I spent most of the past two days at a wonderful conference – ODR 2015, hosted by Pace Law School (at the University’s downtown NYC campus), listening to fellow online dispute resolution enthusiasts from across the U.S. as well as from countries such as England, Canada, Nigeria, Israel, China, New Zealand, Belgium, Malaysia, Japan, and Egypt. Yesterday’s keynote speaker Richard Susskind opened the conference by highlighting the impact of technology on our lives, and noting that 21st century lawyers must learn to use technology to solve legal problems. Today’s keynote speaker Noah Hanft warned that online dispute resolution is the only viable solution to the post – Concepcion rise of small claims.
It’s been eye-opening to listen to observations, predictions, insights and criticisms of the world of online dispute resolution from global academics, lawyers, purveyors, neutrals and representatives from online platforms such as Youstice and Modria. My big take-away? ODR is no longer something to look forward to in the future – it is here and in use right now.
Are there any videos from the conference that are accessible for those of us unable to attend? I would love to watch Susskind speak or any of the other speakers! I am reading Susskind’s book, Tomorrow’s Lawyers, and couldn’t agree more that ODR is here to stay.
The next question for our ADR community, is how tech will enhance other aspects of our work? I am working with the folks at CALI to see how their A2J Author software platform can be used to help self-represented litigants prepare for a mediation. I wonder how else tech can enhance our field? Could tech help parties determine the most appropriate process for their issues? Or at least narrow down process choice to a couple within the spectrum?