Alternative Dispute Resolution Week
For 2024, Mediation Week officially changes to Alternative Dispute Resolution Week in recognition of the importance of all forms of alternative dispute resolution, or ADR. Chief Justice Carlos G. Muñiz recognized October 13-19 as Alternative Dispute Resolution Week in Florida’s courts, and the members of Florida’s Dispute Resolution Center are excited to take this time to celebrate Florida’s leadership in utilizing ADR practices and to recognize some of the state’s outstanding ADR professionals.
ADR includes practices such as mediation, arbitration, parenting coordination, eldercaring coordination, and other restorative and evaluative processes that encourage joint problem solving and effective resolution of disputes outside of the courtroom. All forms of ADR strive to assist parties to resolve their own disputes without the need for a trial. ADR is effective and efficient for the parties involved, and it also conserves resources in Florida’s trial and appellate courts.
Florida’s skilled ADR practitioners empower individuals, families, schools, and businesses to foster communication, create solutions, and develop lasting solutions to difficult issues. Unlike a judge or jury, ADR practitioners are not allowed to decide who is right or wrong or to tell participants how to resolve a dispute. In mediation, for example, the mediator helps the parties find their own solutions to their particular dispute.
Every year, the Dispute Resolution Center highlights the work of some of Florida’s outstanding ADR professionals through an awards program. The Sharon Press Excellence in ADR Award recognizes an individual who demonstrates the qualities of visionary leadership, professional integrity, and unwavering devotion to the field of alternative dispute resolution. The Dispute Resolution Center Award of Appreciation serves to recognize individuals who make outstanding contributions to the field of ADR in Florida over a significant period of time.
The 2024 Sharon Press Excellence in ADR Award was awarded to Fran Tetunic, who is a Professor of Law at Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad College of Law. She directs the Dispute Resolution Clinic and teaches the Mediation Workshop and Elder Law Seminar. She has served on the Alternative Dispute Resolution Rules and Policy Committee and as chair of the Mediator Ethics Advisory Committee. Certified as a Florida Supreme Court Circuit Civil, Family, and County Mediator, she provides training for circuit civil mediation certification courses as a subject matter specialist, as well as continuing legal education and continuing mediator education in mediation ethics and case law.
The 2024 DRC Awards of Appreciation were awarded to Christy Foley and Elinor Robin.
Christy L. Foley is an attorney, mediator, and arbitrator who is considered a leader in the field of conflict resolution. She was a pioneer in e-mediation, having started a mediation firm called E-Mediation Services in 2018. She has served as chair of Florida's Mediator Ethics Advisory Committee from 2018 to 2024 and also served as chair of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Section of The Florida Bar.
Elinor Robin, PhD, spent the last 35 years committed to her mediation clients, her mediation students, and Florida’s mediation community. She has served the DRC as a member of the Mediator Qualifications and Discipline Review Board, the Mediation Training Review Board, and the Committee on ADR Rules and Policy. She has presented at many DRC conferences, to trial court staff, and to over 14,000 professionals in both certification and continuing mediator education programs.
The ADR Week proclamation and more information about ADR, the awards, and this year’s recipients is available on the Florida Courts website.