Boston—Chief Justice for Administration and Management Robert A. Mulligan today announced that the Guidelines required by Rule 8 (b) (iv) of the Uniform Rules on Dispute Resolution have been approved for use and distribution.

          These Guidelines implement the qualification standards for neutrals and approved programs performing court-connected dispute resolution services. Rule 8 of the Uniform Rules of Dispute Resolution was adopted by the Supreme Judicial Court in November, 2003 and will take effect on January 1, 2005. These Guidelines were developed by the Standing Committee on Dispute Resolution simultaneously with the lengthy process that led to the promulgation of Rule 8.

          Rule 8 and the accompanying Guidelines establish training, evaluation, mentoring, and continuing education and evaluation requirements for seven categories of neutrals - mediators, arbitrators, case evaluators, conciliators, mini-trial neutrals, summary jury trial neutrals, and dispute intervenors. It also provides alternative methods for meeting the requirements, and a "grandfather" clause that allows Trial Court Chief Justices to exercise a one-time option that would exempt some neutrals who meet certain requirements from the initial training requirements.

          Chief Justice Mulligan said, "I am pleased to approve the necessary Guidelines to implement the qualification standards established by Rule 8 of the Uniform Rules. These Guidelines are the culmination of more than ten years of formidable work by the Standing Committee on Dispute Resolution in creating systemwide standards for court-connected alternative dispute resolution services."

          Superior Court Judge John Cratsley, Chair of the Standing Committee on Dispute Resolution, said, "These Guidelines reflect the best thinking in the dispute resolution community regarding the proper training, evaluation, and mentoring for neutrals who do court-connected dispute resolution. Compliance with their recommendations assures the public of the highest quality of any ADR process they might choose as an alternative to going to trial."

          The Guidelines work in conjunction with Rule 8 and are necessary to give substance to the general requirements of the rule. The Guidelines also provide more guidance to neutrals and programs than the rule itself. They contain specific requirements for each ADR process concerning training, mentoring, and evaluation; a skills check list for competency; and a description of the types of prior experience needed to fulfill the alternative method option to the training requirement. The Guidelines for dispute intervention are still being developed. Dispute intervention is an "in house" ADR process used in the Probate and Family Court and the Housing Court Departments by probation officers and housing specialists.

          To allow the programs that provide court-connected ADR services to comply with Rule 8 and these new Guidelines, the Chief Justice for Administration and Management has extended the current list of approved programs until January 1, 2005. This postpones the effective date of the next approval process until then so that ADR programs can satisfy the requirements of Rule 8 in their next applications as well as seek the one-time "grandfather" exemption for certain neutrals. Rule 8(k) creates an option by a Chief Justice of any Trial Court Department to use a one time exemption for mediators, arbitrators, case evaluators, and conciliators from the training, mentoring, and evaluation requirements of Rule 8. Trial Court Departments have until May 15, 2004, to decide whether they will utilize this exemption.

          Rule 8 of the Uniform Rules of Dispute Resolution and the Guidelines can be found on the Internet at www.state.ma.us/courts/admin/legal.html. Questions about the implementation of Rule 8 and the Guidelines should be directed to Tim Linnehan, Coordinator of Alternative Dispute Resolution Services, at 617-878-0372 or by e-mail at linnehan_t@jud.state.ma.us