IN THE PROFESSION
counsel, are satisfied to be moving forward with both motions
and full evidentiary hearings. While every lawyer, judge, or
arbitrator who has participated in any sort of evidentiary hearing
can appreciate the benefit of seeing witnesses in person, video
conferencing is providing an effective means to keep matters
moving towards resolution when in person hearings are essentially
unavailable. And as the bar and courts get more familiar with these
processes, even traditional in person hearings may move along in
a more orderly manner when one or more witnesses can appear by
video.
Senior Judge Gail S. Tusan joined the JAMS Atlanta panel as an
arbitrator/mediator in 2019. Previously, she served as Chief Judge
of the Atlanta Judicial Circuit where she tried and resolved civil,
criminal, and family law matters for 27 years.
R. Wayne Thorpe has been a full-time mediator and arbitrator
with JAMS since 1998. He has handled over 2500 mediation or
arbitration cases in more than 25 states.
Finally, we can all start to imagine disputes arising precisely
because of the pandemic itself: parental disputes about custody
when a parent is working in conditions creating unusual exposure
to the virus; employment issues about safety, layoffs and pay cuts;
business disputes about performance of contracts in the face of
shelter in place orders; claims against healthcare providers relating
to quality of care; and demands against insurance companies
for a variety of coverages in a factual landscape no one seriously
envisioned when policies were drafted. Parties and counsel may
be disputing these types of issues for many years. For a possibly
analogous context, there is still litigation around that arose from
the 2008-09 Recession!
The service the legal profession provides to society, and society’s
need for access to justice should not, and cannot, go on hold.
The upshot is that lawyers, judges, mediators, and arbitrators are
adapting and will continue to do so in order to continue to provide
that critical service.
____________________________________________________
Video Mediation: A Guide for Mediators, Georgia Office of Dispute
Resolution (April 9, 2020).
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