Interagency ADR Working Group (IADRWG) Steering Committee Seeks Comments On Draft Guides
|
November 2005 |
The federal Interagency ADR Working Group Steering Committee (“the Steering Committee”) has developed three documents designed to serve the goal of assisting federal agencies with training in how to use ADR: a confidentiality guide; a guide for federal employee mediators; and a guide for federal employee ombuds. A brief description of each of the three guides is set forth below, and the complete text of each of the three documents can be found at the links at the bottom of this page.
Public comment on the three guides is solicited by a notice published in the Federal Register on November 9, 2005. The Steering Committee invites all interested individuals or organizations to submit comments on these documents for its consideration before they are posted in final form. All comments must be postmarked or emailed by 30 days from the date of the Federal Register notice. Please address all comments to Hon. Richard C. Walters, Administrative Judge, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Board of Contract Appeals (09), 810 Vermont Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20420 and send by e-mail to Rich.Walters@va.gov. Electronic transmission is preferred to ensure full distribution.
Please note that the three Guides apply to the internal management of the federal civilian executive branch. They are not intended to create any new right, benefit, or trust responsibility, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or equity by a party against the United States, its agencies, its officers, or any person.
The first document is entitled “Protecting the Confidentiality of Dispute Resolution Proceedings: A Guide for Federal Workplace Alternative Dispute Resolution Program Administrators.” This Guide provides practical guidance to federal administrators on the application of the confidentiality provisions of the ADR Act to federal workplace dispute resolution programs. (Confidentiality under the ADR Act may apply also to other ADR processes used to address workplace disputes, such as facilitation, conciliation and use of ombuds.) The Guide extends the guidance issued by the Federal ADR Council, Report on the Reasonable Expectations of Confidentiality Under the Administrative Dispute Resolution Act of 1996, 5 Federal Register 83085, December 29, 2000, which may be found on this web site under “Guidance” (“Confidentiality in Federal ADR Programs (December 29, 2000)), and is designed to be used in concert with the confidentiality provisions of the ADR Act as well as agency confidentiality policies and guidance.
The confidentiality Guide describes in practical, non-legal terms the nature and limits of confidentiality in federal alternative dispute resolution proceedings. Each chapter includes a description and discussion of the issues, a legal analysis, and questions and answers related to confidentiality as it pertains to an aspect of a federal workplace ADR program. The first chapter discusses issues applicable throughout, and the various stages of, a dispute resolution proceeding. The remaining chapters discuss particular issues regarding confidentiality: confidentiality agreements; recordkeeping; program evaluation; access requests; and non-party participants. The second document is entitled “A Guide for Federal Employee Mediators.” This Guide provides practical ethical guidance for federal employee mediators tailored to mediation practice within the federal government. It builds upon the September 2005 Model Standards of Conduct for Mediators issued by a joint committee of three major nationwide organizations (the American Arbitration Association, the American Bar Association, and the Association for Conflict Resolution) and approved by all three organizations. The Guide sets forth the Model Standards in their entirety and provides further explication through Federal Guidance Notes for federal employee mediators for mediations they undertake for the federal government. The Federal Guidance Notes include discussion of: impartiality; conflicts of interest; confidentiality; quality of the process; advertising and solicitation; and fees and other charges. The third document is entitled “A Guide for Federal Employee Ombuds” and was developed by the Coalition of Federal Ombudsmen in conjunction with the Steering Committee. The Guide builds upon the Standards for the Establishment and Operations of Ombuds Offices issued on February 9, 2004, by the American Bar Association. The Guide sets forth the Ombuds Standards in their entirety and provides supplementation through Federal Guidance Notes for specific areas unique to federal Ombuds practice. The Federal Guidance Notes include discussion of: establishment and operations; independence, impartiality and confidentiality; limitations on ombuds’ authority; notice; and Executive Ombuds. Each of these documents may be accessed below.
Draft Confidentiality Guide
Draft Mediator’s Guide
Draft Ombuds Guide
Richard C. Walters has been designated as recipient for public comments on all three documents. Comments are due within thirty (30) days, or by December 9.
Richard C. Walters
Administrative Judge
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Board of Contract Appeals (09)
810 Vermont Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20420
Direct Phone: 202-273-6747
Main Phone: 202-273-6743
FAX: 202-275-5381
E-mail: Rich.Walters@va.gov
Biography
Jeff Senger is Senior Counsel in the Office of Dispute Resolution at the United States Department of Justice. He advises and trains Assistant United States Attorneys and Justice Department lawyers around the country in negotiation and alternative dispute resolution. He also works with the Federal Interagency ADR Working Group, an organization chaired by the Attorney General, who was appointed by the President to promote the use of ADR throughout the federal government. He is the author of an award-winning book published by John Wiley & Sons entitled Federal Dispute Resolution: Using ADR with the United States Government.
Mr. Senger serves as a federal mediator for the United States District Court; a civil, family, and criminal misdemeanor mediator for the Superior Court in Washington D.C., and an arbitrator for the Better Business Bureau and the District of Columbia Bar Association. He teaches negotiation at Harvard Law School, and he teaches trial techniques at Harvard and at the National Institute of Trial Advocacy. He serves on the Council of the Dispute Resolution Section of the American Bar Association and the Executive Committee of the CPR Institute, and he worked on the drafting of the Uniform Mediation Act. He has traveled to India, Turkey, Israel, Nigeria, Jordan, Egypt, and Argentina to speak on behalf of the U.S. government about ADR to judges and political leaders. He has published articles in Negotiation Journal, the Journal of Dispute Resolution, and several law reviews. He has testified as an expert witness before the United States Congress.
In earlier experience at the Justice Department, he directed training for all civil and appellate Department lawyers and Assistant United States Attorneys, litigated civil rights cases around the country as a Senior Trial Attorney, and prosecuted felony criminal cases as a Special Assistant United States Attorney. Prior to joining the Department, he was a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Earl B. Gilliam of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. He is a graduate of Harvard College, magna cum laude, and Harvard Law School, cum laude.
Comments
| Free subscription to comments on this article | Add Brief Comment |