 32 hour mediation training, Saturday, Sunday, April 5-6 and April 19-20. Robin Sher, who designs and leads the program, will be joined by other experienced mediators for the training. The cost is $350 (lunch provided) through March 21, $400 thereafter. For information and application, call Ina Hoffman, Mediation Coordinator, (617) 631-8273

SPIDR NEW ENGLAND Opposes Massachusetts Bar Association Lawyers-Only ADR Referral Service

This past summer the Massachusetts Bar Association Board of Delegates approved a proposal to operate its own ADR-referral service. The MBA vote, however, limited listing with the ADR-referral service to individual lawyers only. The MBA decision, as many SPIDR members are aware, was strongly opposed by the SPIDR New England Chapter. SPIDR New England President, Susan L. Podziba, and MAMPP Executive Director, Melissa Broderick, sent a joint letter to the MBA opposing the creation of the lawyers-only referral service. The Chapter also issued the following press release outlining its opposition:

BOSTON, August 30,1995. The leaders of the largest New England dispute mediation and resolution associations today criticized the Massachusetts Bar Association's plans to create a lawyers-only ADR referral service. "This would be like doctors referring themselves out as acupuncturists," said Susan Podziba, President of the New England Chapter of the Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution (NE SPIDR).

"For the public-which needs an alternative to costly litigation-the MBA's proposed referral service could well result in the referral of disputes to lawyers with the most minimal mediation training, while at the same time excluding highly experienced professionals and programs with proven track records in dispute resolutions and mediation," she added.

"The MBA's proposed training isn't enough to compensate for the adversarial orientation that lawyers are taught in law school and rely m in their practices. Mediators bring to the process of helping parties work together a "human quality not often found in litigation," Podziba said.

The MBA's proposal could also have a devastating impact oil community mediation services that serve the needs of hundreds of low and middle-income people, according to Melissa Broderick, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Association of Mediation Programs and Practitioners (MAMPP).

"The MBA's lawyers-only referral service would divert cases from programs that have served the public for twenty years in communities across the state," Broderick said. "Availability and quality have never been issues for the public, she added.

"I find it disturbing that the MBA has decided to go forward with the ADR service in the face of concerted opposition from the two major professional organizations in this area-NE SPIDR and MAMPP," said David Hoffman, chairman of NE SPIDR's Committee on Standards and a partner at a major Boston law firm. "This is an unusual way to launch a program that is devoted to dispute resolution," Hoffman noted.

Elizabeth Noumeier, past president of SPIDR International, added "I am disappointed at the MBA's "by-the-lawyers-for-the lawyers" approach. While SPIDR has worked successfully on the national level with the American Bar Association, here in Massachusetts the local bar has given only token attention to the concerns of the dispute resolution community and then failed to take the time to understand, discuss and consider the suggestions they received from us."

Annual SPIDR New England Chapter Winter Meeting and Elections

The upcoming SPIDR New England Chapter winter meeting should be one of our most exciting to date. We have arranged a panel of three exceptionally talented individuals to address the issue of mediation in the ever-timely health care arena. The meeting will take place on January 9, 1996, at 6 P.m. in the Lynn Room at Anthony's Pier Four Restaurant.

As many ADR practitioners are aware, there is on-going debate everywhere as to whether mediators in a particular industry need to have a background in a related profession, in addition to their mediation skills. Perhaps nowhere is the debate as relevant and timely as in the health care industry as it prepares to meet the challenges of eroding public confidence and trust, and a receding federal dollars. -With rapid changes and disputes occurring nationally in health care, from managed care to cuts in medicare and medicaid benefits, this forum could not be more timely. Our panel will address these issues and comment on the various dispute resolution models currently at work in he health care field.

Our panel are noted professionals with extensive experience in dispute resolution and the heal care field. Leonard J. Marcus, Ph.D., is Director of the Program for Health Care Negotiation and Conflict Resolution at the Harvard School of Public Health. He is active on the state and national levels in advancing models and uses of mediation to resolve health care disputes. He is lead author of Renegotiating Health Care: Resolving Conflict to Build Collaboration and co-author, with Nancy Dubler, of Mediating Bioethical Disputes: A Practical Guide.

Barry C. Dorn, MD, is Clinical Professor of Orthopedic Surgery and Director of the Adult Orthopedic Clinic at Tufts-New England Medical Center. Dr. Dorn is a frequent speaker to medical and other health care groups on the topic of negotiation and conflict resolution. He is the former co-chair of the SPIDR Health Sector and is also a mediator with the Center for Health Care Negotiation.

Patricia W. Moore is President of Moore 11 Resolutions in Boston. She mediates a wide variety of intra-organizational disputes, particularly in the health care field, among physicians groups, hospitals, HMOs, state funding and regulatory agencies, and other components of health care networks. Ms. Moore was, previously senior mediator and Director of Health Care Dispute Resolution Services at Endispute, Inc., Assistant Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Social Services, and taught at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and the Radcliffe Institute.

We look forward to a stimulating evening and encourage you to register for the meeting as soon as possible, by contacting Donna Pothier, at the American Arbitration Association, at (617) 451-6600.

The Winter Meeting also signals the start of a new business year and the election of Chapter officers for the coming year. The nominating committee (made up of out-going Vice President Ann Gosline, former Chapter President and guiding light for several years, Nancy Peace, Barbara White, and Margery Aarons) will present its slate of nominees at the meeting. The Chapter will elect a slate of four officers to one-year terms and five Board members to two-year terms.

Each nominee was asked to provide the New England News with brief biographical information for our members.

PRESIDENT - ONE YEAR TERM

Susan L. Podziba, a Principal and Mediator at Susan Podziba & Associates, specializes in public sector mediation and consensus building services. Ms. Podziba has worked with federal, state, municipal, and private agencies in the areas of environment, affordable housing, governance, health care, and Israeli-Arab relations. Ms. Podziba is a former Public Disputes Mediator at Endispute, Inc., a former associate of the Public Disputes Project of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, and a former lecturer at the Graduate Program in Dispute Resolution at UMass/Boston. Susan is completing her first one-year term as Chapter President.

VICE PRESIDENT - ONE YEAR TERM

Kathleen M. Birt is President of Mediation Consultants, Inc., a Rhode Island firm, which offers comprehensive dispute resolution services. Ms. Birt's mediation practice includes family, divorce, commercial and insurance disputes. Kathy also developed and co-teaches a forty-hour Divorce Mediation Training Program at Roger Williams University's Center for Professional Development. Ms. Birt, a current member of the New England SPIDR Board, is also a member of the Academy of Family Mediators and an organizer of the first Rhode Island Council of Family Mediators.

SECRETARY - ONE YEAR TERM

Christine L. Newhall is Regional Vice President of the American Arbitration Association New England Office in Boston. Ms. Newhall initiated AAA's pilot insurance mediation program in 1983 which today is a nation-wide program handling cases filed by 100 insurance companies. She also initiated at the AAA, the Massachusetts Lemon Law Arbitration Program in 1986, the MCAD mediation pilot program in 1993, and the arbitration project under the Massachusetts Education Reform Act in 1994. Christine travels throughout New England conducting mediation and arbitration workshops for the AAA.

TREASURER - ONE YEAR TERM

David Mendelsohn lives in Hyde Park. He was a member of the planning committee for the SPIDR New England Fall 1994 Conference.

BOARD MEMBERS - TWO YEAR TERMS

Maxine D. Bernstein, Ph.D., (VT), has been in private practice in Psychotherapy since 1974, including long and short-term therapy with adults and children, with a special interest in abuse and abuse survivors. Bernstein has also been a Family and Divorce Mediator since 1991, and is also a Diagnostic Consultant to the Manchester (VT) Elementary School. She was formerly Assistant Professor of Psychology and Chair at CUNY-Richmond College and Assistant Professor of Sociology and Psychology, and founder and Head of Social Relations at Eisenhower College.

James H. Keil (NE), a former professional football player and a commissioned naval officer who served honorably during the Vietnam era, is a mediator and arbitrator, w-id member of the AAA Construction panels. Mr. Keil is currently a member of the Board of Governors of the Maine Association of Dispute Resolution Professionals and co-chaired the legislatively-appointed advisory Committee on ADR in Maine. He is also a member of the AAA National Advisory Committee on ADR in Construction and a member of the AAA Construction Advisory Council.

Daniel J. Pagnano (MA), is an arbitrator in Boston where he practices in the labor and employment areas. He is also ADR Coordinator for Delany, Siegel, Zorn & Associates, a civil rights and dispute resolution consulting firm, where he also conducts training in counseling and conflict resolution for a number of federal agencies. Mr. Pagnano is on the part-time faculty of Northeastern University, teaching courses in Human Resource Management and Employment Rights. Dan is completing a two-year term as Chapter Treasurer.

Robin Sher (MA) lives in Swampscott (MA) and practices in the areas of commercial, employment, and family mediation.

Christine W. Yurgelun (MA), is a consultant, business analyst, and research analyst independently and with the Strategic Planning Institute in Cambridge, MA. Ms. Yurgelun is on the mediator and arbitrator panels of the AAA and of Judicate, Inc., Business and Commercial Division. Christine also currently mediates in Barnstable and Orleans (MA) District Courts and serves on the Board of the Cape Cod Dispute Resolution Center, Inc. In 1995 she started Mediated Solutions, a private mediation practice.

The elected officers and board members will join the four sitting Board members who are completing the second year of their terms. They are David Hoffman (MA), Donald Paulson (MA), Marsha Saylor (MA), and Ester Tardy Wolfe (NH).


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