Alternative Dispute Resolution

The panelists and the audience will discuss the fundamentals of mediation and risk assessment, focusing on key skills that can increase the effectiveness of their mediations. This session will cover best practices for mediators to maximize their chances for successful mediations, common pitfalls in assessing your client’s risk and how to overcome them, and the importance of confidentiality in mediation.

This panel will explore the various roles of neutrals in bankruptcy, including applicable provisions of the Bankruptcy Code and Rules, as well as the limitations on the use of neutrals in bankruptcy. Examples of neutral roles in bankruptcy include mediators, fee examiners, subchapter V trustees, and mass tort personal-injury plan administrators. Limitations on the use of neutrals in bankruptcy can be found in Bankruptcy Rule 9031, and there is growing support to modify the rule to eliminate this limitation.

Bankruptcy judges will discuss the most talked-about current events and controversial opinions in the insolvency world with ABI Editor-at-Large Bill Rochelle.

This panel will discuss mediation in mass-tort/multiparty cases such as Puerto Rico, Purdue, Boy Scouts andthe various religious institutions that have filed for bankruptcy. The panelists will highlight mediating tortclaims that have emotional and non-monetary components, such as sexual abuse; issues regardingnondebtor-related entity property and contributions; and liquidation concerns in a religious institutionbankruptcy.

This panel will cover assessing and negotiating a fee structure, how to prepare for the mediation, guiding participants toward making mediation statements useful, and tips for breaking the impasse.

This panel will discuss mediation as a pathway to case-resolution; mediation advantages and pitfalls; mediation privilege and disclosure; who should be invited to a mediation; and whether a sitting judge, former judge or trained mediator is the best person to lead a mediation. They will also share lessons learned from previous mediations in large cases.

Based on his distinguished 45-year career dealing with stress and human health, Dr. Bruce Rabin will present a timely program identifying the mental and physical effects of stress, and will introduce skills that can be used to minimize those effects. He will explore the concepts of isolation, changes in behavior and health due to the pandemic, and how negotiation strategies for in-person or remote mediations, client relations and decision-making are affected by stress.

Bankruptcy Judges Elizabeth Brown and Michael Romero will discuss the year’s widest splits and most controversial opinions with ABI Editor-at-Large Bill Rochelle.

Most lawyers are schooled on how to litigate and fully understand how to prepare for the courtroom battleground. Mediation, however, is a flexible and relatively informal dispute-resolution process that has become almost a mandatory first step in many common bankruptcy disputes, like preference actions — and it can achieve significant cost-value results for clients. Yet many lawyers make the mistake of either treating mediation as a side show that requires little or no preparation, or using the same preparation methods they use for trial. This session will explore the keys to conducting a successful mediation, from deciding when mediation is appropriate through properly documenting the mediated resolution, with an emphasis on how to prepare both yourself and your client for mediation to maximize its value, regardless of whether an actual settlement is reached. The panelists will include attorneys and judges who often serve as mediators, giving attendees a unique view on the different skills, presentation methodologies and mindsets needed to prepare for mediation vs. litigation.