June 14, 2017: When Experts Come From Different Planets: Tips for Maximizing the Value of Experts
Webinar
Expert testimony is a necessary part of many arbitrations that involve technical subject matter or complex economics and accounting. Parties and their advocates may push their experts to extremes in support of their positions. When this occurs, it can be difficult for the arbitrator to resolve the matter because the experts have not given the arbitrator sufficient or adequate information – or even the correct information – on which to base an appropriate award.
This 60-minute webinar explores tools and techniques that arbitrators can use to ensure that the presented expert opinion evidence is useful and find the common ground in seemingly irreconcilable expert testimony.
Areas covered will include—
• recognizing when expert testimony will be relevant;
• raising the issue of expert testimony with parties and counsel;
• managing the exchange of expert reports;
• presentation of expert testimony (timing, method, etc.);
• roles of the panel chair and wing arbitrators during presentation;
• tools and techniques for finding common ground;
• bridging seemingly irreconcilable expert testimony gaps;
and more.
Take-Aways: Arbitrators will be made aware of process management tools that can help to ensure that expert testimony is useful. Advocates will receive suggestions for how to improve their presentation of technical and financial information.
June 22, 2017: 2017 AAA Construction Conference: Navigating the Unique Aspects of Construction Arbitration
In-Person Program
The 2017 American Arbitration Association Construction Conference will focus on understanding and controlling the arbitration process and managing risk associated with complex construction projects.
Experts in the field will lead the following sessions:
- How to effectively deal with the 300 change order dispute: who controls the process?;
- Global construction disputes – don’t get left behind;
- Changes to the 2017 AIA Documents and the potential impact on dispute resolution;
- The best defense is a good offense: keys to claims prevention and mitigation;
- How do we get the war stories if we’re never allowed to go to battle?; and
- Minimizing the risk of ethical dilemmas in arbitration.
Attendees will leave with techniques and best practices to help them with “navigating the unique aspects of construction arbitration.”
August 22, 2017: Mediator Essentials: Skills for Facilitating Negotiated Agreements
In-Person Program
The AAA’s rules and procedures for arbitration and mediation supply the framework for resolving disputes in all industries.
This 32-hour course is specifically designed to provide a comprehensive immersion in the essential skills and knowledge required of all mediators. The course curriculum provides the instruction widely viewed as the standard introductory training needed for practicing mediators.
Through engaging dialogue, interactive exercises and simulated mediations facilitated by a faculty of experienced mediators, you will not only acquire vital knowledge about mediation theory, practice and techniques, but also begin developing the skills indispensable to being an effective mediator.
Slightly shorter than its very popular 40-hour predecessor, the course is offered over four consecutive days (Tuesday – Friday) and is designed to appeal to a variety of learning styles.
The course is open to anyone interested in the field of mediation. Legal training and education or prior experience with mediation, while helpful, are not necessary to fully participate in and benefit from all the course has to offer. The registration fee includes all course materials, a continental breakfast and lunch each day.
If you are interested in joining a specific mediation panel, you should check with the appropriate governing body to inquire whether this course satisfies that panel's training requirements.
September 7: Advanced Training in Healthcare Mediation
In-Person Program
The field of health care, with its myriad interconnected “players” and complexity of transactions, has long been fertile ground for many types of disputes and conflicts, ranging from general contract matters to medical malpractice issues. With the advent of the Affordable Care Act, it is especially incumbent upon experienced mediators interested in mediating health care-related matters to become well-educated in the nuances and uniqueness of disputes and conflicts within the field. This two-day, highly interactive advanced workshop is designed to provide just such an educational experience.
Through engaging dialogue, interactive exercises, and six simulated health care mediations facilitated by a faculty of experienced health care mediators, attendees will acquire vital knowledge about health care practice and techniques and refine skills indispensable to the effective health care mediator.
The workshop will address the following topics:
- Managed care vs accountable care
- Payer-ER physician group disputes
- In-hospital disputes
- Bioethics mediation
- Recruitment agreement disputes
- General contract disputes
- Peer review disputes
- Anatomy of a medical malpractice case
- Research relevant to medical malpractice lawsuits
- Adverse events, medical errors, and conflict resolution in hospitals
- Ethics and standards for mediators