In March 2008, BLC Clerk Ben Kaberon volunteered in a special education elementary school classroom in upstate New York. As a guest assistant teacher, Ben worked one-on-one with second grade children in reading, math, and writing. Consistent with BLC's mission and values, the firm's policy is that all attorneys and administrative staff are permitted (indeed, encouraged) to take off one week per year without loss of pay, in addition to vacations and holidays, to perform public service or community service work for a non-profit public interest or public service organization.
In March 2008 BLC Attorney Craig Silverman served as a judge for the 2007-08 Boston Regional National Appellate Advocacy Competition (NAAC); he acted as the Chief Justice on the three-judge panel. The NAAC is one of the largest moot court competitions in the country with 190 teams from 15 states competing. The teams were narrowed down to 31 by the time the competition reached Boston and the top 4 teams selected in Boston continue to compete in the national rounds in Chicago. Competitors participated in a hypothetical appeal to the United States Supreme Court and were required to write a 40-page brief as either respondent or petitioner and then arguing the case in front of the mock court on which Craig Silverman served.
On March 7, 2008 BLC Member David Hoffman presented a workshop on "Collaborative Communication Skills" co-sponsored by the Vermont Bar Association's Collaborative Law Section and ADR Section. For information regarding the workshop click here.
BLC Member David Hoffman spoke in February 2008 at the Massachusetts Continuting Legal Education program entitled "Difficult Cases and Difficult Clients." David presented information about mediation, collaborative law, and other "Alternatives to WWIII."
In July 2007 and January 2008, BLC Member David Hoffman led the third day of the four day divorce mediation trainings offered by Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education and chaired by retired Probate and Family Court Judge Edward Ginsburg. BLC Affiliates and chaired by retired Probate and Family Court Judge Edward Ginsburg. BLC Affiliates Richard Wolman and Susan Miller, BLC Paralegal Nicole DiPentima and BLC Of Counsel Vicki Shemin assisted Hoffman. BLC Executive Director and ADR Case Manager Israela Brill-Cass, along with respected mediators John Fiske, Cynthia Bauman and Norman Sherman, lead the first day of the training.
In December 2007 and January 2008, BLC Executive Director and ADR Case Manager Israela Brill-Cass facilitated a series of meetings with leaders of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), an independent federal agency. Working with RESOLVE, NARA's alternative dispute resolution program, Israela assisted the group to develop a framework for improving their work environment and workplace communications.
In November 2007 BLC Member David Hoffman presented a workshop entitled "Bringing Peace into the Electronic Mediation: Communicating Collaboratively in Cyberspace" at a meeting of the Massachusetts Council on Family Mediation.
The growth of Collaborative Law in the U.S. achieved a major milestone on August 9, 2007, with the issuance of an ethics opinion (#04-447) by the American Bar Association approving the use of collaborative law agreements by lawyers. BLC Member David Hoffman, who chairs the Collaborative Law Committee of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, published an op-ed column on the ethics opinion for the Christian Science Monitor. For a copy of the column, click here; for a copy of the ethics opinion, click here.
In November 2007 BLC Member David Hoffman presented a workshop on "Resolving Civil Disputes" with Touro Law Prof. Hal Abramson and Dan Weitz, Director of ADR Program for the New York State Unified Court System, at the Touro Law Center's conference on "Law as a Healing Profession."
In October 2007 BLC Member David Hoffman presented a workshop entitled "Forging New Paths for Civil Collaborative Law: Identifying Allies and Opportunities, Overcoming Obstacles, and Documenting Successful Cases" with Dallas attorney Sherrie Abney, author of "Avoid Litigation: A Guide to Civil Collaborative Law", at the annual Forum of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals held in Toronto.
In October 2007 BLC Member David Hoffman was the keynote speaker at the "Innovative Lawyering Symposium" at the University of Missouri School of Law. David's talk and Symposium article - entitled "Practicing Law as a Form of Dispute Resolution: Towards a Unified Field Theory of ADR" - focuses on collaborative and cooperative forms of legal practice.
In October 2007 Vicki Shemin, who is of counsel at BLC, presented a talk at the annual Family Mediation Institute of the Massachusetts Council on Family Mediation, entitled "Parenting Coordination: The Final Frontier."
In September 2007 BLC Member David Hoffman was the keynote speaker at the annual ADR conference in New Zealand. The Ninth Annual Conference of LEADR ("Leading Edge Alternative Dispute Resolvers"), which is the largest professional dispute resolution organization in the Asian Pacific, also included two workshops offered by David on "Bringing Peace into the Room" and "Collaborative Law as a Form of Dispute Resolution Practice."
BLC Attorney Mary LaCivita was recently selected for inclusion in the "Rising Stars" edition of the 2007 Massachusetts Super Lawyers publication, which is based on a state-wide survey of lawyers who are asked to list the "top young lawyers in Massachusetts." This is the third year in a row that she has received this honor.
In September 2007, BLC Member David Hoffman completed his service as chair of a three-arbitrator panel in a reinsurance dispute between John Hancock Life Insurance and CNA Reinsurance. The arbitration was concluded with a settlement in which CNA paid $250 million to resolve the dispute, after a six-week arbitration held in Boston. Hoffman's fellow arbitrators were Ian Hunter, QC, from the UK and Robert Green, former Associate General Counsel at Traveler's Insurance.
In July 2007 BLC Member David Hoffman taught a course at the Harvard Negotiation Insight Initiative (HNII) Summer Learning Forum, entitled: "The New Lawyer: Practicing Law as a Healing Profession" with Profs. Susan Daicoff and David Hall. HNII is a project of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.
On May 14, 2007, BLC Executive Director and ADR Case Manager Israela Brill-Cass recently presented a half day dispute resolution skills training for rabbinical students at Hebrew College Rabbinical School in Newton. The training was part of the school's Spring Seminar Week and students ranged in age from mid-20's to over 60. The training emphasized group faciliation skills and was geared toward helping future rabbis understand the role of mediator and negotiator.
On June 22, 2007, BLC Member David Hoffman presented a workshop entitled "Enlightened Cultural Competence: Exploring the Crossroads of Spirituality and Diversity" at the 20th annual conference of the Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution in Greenbelt, Maryland. His co-presenters were the Center's Director Marvin Johnson, mediator Daniel Bowling (co-editor of "Bringing Peace into the Room"), and Howard University Law School Professor Homer La Rue.
Dina Beach Lynch, BLC Affiliate, was recently named Ombudsman for the Berklee College of Music, the first in its history. Ms. Lynch, who designed their Ombuds program, will serve as a confidential and neutral resource for faculty and staff in resolving workplace issues. Ms. Lynch is a recognized pioneer in external Ombuds services for corporate and academic settings and her company, Kisima Enterprises, has been featured in Inc, Entrepreneur and other respected business magazines.
BLC Member David Hoffman, along with former BLC Paralegal and Office Manager Stacey Bran and Oregon mediator Jim Melamed, led a workshop on the impact of office design on the process of mediation at the annual conference of the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution held in Washington DC in April 2007. Stacey has written a master's thesis on this subject.
In May 2007 BLC ADR Case Manager Israela Brill-Cass and BLC Paralegal Nicole DiPentima presented a workshop entitled: "Getting Clients in the Door: The Importance of Intake" at the Conference of the New England Chapter of the Association for Conflict Resolution.
BLC Member David Hoffman has been asked to teach the Mediation course at Harvard Law School. The course, which was created by HLS Prof. Frank E.A. Sander, and taught by him for more than 20 years, will be offered in the Spring semester, 2008. For a description of the course, click here.
On February 10, 2007, the Council of the American Bar Association's 9,000-member Section of Dispute Resolution voted unanimously to create a Collaborative Law Committee. BLC Member David Hoffman was appointed chair of the Committee, which will focus on legislation, ethics, and increasing the awareness, understanding, and use of Collaborative Law. Information about the Committee can be found on the ABA web site for the Committee (click here) or by contacting Nicole DiPentima at BLC.
BLC Members David Hoffman and Olive Larson were selected for the list of Massachusetts 'Super Lawyers,' published annually in Boston Magazine. Lawyers are chosen for this list based on a survey of 31,000 attorneys around the state. Law & Politics Magazine, which collects the data and publishesthe list annually, limits the number of lawyers on the list to 5% of the total number in the Commonwealth. Larson is listed in the area of Family Law, and Hoffman is listed in the area of Alternative Dispute Resolution.
On Thursday, February 15, 2007, BLC Affliate Dina Beach Lynch was part of a panel discussion on conflict work at Brandeis University at an event titled "Conflict Resolution Career Workshop."
In March 2007, BLC Member David Hoffman led a workshop with Chuck Doran of Mediation Works, Incorporated on Negotiation Skills at Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education.
In April 2007, BLC Member Olive Larson and BLC Attorney Mary LaCivita gave a presentation on Financial Statements for Family Law at BLC for the Women's Bar Foundation's Family Law Project
BLC has been selected to serve as the Plan Administrator in connection with certain severance programs at Gillette. Appeals of benefits denied by the Company may be brought by employees under a severance plan that was triggered by Procter & Gamble's acquisition of Gillette in October 2005. BLC's Executive Director and ADR Case Manager Israela Brill-Cass will administer the program, and a panel of ADR professionals, including BLC's Dina Beach Lynch and David Hoffman, will serve as hearing officers. (In November 2007 BLC sent a letter to clients and colleagues inaccurately describing the hearings as arbitrations; they are not arbitrations but rather administrative reviews of severance benefit decisions made by Procter & Gamble.)
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