Appellate mediation is widespread and has been a hot topic for ages now. Alternative dispute resolution, or ADR, providers expressly tout their appellate mediation programs (e.g., ADR Services, JAMS). Most California Court of Appeal districts have formal mediation programs: e.g., the 2nd District’s Mediation Program, the 3rd District’s Mediation Program, the 4th District’s Civil Mediation Program, the 5th District’s Mediation Program, and the 6th District’s Mediation Program. So do many federal Courts of Appeals. The 9th Circuit’s Mediation Program has been around for over 30 years and currently has a team of seven Circuit Mediators. Bucking the ubiquitous banal naming convention, the 2nd Circuit may send you to CAMP (its Civil Appeals Mediation Program). The ABA even published a 366-page treatise “Appellate Mediation: A Guidebook for Attorneys and Mediators” (ABA 2016) by California’s own Brendon Ishikawa and Dana Curtis (a former 9th Circuit Mediator). Yes, so very much can and has been said about appellate mediation. But what about appellate meditation?
Read the full version of this month’s “Exceptionally Appealing” column from Partner Benjamin G. Shatz at the Daily Journal.