The AALS Section on Dispute Resolution hosted a panel on ADR and the Regulatory State at the Annual Meeting in New York on January 4, 2014. I moderated the panel, which featured Jeffrey Lubbers (American), Maureen Weston (Pepperdine), and Nancy Welsh (Penn State). Adam Zimmerman and Dana Remus were selected to participate from a call for papers, but missed the conference because of the weather disruptions that kept so many from attending.

The panel addressed four themes involving the intersection of ADR and administrative law. Professor Lubbers discussed the ways in which administrative agencies use ADR in performing their regulatory functions. I then read remarks provided by Professors Zimmerman & Remus, who discussed the “outsourcing” of dispute resolution by agencies to private actors in the form of defense-side “settlement mills.” Professor Weston discussed preemption of agency decisionmaking involving arbitration. Professor Welsh considered the social justice and procedural justice issues that cut across ADR and agency decisionmaking.

I will serve as Chair of the Section on Dispute Resolution this year, taking over from the able hands of Jen Reynolds (Oregon). Sarah Cole (Ohio State) was elected Chair-Elect.

Our first order of business in the new year will be to solicit bids to host the 2014 Works-in-Progress Conference, hosted in 2013 at Cardozo. If you are interested in hosting, keep an eye out for the call for proposals, which will be issued in the coming weeks.