For Immediate Release
November 21, 2002

Contact:
Alexis Boles
(909) 460-2002

JUDGE NELSON CHALLENGES LEGAL PROFESSIONALS AND EDUCATORS TO EXPAND PREPARATION FOR, AND USE OF, ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION; URGES REEXAMINATION OF CONVENTIONAL WISDOM IN LITIGATION STRATEGY

ONTARIO, CA (NOV. 21, 2002) -- Dorothy W. Nelson, Senior Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, on Tuesday, November 19, challenged about 150 Inland Empire attorneys, law faculty and students to expand their training for, and use of, Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). Speaking at the University of La Verne College of Law’s Dean’s Distinguished Speaker Series, she urged the audience to reexamine much of the conventional wisdom and underlying litigation strategy in lawyering in general in light of the incorporation of ADR into the pretrial process.

"Lawyers and other ADR providers must expand the tools parties use for dealing with the psychological, social and economic dynamics that drive litigation," said Judge Nelson. "This is even more important as we enter a century of expanding international business and one confronted with a series of interrelated problems that threaten both the fabric of civilized life and the natural world itself. The resolution of problems ranging from poverty, sexism, racism, health care, the environment, and political, religious and ethnic conflicts will require unprecedented levels of cooperation, collaboration and coordination that surpass anything in humanity’s collective experience."

Judge Nelson urged law school faculty to prepare their students for this critical role and the legal profession to expand their role in ADR. Based on her expertise and experience, Judge Nelson outlined several challenges for legal education:

• Make advances in incorporating ADR concepts into law school curriculum.
• Teach law students to be counselors, negotiators, analysts, planners and problem solvers.
• Place a greater emphasis on creative thinking while building on traditional legal education so students learn to construct solutions that do not involve a litigated outcome.
• Use interdisciplinary insights and exposure to academic disciplines beyond jurisprudence.
• Give students exposure to the social sciences so that they better understand the intuitive components of human behavior and thereby recognize the non-legal issues that often dominate legal disputes their clients’ will present to them.

Judge Nelson said that lawyers are key players in ADR because they often are the dispute resolution gatekeepers. She explained the challenges facing the legal profession:

• Establish new mechanisms to deal with disputes so that they can be resolved in an increasingly multicultural international environment.
• Explore technological solutions because they will profoundly affect the justice system as digital technology and online conflict resolution present tremendous potential for creating a quick, effective and inexpensive method of resolving many claims.
• Address the growing concern about arbitration clauses, especially in health care and employment that often give the parties little or no say in negotiation, including entitlement to be heard or represented at hearings.
• Be clear about procedural safeguards that ensure fundamental fairness to all participants in any arbitration model.
• Keep lawyers from making arbitration too much in the adversarial model such as demanding too many depositions, running up costs, and delays.

"I’m not anti-lawyer," Judge Nelson told the audience. "However, many issues that are handled in the courts do not belong there. Each year about 1,000 cases come before the Ninth Circuit Court mediators and nearly 85 percent come to a peaceful settlement."

Judge Nelson was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit by President Jimmy Carter in 1979. She is an expert in ADR and has won several awards of distinction including the American Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section D’ Alemberte/Raven Award in 2000, the Emil Gumpert Judicial ADR Recognition Award from the Los Angeles County Bar Association in 1996, and the Pasadena Bar Association Judge of the Year in October 2002. She currently is chair of the Ninth Circuit Standing Committee on ADR.

She spoke as part of the College of Law’s Dean’s Distinguished Speaker Series. The quarterly event features prominent attorneys, judges and others who share their expertise, insights, high profile cases and other issues with students, faculty, members of the legal community and others.

Established in 1970, The University of La Verne College of Law is California Bar accredited. As part of its course offerings, The College of Law offers Lawyering Skills Practicum II and Alternative Dispute Resolution to its students. The College of Law offers a modern, technologically-advanced facility; small classes that feature a traditional curriculum and practical skills taught by respected, practice-proven faculty focused on individual students' needs; and a prominent and supportive alumni network, all grounded in a commitment to ethics and service.

For more information on the University of La Verne College of Law, please call (909) 460-2001 or visit them on the web at www.ulv.edu/law.

###

The University of La Verne College of Law was provisionally approved by the American Bar Association on February 13, 2006.

Media Contact:
Erin Lawrence
The Wilkin Group, Inc.
141 Spring Street
Claremont, CA 91711
(909) 625-2225

[Return to top]