CJI Funds Scholarships to Statewide Alternative Dispute Resolution Conference

The Colorado Judicial Institute Education Fund is providing funding for 22 judges, magistrates, senior judges and family court facilitators to attend the 3rd Annual Colorado Dispute Resolution Conference.  One scholarship for each judicial district across Colorado was made available.  The scholarships include registration fees and travel expenses. 

“We are most grateful for the funding awarded by the Colorado Judicial Institute,” said Sharon Daly, Projects Manager of the Office of Dispute Management.   “The CJI funding committee appreciated the plan to offer one scholarship to one person in each judicial district thereby spreading the funds across the state.  The co-chairs of the Colorado Statewide ADR Conference submitted the application to CJI with the intent of enabling each district to benefit from current best practices in ADR, and to assist chief judges and district administrators to further consolidate development of ADR throughout the state, particularly in the rural areas.”

“The Colorado Judicial Institute has long supported the appropriate use of ADR as a method to efficiently and effectively resolve disputes to the mutual satisfaction of all parties. Effective use of ADR can also reduce heavily burdened court dockets that now put such a strain on our judicial system,” said attorney Peter D. Willis, vice chair of the Colorado Judicial Institute.
“Dispute Resolution for Change,” the 3rd Annual Colorado Statewide Dispute Resolution Conference, was held on Friday, October 30th, in Denver, Colorado at the Renaissance Denver Hotel, 3801 Quebec Street.

In keeping with prestigious keynote speakers of past conferences, the 2009 keynote speaker was Jamil Mahuad, former president of Ecuador and nominee for the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize. Mr. Mahuad is the co-founder of and senior advisor to the Harvard International Negotiation Initiative at Harvard Law School.

CJI actively supports and promotes the expanded use of Alternative Dispute Resolution methods by the judiciary in order to help facilitate the efficient resolution of disputes. Current and recent projects of the CJI ADR Committee include the following:

• The CJI education fund, with the support of the ADR committee, provided judicial officer scholarships to the 2008 ADR conference in Denver. CJI expects to play a significant role in the 2009 ADR conference.
• CJI has been participating in a national effort, sponsored by the American Bar Association Section on Dispute Resolution and the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, to develop a Uniform Mediation Act (UMA). The UMA has been formally adopted by both groups and will be presented for adoption to the legislatures in all 50 states. CJI will work with other groups, including the CBA ADR Committee, ODR and COCOMO, to provide input to the Colorado Legislature about the UMA and its implications for Colorado.
           In several recent legislative sessions, the Community Mediation Coalition (CMC), of which CJI is a part, has actively supported legislation that would provide modest funding for various community-based mediation efforts that have been developed at the local level. The legislative effort has not been successful and CMC is contemplating a study of the benefits of community-based mediation and how one measures the benefits. Several attempts to measure the cost savings resulting from mediation have been made previously and have concluded that cost savings occur but are difficult to measure. The study contemplated by CMC will investigate both cost savings and other benefits. CJI and the CBA ADR committee will support this project and the University of Denver will play a key role in providing research for this project.
• CJI is one of several sponsors of a multi-year study, begun in May 2003, of the savings and other benefits resulting from community-based mediation. The University of Denver is playing a key role in providing research for this project.,
• CJI participated with several others in the preparation of a three-part series of articles regarding the UMA and its relationship to the Colorado Dispute Resolution Act and the Colorado Model Standards for Conduct of Mediation. The articles were published in the May, June and July 2002 issues of "The Colorado Lawyer." 
• In March 2001, CJI convened an ADR conference that explored the public policy implications of using ADR in the courts, federal and state government, the private sector and in communities. Co-sponsors of the conference were the American Arbitration Association, the Colorado Bar Association and the Office of Dispute Resolution of the Colorado Judicial Branch.

CJI is engaged on an ongoing basis in active dialogue with several other organizations interested in ADR. This enables CJI to be visible in the community and to be alert to other possible projects. In addition, CJI is paying particular attention to Colorado's budget crisis and its possible impacts on the availability of ADR in the court system.

For more information on the ADR committee, please send us an email or call 303-766-7501.