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President’s Message
By Fred Lewis

LOSS MITIGATION
Throughout the country the law firms, non-profit organizations, bar associations as well as government agencies are gearing up to handle the ever mounting Mortgage Crisis.  The situation is far more serious than we ordinarily would think.  The situation is far more serious and runs deeper than the Savings & Loan Crisis.  The quasi government agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are on the brink of bankruptcy as well as several investment firms are teetering. 
            What does this mean for us as Mediators and Mediation Organizations?  Mortgage foreclosures will increasingly be assigned to Mediators from the courts, non-profit groups will seek out our services and government agencies will be swamped with complaints that they will eventually send to Mediators.  Remember that as mediators we have a rule not to accept cases in a subject area that we know nothing about.  Mediators will have ample opportunity to be trained in Loss Mitigation either by Non Profit Agencies that slant their training towards the lenders or by Bar Associations whose training specify what the law is in a given state.  You as a mediator should seek out these training opportunities.
                                                                                                ---Frederick D. Lewis 

Next Meeting September 16; No July or August Meeting

        The  next ACR Dallas meeting will be September 16, 2008, 5:30 p.m. at  Center for Community Cooperation,  2900 Live Oak, Dallas, Texas
            NOTE: This is the third Tuesday rather than the regularly scheduled 4th Tuesday due to the ACR National Conference will be in Austin beginning September 24,  2008.
Annual election of officers will be in the October meeting. The Nominating Committee is working now on a new slate of officers. Nominating Committee: Martha Johnson, Chairperson; Kay Elliott, and Joe Hewitt.

CPS Training Available at El Centro

            Child Protective Services (CPS) training will be held at El Centro College in Dallas August 9, 10, 16, 17 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. presented by Robert Hughes and Tracy Leissner, it was announced by Glenn Currier, ACR Dallas secretary.
Cost of the 25-hour course will be $250. Glenn advised those interested to register soon because class size is limited.
Prerequisites are 40-hour basic mediator training and mediation experience.
The 25-hour two-weekend training program will help mediators effectively settle disputes arising from removal of children from their family by CPS. The training includes the following:
Statutes and timetables for removal cases; Texas Department of Family and Protective Services policy and procedure; practice considerations uniquely applicable to foster care cases, Texas Family Code sections as they relate to foster care mediation;
Family dynamics, child development, impairment, cultural influences, addiction, abuse, domestic violence, high conflict management, large group consensus building;
Demonstration of mediation styles including transformative, facilitative, evaluative and hybrids with conference/caucus style format;
Introduction of The MEMO Model, an approach to mediation specifically designed for foster care cases; Interactive Presentation / Demonstration / Simulation / Panel Discussion format to engage participants; and create a hands-on learning experience.
Robert Hughes, Jr., is an attorney and TMCA Credentialed Distinguished Mediator with 25 years of litigation experience. He has mediated more than 400 cases, and served as a party advocate in more than 200 mediations. He is Co-Founder of The Memo Project
Tracy L Leissner, is an attorney and TMCA Credentialed Distinguished Mediator. She has been mediating since 1990 and had 15 years experience in family, probate and tort litigation. She has mediated more than 400 cases and served as a party advocate in more than 100 mediations. She is a Co-Founder of The Memo Project.
You can register by phone, 214-860-2260 or in person at El Centro College, 801 Main Street, Room A2690. The course is CPS Mediation Training, SCWK 2002, Section 51401.

First Saturday Free Training for New Mediators

            ACR Dallas sponsors “First Saturday” an event for new mediators, held the first Saturday of each month. This is a volunteer project managed by Jerry Cosby, President-Elect. Fred Lewis, ACR Dallas President is a featured speaker. For more information, call 817-300-6666 or email texasmediationgroup1@juno.com.

Encouragement
By Jerry Cosby

          Wally, a man of about 26, walked into my office looking about as shabby as anyone I had ever seen. Unshaven, hat on, dirty, and with a negative attitude to match. He had been referred to me by a family counselor for divorce mediation. He was married for only eight months with no children. His personal story was one of booze, drugs and other unseemly choices. And his description of his wife was even worse. The interview was relatively short because he asked about fees and then disclosed that he had zero money-Zero. 
As I was thinking that this fellow was probably not going to be a client, he said something that brought me to attention. He said, “You know Jerry, I think I might just quit smoking, lose some weight, and join the Marines.”
Those of us who want to emphasize the healing power of mediation must not miss these hints and opportunities to encourage. Sometimes I miss it, but that time, I caught it. So I collected my thoughts for a moment and said a little prayer. Then I said as slowly and positively as I could, “Wally, if you go ahead and get this divorce, lose 20 pounds, quit smoking, and join the Marines, in a few years you will be a lean, mean fighting machine. You can become one terrific new man. And I hope I have the privilege of knowing you then.” He immediately changed his countenance. Raising his eyes from the ground, he seemed to puff up to his full six feet two, and he smiled a big broad smile that had not seen the light of day for a long time. And he walked out tall.
He did not become a client, but I sure am glad he came my way.
Never miss a chance to plant a seed of encouragement!
(More mediation stories at www.texasmediationgroup.com.)

Lost (Or Found?) In Translation

By Kay Elliott

The week of June 22 - 29 this year was, in many ways, strange.  On Sunday, June 22, I completed the mediation training of eighteen students at Texas Woman’s University.  One of my trainees was the new ombudsman at a school district near Fort Worth, where we live.  His job was created in response to conflict in his school district and one of his more creative initiatives is a peer mediation program throughout the entire district to prevent conflict among the kids.  Next fall and spring he will be bringing over 100 newly trained peer mediators (kids) to the Texas Wesleyan Law School, where we teach, to see how we train the law students in what they have just learned.
The next day my husband Frank and I were presenting conflict resolution training at the Dallas Bar headquarters to five African delegates from Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe.  Only two of them spoke English so they were traveling with two translators from the State Department who took turns translating English to French and vice-versa.  We told them about the existence of seven courses in conflict resolution at our law school and that when we each got our law degrees there were no courses in Negotiation, Arbitration, Mediation, Family Mediation, Client Counseling, Settlement Advocacy or ADR, all courses now taught at our school.  We showed them a mock mediation of a divorce case and so, for the first time, I wore ear buds to hear my words and the words of the Baptist minister from Zimbabwe (who spoke English)  translated into French and the words of the French speaking woman from Chad  (playing the wife) translated into English. Questions were being asked in both languages throughout the presentation.  These five delegates, and five of their colleagues, were all in America to learn just about conflict resolution!
On that afternoon I mediated a divorce case with no language barriers but plenty of emotional ones!  The case was resolved within 3.5 hours after the parties had spent many months paying their attorneys to litigate.  Tuesday was spent creating seven role-plays and firming up the attorneys and mediators who would be playing those roles in a commercial DVD to be sold internationally, about Negotiation.  Wednesday afternoon Frank and I presented a conflict resolution workshop to eight Mongolian lawyers who are here to learn about American jurisprudence, including alternative dispute resolution.  At the break, they sang a birthday song to my husband (it was his 78th birthday) in their language and we all ate a huge chocolate cake smothered in giant strawberries with Blue Bell chocolate ice cream on the side.  Later that same day I met with the film-makers of the DVD who have made their reputation selling training DVD=s about how to succeed in WAR!  One of them is an ex-policeman who has gone all over the world as a trainer of soldiers and policemen.  His wife recently was trained by me to be a mediator.
Thursday I was sent an e-mail from an Australian friend, who visited us in April, about a strange development at the Post Office in South Africa, to which, because of rampant theft of the mail, Amazon has now refused to ship books or other products.  In retaliation, the very same postal employees who stole are selling the fruits of their crimes out of the backs of their cars at the back door of the post office -- don=t ask, don=t tell, just pay cash.  She thought I might be interested because she and I met in South Africa, actually in Swaziland, in 1966 where I lived until 1975.  I left because I could see what might happen -- pretty much what is happening.  One of the African delegates from Zimbabwe mentioned that despite Bishop Tutu (Nobel Peace Prize Winner) and Nelson Mandela (also honored) and the Truth and Reconciliation Hearings, a lot of conflict still exists in South Africa.  In December of this year my daughter, her husband and three of my young grandchildren will be there for a month; they hope to avoid the cities where there is so much crime and spend their time in the game reserves where the animals have the right of way.  They are visiting my first husband, a fifth generation South African architect, who has witnessed massive change throughout his life in his own county.
Friday my Family Mediation Clinic students had class in the Juvenile Court for five hours learning about juvenile law, Juvenile Family Violence Mediation, in which the juvenile is the perpetrator (I frequently do those cases at that court) and Drug Court, a new program to try to restore infants to their own mothers from whom they were separated at birth due to their mother testing positive for drugs.  In the future the law students may be helping to teach those mothers about negotiation and conflict prevention.
Saturday those same students heard about another aspect of family violence, between adult partners, and the use of collaborative law even in those cases. Collaborative law is another one of those subjects that didn’t exist when I went to law school, now we teach it in law school.
Late Saturday we started a drive to South Dakota to visit Deadwood and Mount Rushmore.
Why the travelogue/diary?  It just struck me, on reflecting about the week, that every day I was engaged in some form of conflict training, conflict resolution, or information processing that had an international connection.  Why do people come all the way to America, one of the most litigious countries in the world, to study our form of dispute resolution?  Why would we be regarded as knowing more about such a subject than a much older culture?  Every culture has its own methods of conflict resolution, but apparently many of these traditional, ancient methods have not been incorporated into or blessed by their own modern judicial or legal system.  In Mongolia for example, the people are creating new laws and are tending to move more in the direction of democratic traditions and common law practices, even though their legal system still is heavily influenced by German civil law.  They are intrigued that people can decide to mediate a court case, reach an agreement that is a contract, and that contract can be used to end a law suit.  We have apparently done something that is innovative, court annexed ADR, and we have done it pretty quickly since its inception at the Pound Conference in 1976.  What is it about our culture that has promoted this rapid and successful innovation?
I am not sure I have the answer.  Maybe you can help me.  Maybe it is an idea whose time has come.  I think it has something to do with our individuality and our rather high educational expectations for citizens.  I know it has a lot to do with trials getting too expensive, lengthy and complicated.  I know county commissioners don=t want to create new courts yet the courts continue to experience increasing dockets. I know that success breeds success, and Mediation in particular has proven its worth.  I know that thousands of books and articles have been, and continue to be, published on these topics.  Maybe all of these negotiation and mediation courses have helped more people to know they don=t just have the courtroom as a dispute resolution mechanism.  What do you think?
---Kay Elliott is immediate Past President of ACR Dallas and teaches at Texas Wesleyan Law School in Fort Worth.

Family Courts Need Mediators

            Family courts need mediators, but the most pressing need is for volunteers to mediate pro se cases, according to Judge Lynn Cherry of the Dallas 301st Family District Court. She was a member of a panel discussion at the ACR Dallas meeting Tuesday, April 22, with Judge Tena Callahan of the 302nd, and Gregory Wilhelm, Ellis County Court at Law.
Joyce Jones, Associate Executive Director, Dispute Mediation Service (DMS) of Dallas, volunteered to coordinate volunteer mediators for the court.
“I started mediating before it was fashionable,” Judge Cherry said, having started training in 1986. She practiced family law for 13 years before being elected to the bench in 2007.
Judge Callahan said of mediators, “We need them.” However, she assigns few cases to mediation. She gets cases after associate judges have done preliminary work on them. Then the attorneys usually recommend a mediator whom she appoints. Cases should not go to mediation prematurely, she said. Often one of the parties will have a mind-set and it will take time before that party is ready to negotiate. All parties should also have all the necessary information. One side will be at a disadvantage if “some of the cards” are missing.
Judge Wilhelm said 60 per cent of his time is taken by Child Protective Service (CPS) cases. “I am a proponent of mediation in just about everything,” he said. His court handles credit card debt cases, probate, civil action, criminal, mental, and juvenile. “We need a new court,” he said, and will “probably get one in two to fifty years.”
Fred Lewis, ACR Dallas president, asked the judges how a mediator gets on their list. Judge Wilhelm said, “Come and see me.” Judge Cherry said she has a thick notebook of information on mediators. “Come by,” she said. She tries to match the mediator’s personality with the case. Judge Callahan said to get on her list, “Come by. You don’t have to be an attorney.” But you must want to do family cases, she said. She doesn’t appoint as many mediators as the other courts because the cases don’t get to her court until late in the process. She requires mediation if it appears the trial would take more than a half day or if the case involves children.
Since attorneys name most of the mediators, Judge Callahan suggested mediators get acquainted with family lawyers through the Family Law Section of the Dallas Bar Association. The section has a monthly meeting at the Belo Mansion.

Volunteers are Needed for the ACR Convention

            Volunteer workers are needed to help in the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR) convention in Austin, September 24-27. Mediators from across the United States and at least 11 countries will be in attendance, according to Jetta Todaro, Tri-Chair Program Chairman, who spoke at the ACR Dallas meeting April 22.
Jetta said mediations come from many different sources other than the courts. Pro se divorce cases come from individuals who serve as their own attorneys. Mediators interested in branching out into other areas can find a wealth of information at the convention. Jetta specializes in public education, for example. There will be sessions in many different sections, including Commercial, Community, Consumer, Court, Crisis Intervention, Education, Environment & Public Policy, Family, Health Care, International, Ombuds, Online Dispute Resolution, Organizational Conflict Management, Research, Restorative and Criminal Justice, Spirituality, Training, and Workplace.
She also urged mediators who are not members of ACR national to join. (You don’t have to be a member of ACR national to be a member of a local chapter, however you must be a member to be an officer in a local chapter.) Jetta said those volunteering for half time work during the convention will be charged only $150 for the registration fee.
Joyce Jones of DMS said DMS volunteers can get a 30 per cent discount on the registration fee.
Keynote speaker will be Lee Hamilton, former member of Congress, on the subject, “What are the big issues as we get out of the war?” Mr. Hamilton was a member of the Iraq Study Group with former Secretary of State James Baker. ACR is not taking a position on the war, but dialog about the war and its impact is important, Jetta said.
There will also be mini-plenary sessions at the convention. Included will be Immigration, Health Care, Diversity and Equity, Civilian Military ADR Practitioners, Environment, Higher and K-12 Educational Issues, International Space Station, and Mortgage Crisis.
Donations are needed for a silent auction, such as framed art work or books.
The convention will be held at the Austin Hilton Hotel. For information, or to volunteer, contact Jetta Todaro, 512-477-2250, jettat@sbcglobal.net.

Attorneys and the Human Factor
By Jerry Cosby

A recent case brings to mind the facilitation factor when attorneys are not
listening to each other. The case was a pretty straightforward credit card case involving a claim of just over $7000. Numerous conversations between the lawyers apparently had taken place. The plaintiff’s lawyer wanted the defendant to sign an agreed judgment as part of the settlement and had sent his version to the defendant’s lawyer for review and execution. The defendant’s lawyer had sent a Mutual Release and Compromise Settlement Agreement to opposing counsel for review and execution. The lawyers seemed to be saying, “You sign my document, no you sign mine.”           When the attorneys and parties came into the mediation, I sensed suspicion, distrust, and mild hostility in the attorneys. They initially refused again to sign the other’s proposed documents. When I took a look at the compromise settlement agreement as proposed, I pointed out to the lawyer that his document stated that the defendant would agree to sign the agreed judgment (which they were refusing to sign.) He seemed unfamiliar with the document which may have been drafted by a colleague. The defendant quickly signed the agreed judgment with his lawyer’s approval, the compromise settlement agreement was also signed with two small face-saving changes, and the whole thing was settled in less than 30 minutes.
The thought that came to me was this. Parties do not listen to parties. Lawyers do not listen to lawyers. And we as facilitators, need to both listen and hear what everyone is saying both verbally and non - verbally.
Interestingly, all parties and lawyers seemed pleased and satisfied to have it resolved and no one complained about how they could have done it without mediation. Maybe they couldn’t.