Resolute Systems is committed to creating a healthy environment for in-person mediations at our Chicago Loop Office.  Resolute has announced updated safety guidelines for in-person mediations at our office.  The guidelines are a part of the extensive COVID-19 mitigation plan in place that follows CDC and OSHA recommendations.

During the COVID pandemic we seamlessly converted mediation to our virtual mediation platform. Going forward you can continue to use our virtual mediation platform, schedule an in-person mediation, or a hybrid of both at this location.

Resolute’s policies for ensuring a safe workplace for in-person mediation/arbitration include:

• Absolutely no one presenting symptoms should attend a mediation at our office.  Instead, we can arrange for you to attend online (Zoom, Skype, WebEx, FaceTime, etc.)
• All clients will receive a temperature check when entering the office.  Anyone with a  100 degree or higher temperature will need to reschedule and exit the office
• Face masks are to be worn at all times by visitors  (we will provide disposable face masks if needed)
• We will refrain from handshaking
• There will be one Resolute staff member onsite to host mediations
• We will space mediations to prevent multiple mediations at same time. If you arrive early we will ask that you wait in the first floor lobby
• Directional tape will guide clients and office guests to encourage proper social/physical distancing
• We will use our largest conference room for opening sessions to provide social distancing
• For each mediation, Resolute will provide individual conference rooms to avoid clients in common areas
• Each conference table will be divided by a 1/4 inch thick and 3 feet high clear acrylic shields
• All rooms will have fewer chairs for the purposes of social distancing
• If your mediation is over the lunch hour, we will provide individual lunches to each room. There will be no lunches in the kitchen area
• Hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes will be available in each room
• There will be a nightly deep cleansing conducted by a professional certified service
• Only mediation participants will be allowed on the premises. No other guests or visitors
• We will monitor the situation closely and adjust protocols if new information about COVID-19 is learned or guidelines change

We thank you again for your patience and flexibility as we begin the path to our collective “new normal” and wish you and your family continued good health.  To schedule a mediation or arbitration, please call 312.246.3770 or email info@resolutesystems.com.

Cross-Fertilization:  Learning From Mediators Who Do Different Stuff Than You Do.  On May 19, from 3:30 to 5:00, the Center for Conflict Resolution and the Association of Attorney Mediators will jointly present a program in which both the panel and audience will be made up of a broad mix of mediators from different areas to discuss how we deal with the key aspects of a mediation.   The following panel members will discuss how they approach such topics as opening statements, use of joint sessions, dealing with parties’ emotions, and evaluative versus facilitative techniques:

• Hon. Wayne Anderson: Retired judge, mediator with JAMS.
• Hon. Jeffrey Gilbert:  Magistrate, United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
• Faustin Pipal: Personal injury mediator with Resolute Systems.
• Lisa Fielding:  Mediator with the EEOC.
• Rae Kyritsi:  Programs Director, Center for Conflict Resolution.
• Cookie Levitz:  Family law mediator with the Circuit Court of Cook County.
• Lynn Cohen:  Director, Center on Mediation and Negotiation, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law

The program will take via Zoom, so if you intend to come you need to RSVP to Maia Buess at mbuess@ccrchicago.org.  We expect to receive Illinois CLE credit for attorneys.

Resolute Mediator Reg Holmes will speak at and moderate a panel discussion April 28th for the American Bar Association webinar.  The program is titled “Effective Litigation, Arbitration & Mediation Using Remote Technology Tools.”

In light of social distancing caused by COVID-19, more people will be looking to online resources to carry out arbitration and mediation. Join panelists as they advance counsel’s knowledge, utilization and competency in the use of remote technology to conduct litigation, arbitration and mediation and offer best practices gleaned from their experience and actual use of technology in complex proceedings.

More information is available at https://www.americanbar.org/events-cle/mtg/web/399263606/

This program offers 1.5 participatory California MCLE credit. You must register in advance to participate.

Webinar: Conducting Effective Dispute Resolution with Remote Technology: A Primer for California Counsel

https://calawyers.org/event/webinar-conducting-effective-dispute-resolution-with-remote-technology-a-primer-for-california-counsel/

Even prior to the world entering the CV-19 era, major mediation, arbitration and litigation, both domestically and globally, were becoming increasingly complex proceedings involving multiple parties, counsel, jurisdictions, venues, experts, witnesses, decision makers and complex facts, law, legal systems and procedural rules. The more complex of these disputes can and often do involve parties, counsel, witnesses, experts and decision makers who are spread across the United States, various countries and even continents. Frequently, claims and responses, briefs, documents and orders are sent or received electronically, witnesses and experts are deposed, examined or presented telephonically and via videoconference. Similarly, mediation, arbitration and litigation conferences and pre-trial conferences are routinely conducted telephonically or via some other multi-party technology. The conduct of time efficient, cost effective and fair mediations, arbitrations and litigation would be impossible without the intercession and competent use of ever advancing connection-oriented technologies. These proceedings would be unmanageable and beyond the reach of effective advocacy without the use of technology. When that management and advocacy must be done remotely, the degree of difficulty increases exponentially. This was true before CV-19, it is true now and it will be true as we move into the future. Given this reality, it is imperative that participants be well informed, competent and effective in the availability, appropriate use and deployment of remote technology tools to support effective advocacy and complex proceeding management. This program, delivered by prominent and experienced mediators, litigators, mediators and arbitrators is the first in a three part series that will explore and present current views, leading edge thinking, and best practices regarding the use of remote technology tools to facilitate advocacy and management of complex mediations, arbitrations and litigation.

This program is the first in a three part series focused on advancing legal counsel’s knowledge, utilization and competency in the use of remote technology to conduct legal proceedings.  This Part 1 is A Primer for California Counsel, which will provide an overview of the state of the art in the use of Remote Technology Tools (RTTs) in arbitrations in litigation, arbitration and mediation and how best to transition from in-person practice to online practice. The speakers will make the case for the effective use of these tools, discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with their use and proffer best practices gleamed from their experience and actual use of technology in complex proceedings in California and beyond.

Moderator: Reginald A. Holmes

Speakers: Gary Benton and Sarah E. Reynolds

California Lawyers Association

Dick Devine, of counsel in Cozen O’Connor’s Criminal Defense and Internal Investigations practice and former Cook County State’s Attorney, shares his perspective in the CBA Record magazine on a recent book by legal journalist Emily Bazelon, entitled “Charged,” which examines the powers of prosecutors.

https://user-35215390377.cld.bz/CBA-Record-March-April-2020/34/

 

Resolute is pleased to announce that for the second consecutive year it has been voted the #1 ADR PROVIDER and #1 Online ADR Resource in U.S by the 2019 National Law Journal Annual Reader Rankings Survey.  Resolute mediator Joseph Spinola, a former Justice of the New York State Supreme Court, was also voted the #1 Mediator in the US for the third consecutive year.

The National Law Journal’s Annual “Best of The National Law Journal” is a list of the top legal products and service providers as determined by votes from members of the national law community. This year’s special supplement summarizes the results of an online ballot that included over 500 companies, 79 business categories and garnered over 6,500 votes from the legal community.

In addition, Resolute was voted a “Best ADR Provider” and a “Best Online ADR Resource” in the nation for Corporate Counsel’s 2019 Annual Best of Survey.  For ten consecutive years Resolute has been voted a “Top Overall ADR Provider” in the New York Law Journal and #1 Overall ADR Provider in the Best of the Midwest for 5 consecutive years.  Resolute has also been named “ADR Provider of the Year” by the American College of Civil Trial Mediators and ranked the 66th fastest-growing company by Inc. magazine (13th Annual Edition).

Established in 1988 with offices throughout the country, Resolute has a national panel of 2,800 neutrals and administers over 12,000 cases each year nationally.

https://images.law.com/media/nationallawjournal/supplements/Best_NLJ_2020/mobile/index.html

Resolute mediator Jonah Orlofsky will be a speaker at the Center for Conflict Resolution on February 19th and the Illinois Chapter of the Association of Attorney Mediators on February 25th.  His seminar will be on: Mediator Ethics:  How to Deal with Questions about a Party’s Capacity to Participate in a Mediation.

Jonah is a full-time mediator and arbitrator, focusing on commercial matters, insurance coverage disputes, class actions, attorney-fee disputes, real estate disputes, employments claims, consumer claims, and securities fraud.  Mr. Orlofsky is a certified mediator in the Cook County Law and Chancery Divisions, as well as the Lake and Will County mediation programs. He is also a mediator and arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association and FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority).

For information on the Center for Conflict Resolution program contact training@ccrchicago.org  For information on the Association of Attorney Mediators program contact rberliner@berlinergroup.com.

Resolute is pleased to welcome former Lake County Judge Michael Fusz to its Chicago team of dispute resolution professionals. Judge Fusz retired from 19th Judicial Circuit Court of Lake County, Illinois in November of 2019 after a 15-year judicial career. He sat in various courts in the Civil Division for 11 years, where he presided over a wide variety of civil litigation matters including wrongful death, personal injury, property damage, business and commercial disputes, probate cases, landlord–tenant disputes, condemnation and insurance coverage matters, as well as administrative reviews.

While on the bench, Judge Fusz heard and ruled on innumerable bench trials and presided over in excess of 180 jury trials, including more than 80 civil jury trials. He regularly conducted civil settlement conferences, with the majority reaching settlement prior to trial. More information is available at https://judgefuszmediation.com/.

To schedule mediation with Judge Fusz, please call (312) 346-3770, x125 or email mweinzierl@resolutesystems.com.

Resolute is pleased to welcome Case Ellis to its Chicago team of dispute resolution professionals. In 30-plus years as a litigator, Case Ellis tried dozens of jury cases in six Illinois counties and the Federal Courts. He has mediated more than 2,500 cases in Cook, Lake, McHenry, Boone and Winnebago counties and throughout Northern Illinois. Case is a Fellow and founding Board Member (serving as president for seven years) of the International Academy of Dispute Resolution, ex officio chair the ADR Section Council of the ISBA and chaired the committee which established Court Mediation rules in Lake & McHenry Counties in 1996.

Case concentrates his practice in the areas of Personal Injury, Professional Liability, Hospital Negligence, Property Damage, Contract Disputes, Insurance Coverage, Probate, Employment, Commercial Cases, Subrogation Matters and Construction Accidents. More information is available at

https://wemediate.info/

To schedule mediation with Case Ellis, please call (312) 346-3770, x125 or email mweinzierl@resolutesystems.com.

Resolute Systems is pleased to welcome former United States Magistrate Judge David E. Jones to our Wisconsin and Chicago teams of dispute resolution professionals. Judge Jones concentrates his ADR practice on the resolution of complex commercial, intellectual property, employment, discovery and contract disputes. In addition to acting as a mediator and arbitrator in state and federal civil matters, Judge Jones also serves as a special master and discovery referee.

Prior to becoming a Magistrate Judge, Judge Jones was a partner in the Madison, Wisconsin, and Washington, D.C., offices of Heller Ehrman and then Perkins Coie, where he focused on antitrust and intellectual property. In antitrust, he counseled and defended technology and financial services clients in monopolization actions, including trials of statewide class claims. In IP, Judge Jones represented medical services and pharmaceutical companies in life-science patent and Hatch-Waxman trials across the country.

Established in 1988, Resolute is one of the nations largest dispute resolution firms with over 2,800 mediators and arbitrators in all 50 states, Canada, and Puerto Rico.　 In 2019 Resolute was also ranked the #1 ADR Provider and Online ADR Resource in the National Law Journal’s Annual Reader Rankings Survey.　 In addition, Resolute was voted #1 ADR PROVIDER in Wisconsin Law Journal’s 2019 annual Reader Rankings Survey and voted a “Best ADR Provider” and a “Best Online ADR Resource” in the nation for Corporate Counsel’s 2019 Annual Best of Survey.

To schedule mediation or arbitration with Judge Jones, please call 312.346.3770 or email mweinzierl@resolutesystems.com. We also encourage you to visit his WebPages at www.JudgeJonesADR.com for more information.