2021 Judicial Conference Program

Convening Circuit Court ADR Program Managers The ADR Committee will support efforts to bring together circuit court ADR programmanagers to share resources, successes, and challenges, including assisting ADR programmanagers with information and resources to navigate remote ADR processes. Revisions to Title 17 The S ubcommittee on ADR in the Maryland Rules will consider and, if appropriate, recommend to the ADR Committee, revisions to Title 17 of the Maryland Rules, which governs alternative dispute resolution in the courts. Ultimately, those recommendations will be forwarded to the Rules Committee. Data Collection/ADRESS/MDEC ADR data collection efforts include ADRESS, each court’s own methodologies (including grant reporting), and MDEC event codes. The ADR Committee will continue to support the Judiciary ADR offices as they work with courts to institutionalize effective ADR data collection, including inviting and on-boarding additional circuit courts to use ADRESS. The ADR Committee and MACRO staff will continue to work with circuit court ADR program administrators to explore ways MDEC might better support circuit court ADR programs. ADR Programs and Services The ADR Committee will discuss strategies and recommendations to implement the court-based ADR processes identified in the Courthouse Equity Subcommittee Report, Programs, Services and Access Baseline and Goals for All Circuit Courts. This will include implementing ADR programs in courts where they do not currently exist and recommend best practices processes for mediation programs already in existence that will assist programmanagers and practitioner with those programs. This goal is connected to the work of the Mediation Quality Assurance for Programs and Practitioners Work Group. ADR Program and Practitioner Quality Assurance The Mediation Quality Assurance for Programs and Practitioners Work Group met in December 2019 to begin discussions on topics that will review and explore best practices for court-based mediation programs in Maryland, study the issue of assessing mediation quality, and make recommendations to the ADR Committee. Statewide Court ADR Research The ADR Committee will consider the feasibility of undertaking statewide research on the effectiveness of and best practices for remote/online ADR. The ADR Committee will consider the timing of an update to the ADR Landscape portion of the research project in 2020 and beyond, as well as continue to make research-based recommendations and presentations to judges, magistrates, and court personnel to improve the availability, use, and quality of court-connected ADR programs. Rosters of ADR Practitioners The ADR Committee will continue to consider and process ADR practitioners’ applications to be included on existing statewide rosters for Business Technology and Health Care Malpractice cases. The committee will continue discussions about the revisions to be made to a new draft of a statewide ADR practitioner application form. The ADR Committee’s staff and chair met frequently to discuss pandemic-related topics such as the transition to ADR online. Committee members identified the importance of advancing ADR to reduce court backlogs where they might exist due to the pandemic. By sharing information about the progress of ADR in their jurisdictions, committee members had the opportunity to learn from each other and take back information to further develop their own respective online ADR programs. Resources for Online Mediation MACRO staff worked quickly to develop resources and expertise on conducting mediation via remote means. They began collecting available online resources and connected with practitioners experienced in providing online mediation. MACRO developed a series of webinars on providing remote mediation and created a dedicated section on its webpage for resources for online mediation as well as recordings of the webinars. Support to the Public To provide the public with additional resources at a time when access to the courts was limited by the pandemic, MACRO worked with community mediation centers across the state to encourage training for online mediation. MACRO connected the Maryland Courts Self-Help Center call line with a centralized connection point for mediation services for callers to Community Mediation Maryland. HOW DID THE COMMITTEE NAVIGATE COVID-19 CHALLENGES?

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