With the enactment of Information Technology Act, 2000, e-commerce and e-governance have been given a formal and legal recognition. Even the traditional arbitration law of India has been reformulated and ‘Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996′ was enacted, he said.

In mediation, the practitioner has no advisory role, instead, a mediator renders help to parties to develop a shared understanding of the conflict and to work towards building a practical and lasting solution, he said.

He also emphasised the need for creating awareness on mediation among the general public.

“Unless the general public was aware of the goodness in the process of mediation, all our efforts would turn out to be a futile exercise”, he added. The litigant public, who look to the court for redressal of their grievance, should have an idea about this process, he said.

All that the student needs is access to the internet with a browser and permission of a faculty member to participate. Schools in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore and the United States have expressed interest so far. For further information about fielding teams or acting as an evaluator, please go to http://www.odr.info/icodr2005.php or contact Alan Gaitenby at gaitenby(at)disputes.net or Benjamin Davis at ben.davis(at)utoledo.edu.

Best regards,

Benjamin Davis
Associate Professor of Law
University of Toledo College of Law
2801 W. Bancroft Street
Toledo, Ohio 43606
Tel.: 1 419 530 5117
Fax: 1 419 530 2439
E-mail:ben.davis(at)utoledo.edu

To participate, law students need only have 1) access to the internet through a browser and 2) permission of a faculty member. The competitions are free of charge. This year we will again have online negotiation, mediation, and arbitration competitions. As a new development we will also hold a prototype online litigation competition.
ICODR Registration (schools and evaluators)
ICODR 2005 Negotiation Competition Rules and Schedule
ICODR 2005 Mediation Competition Rules and Schedule
ICODR 2005 Arbitration Competition Rules and Schedule
ICODR 2005 Prototype Litigation Competition Rules and Schedule

The Process:

Over the past three years we have held online negotiation, mediation, and arbitration competitions between teams from law schools around the world. Law students have opportunities to role play as advocates for claimants and respondents as well as neutrals in each of the competitions. Hypothetical cases used have been designed by law professors or been provided by the Harvard Program on Negotiation. Distinguished professionals from around the world have participated as evaluators.

Through ICODR 2004 ten technologies have been graciously provided free of charge including Online Resolution, West Workspace/Erooms Technology, Squaretrade.com, and several in the eNegotiation group (SimpleNS, MeetingOne, WebNS, The Negotiating Room, and Negoisst, Inspire, Family_Winner, and SmartSettle).

The Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre, the International Chamber of Commerce International Court of Arbitration, the Arbitration and Mediation Centre of the World Intellectual Property Organization, the London Court of International Arbitration, the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague, and the International Centre for Dispute Resolution of the American Arbitration Association have permitted us over the past years to make reference to them when students are appointed neutrals in the arbitration competition ? to help the realism of the experience.

To participate law students express interest through faculty members (i.e. coaches), in each competition team(s) are assigned roles and given hypotheticals to prepare, and then the students participate anonymously by accessing a platform in cyberspace for conducting conflict management.
Student roles in 2005 will be as advocate for their client in the negotiation competition, as advocate for their client or as mediator in the mediation competition, as advocate for their client or arbitrator in the arbitration competition, and as advocate for their client or judge in the prototype litigation competition.

Evaluators have access to the rooms in which the students are acting and can read what the students submit to evaluate the effectiveness of each student team. The most effective teams in each role in each competition are recognized.

Schedules and other information:

Hypotheticals are scheduled to be handed out in early January 2005.
The Online Negotiation competition will be held in two rounds in February and March 2005. Round 1 (February 20-27), Round 2(March 2-5), Results posted April 15.
The Online Mediation competition will be held in two rounds in February 2005. Round 1 (February 6-13), Round 2(February 16-20), Results posted April 15.

The Online Arbitration competition will be held in one round over two months in February and March 2005. Round: February 1 ? March 31, Results posted May 15. Advocates will participate as Claimant in one room and Respondent in another room. To the extent possible student arbitrators will serve in two rooms and – depending on numbers – in arbitral tribunals of 3 members.
The prototype Online Litigation competition will be held over two months in February through April 2005. Round: February 15 ? April 15, Results posted May 15. Advocates will participate as Plaintiff/Claimant in one room and Defendant/Respondent in another room. To the extent possible student judges will serve in two rooms.

West Workspace/Erooms Technology has accepted to be the technology for the ICODR 2005 competitions. To explore a past year of the competition on this platform, please go to

https://www.westworkspace.com/eroom/icodr2003

Username: observer2004
Password: observer2004

If prompted click on browser only
For more information please contact:

Alan Gaitenby
Assistant Director
Center for Information Technology and Dispute Resolution
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, Massachusetts
Tel.: 1 413 577 1394
email: gaitenby@disputes.net

Benjamin Davis
Associate Professor of Law
University of Toledo College of Law
2801 W. Bancroft Street
Toledo, Ohio 43606
Tel.: 1 419 530 5117
Fax: 1 419 530 2439
E-mail:ben.davis(AT)utoled

Copy for the 2003 release is due at the end of March. The book is mainly used in the UK and other commonwealth jurisdictions.

I would welcome any hard news of or advice about these new procedures as they are working out in practice.

Robert Fenwick Elliott
http://www.fenwick-elliott.co.uk”

Year 2003

The expectation is that online technology will speed up and reduce the cost of international arbitration proceedings. It is expected to remove the need for sending large quantities of paper through courier services and replace face-to-face meetings by cheaper and easier online video conferencing. This seminar will ask the question “How realistic are these expectations?”

For the last two years the E-Arbitration-T team of lawyers and technologists have been looking at these issues. A key feature of international arbitration is that it delivers a result – the award – that national courts will recognise and enforce. We cannot simply substitute Internet and computer technology without considering the criteria courts will apply in deciding that the award was made properly and fairly within the intent of relevant international law. This seminar will look at the technological options and the rules and procedures necessary to exploit them. It will also examine the need for change in the international legal framework to reap the full technological benefits.

E-Arbitration-T cannot give an unqualified endorsement of these expectations. We have carried out careful analysis of different options and in some key areas the procedures adopted have much more impact on the speed and cost of dispute resolution than the choice of technology. At the seminar we will present these findings and show where we believe technology can deliver real advantages. The seminar is free-of-charge and is being presented on two alternative dates: Thursday January 16 or Friday January 17.

Programme

9:30 Registration and coffee (SJ004)
10:00 Welcome to DISC at Brunel (SJ008)
A walk through the process
10:15 Electronic transmission of documents
- Getting started with the request and answer
- Exchanging claims, defences and other documents

11:15 Coffee
11:30 Other online support
- Tribunal formation
- Hearings
- Rendering the award
12:45 Lunch (SJ004)
Perspectives
1:45 Managing the proceedings (SJ008)
- Extending the rules
- Specifying the timetable and events
- Other neutral roles
3:00 Coffee (SJ004)
3:15 The legal framework and Harmonisation
3:45 Open discussion
4:30 Close

Practical Arrangements

It will take place in the Department of Information Systems and Computing, The St. John’s Building, Brunel University, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, UB8 3PH, U.K.

To register to attend contact Julie Eatock, by email fax (+44 1895 251686) or phone (+44 1895 203259) with your name, affiliation and contact details so we can allocate you a place and send you full joining instructions.

Year 2002