What are some of your proudest achievements from the past year? There have been many achievements over the last year relative to the New York State Presumptive ADR Program, from the full scale implementation of programs that offer early mediation in a wide variety of case types to the soaring success rate of the blockbuster settlement conferences that have become the norm in automobile cases with certain insurance carriers. But what I am most proud of is the shift in attitude, in the culture of civil litigation that is now prevalent among judges, court staff and the bar. No longer is it simply accepted that settlement or mediation won’t be explored until after years of discovery, enormous cost outlays and only on the eve of trial. Now attorneys come prepared—at the preliminary conference—to discuss alternative ways to resolve their case. Just the other day, a law clerk in the courthouse caught me in the hallway to tell me that the attorneys who appear before his judge now instinctively know that they will be asked to mediate and they are becoming quickly familiar with the process and the list of mediators!  Most of all, I relish the emails I receive from our court mediators when they excitedly tell me they have resolved a complicated matter the first time it was on!  Sure, there are still pockets of resistance but they are no match for the tidal wave of change that we are bringing to the New York Civil Court system.

What, if any, obstacles stood in the way of your innovation, and how did you overcome them? I knew that there would be a diversity issue in our pool of mediators but I didn’t realize how serious it would be until, on the first day the mediation program was rolled out in New York City Civil Court, we had four cases that were amenable to mediation—all of whom spoke Spanish—and one Spanish interpreter. This brought home the issue of culture and diversity in mediation as well as all the concerns about access to justice that such challenges raise. I am working diligently to connect with the affinity bar associations and to promote mediation trainings for diverse attorneys as well as working with a young, law student at Columbia University to create a program whereby large law firms will underwrite mediation training for attorneys of color.