ABA Opens Registration for 2021 Dispute Resolution Conference

The American Bar Association's Section on Dispute Resolution will hold its Annual Spring Conference on April 14-17, 2021. (Initially, organizers had hoped for a hybrid event with some in-person sessions in Los Angeles, but that is no longer viable.) This is the largest annual conference of ADR practitioners. The conference theme is "Agility, Disruption and Reinvention: ADR in a New World" and several sessions are relevant to Ombuds.

The preliminary agenda includes the following sessions:

• "ADR & Title IX: How to Develop Effective Campus Systems," organized by Brian Pappas (author of an article for the Denver Law Review in 2016: "Out From the Shadows: Title IX, University Ombuds, and the Reporting of Campus Sexual Misconduct");
• "Dealing with Porcupines: Using BIFF to Manage Communications with High Conflict People," organized by Elizabeth Hill (Associate Director, Ombuds Office, University of Colorado Boulder)
• "Leveraging Disruption to Reinvent the Role of an Organizational Ombuds," organized by Laura C. Smythe (University Ombuds, University of Idaho);
• "The Professional Ombuds: Competence Standards for an Emergent Profession," organized by David Lewis (Mediator and ABA Dispute Resolution Section Fellow in Ombuds)

Registration is now open. Up to the early bird deadline of March 5, 2021, the conference costs $250 for ABA members and $475 for non-members. (ABA DRS Conf Info.)

Related posts: Fewer Ombuds Offerings at 2017 ABA Dispute Resolution Conference; 2018 ABA Dispute Resolution Conference Includes Just One Ombuds Panel; ABA 2019 Dispute Resolution Conference to Include Ombuds Panel; ABA Section of Dispute Resolution Moves 2020 Spring Conference Online; Call for Presenters: ABA 2021 Dispute Resolution Conference.