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Why I Only Mediate On Zoom
You really do not want to resume face-to-face mediation any time soon. Sure, being in person has advantages. The risk just does not justify it.
Most of what we hear in the news concerns public health. Yet even if the curve is flattening so hospitals not overwhelmed, if you are infected, you’ll be underneath that curve. Potentially dead.
Erin Bromage, a biologist who specializes in infectious diseases, has written about individual health risks as distinguished from public health. His post, “The Risks - Know Them - Avoid Them,” from way back on May 6, suggests a simple formula to measure risk: density of people, quality of ventilation and most of all, time.
People don’t have symptoms for the first few days they’re infected but are contagious. If you are in an enclosed space with someone like that for a period of hours, which you will be in every mediation, you will get it. Six feet apart is not a silver bullet. Hours later, if someone with the virus has been in the room, it can still be a dangerous place.
Mediators—and lawyers—are in the business of minimizing risk. The difference between in-person and being on video not enough to risk lives over.
Licensed to practice law in Illinois and Pennsylvania.
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helpful links
International Academy of Mediators
Association of Attorney-Mediators [National]
Association of Attorney-Mediators [Illinois]
American Arbitration Association
ABA Section on Dispute Resolution
American Institute for Mediation
Pepperdine Law School—Strauss Institute For Dispute Resolution
Harvard Program on Negotiation
Association For Conflict Resolution
Cook County Law Division Mediation Program Site
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resources
Discrimination and Harassment Become Legal Ethics Violations (IL)
Discrimination and Harassment Become Legal Ethics Violations (PA)
Illinois Uniform Mediation Act
Illinois Supreme Court Rule on Mediation
Cook County Rules on Law Division & Chancery Division Mediation Programs
ABA/ACR/AAA Mediator Code of Ethics
Association of Attorney-Mediators Ethical Standards
Mediation & Negotiation ArticlesIllinois Uniform Arbitration Act
forms
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In 2011–2013,
Michael Leech was selected as a
Top 100 Super Lawyer in Illinois