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ADR Specialist, USAID/ABA assigned to Jordan to assist in implementation and development of first Mediation Court Pilot Program in Middle East with Minister of Justice and Chief Judge of Amman Court of First Instance. Assignments included: construction of a Mediation Center; drafting rules, forms, surveys and regulations for the Court Pilot Program; developing Introduction to ADR training for Judicial Institute of Jordan; conducting mediation training for Arab Women's Legal Network and judges; drafting and training in Standards of Conduct for Mediators. Designed and hosted training of Mediation as a Profession for Jordanian Delegation to USA. (March- June 2006)
Jordan Articles
Excerpt from Tampa Tribune:
Lawyer takes power of mediation to Middle East
A Tampa lawyer recently witnessed a historic step toward peace in the Middle East.
Lynn Cole, a longtime federal trial attorney turned mediator, just returned from three months in Amman, Jordan, where she helped implement the first mediation program in that region.
Read the full story here.
Mediation in the Middle East
Jordan's court pilot program in mediation will be the
model for mediation in the Middle East.
At 4:30AM on an otherwise quiet morning late last March, I was awakened from a restless, jet-lagged sleep by the Islamic call to prayer "(Athan") broadcast from minarets of the mosques of Amman, Jordan. I had arrived in the Hashimite Kingdom of Jordan to work with ABA/USAID as an ADR Specialist for a period of 3 months. Kathryn Ainsworth Monahan serves as the Deputy Director of the Middle-East ABA program and Director of the Jordan Office, and, is herself a passionate advocate of mediation. The Jordanian Parliament had, in March, passed a long-awaited Mediation Law. I arrived in Amman on March 23, 2006 to learn that the Minister of Justice, just days before, had established a deadline of June 1st to start the Mediation Court-Pilot Program. The Jordan ABA Office wondered anxiously how in the world we could get an entirely new Court Pilot Program for a brand new law accomplished in a matter of nine weeks. We did.
Jordan is a progressive county. Under the Constitutional Monarchy of King Abdullah and his bright, beautiful and articulate Palestinian wife, Rania, the country is progressive, economically sound and regularly positions itself as a neutral in the all-too-frequent imbroglios of the Middle East. As a progressive, the King supported establishing a Jordanian Mediation Law. As a voluntary option to litigation, the law provides for three types of mediators. Unlike our system in Florida, and other states which do not permit judges to act as mediators, the Jordan law permits judges to mediate. It also provides for "special mediators", those appointed by the Minister of Justice and confirmed by the Chief Judge of the Jordan Supreme Court, and, a third category, of private mediators to be assigned to mediate, if approved by the court. The ABA, in anticipation of passage of this law, previously had trained many judges and attorneys for over 40 hours in mediation.
Oruba Qarain, a bright Jordanian attorney working in the ABA Jordan Office along with Haya, another Jordanian staff attorney, and I began intensive work with an established Mediation Steering Committee, comprised of Judges and attorneys. Together we prepared Mediation Forms used in the mediation process; developed an Exit Survey to evaluate and assess the progress of the pilot program; developed methods to integrate mediation logistics into a case management system; engaged in additional training for judges; drafted Standards of Conduct for Mediators; and, authored ethical training scenarios for judicial training, among many other preparatory projects. We also worked with Judge Qasim Moumani, Chief Judge of the First Instance Court of Amman, who at first was skeptical of mediation. His skepticism was evidenced in my first meeting with him when he asked me a pointed question, which left no doubt that I was not to bring only an American experience to the project. His later trip to the US in June solidified his acceptance and promotion of mediation in his court.
Of course, there was an initial issue of where to house the court pilot program. I was tasked with constructing a Mediation Center, funded by USAID. I managed the design and construction of a new center in one wing of the Amman Palace of Justice, a huge building with an atrium about four times larger than the new 13th Judicial Courthouse in Tampa. It is unlike any other place in the courthouse with its pastel colored mediation rooms, plants and a quiet, private environment. The mediation judges, who work only on mediation, have their offices there. June 1st came fast, but remarkably the pilot program and the Mediation Center were ready. The Minister of Justice, other Jordanian judicial and governmental luminaries and USAID top officials attended an open house held in the new Mediation Center on June 1, 2006. The requisite speeches were made, photos taken and food shared. We left with sighs of relief.
To be continuted…….
Jordan Photos
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