The Atlanta Lawyer April 2020 | Page 29

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). i www.atlantabar.org THE ATLANTA LAWYER 29