Gini Nelson’s Engaging Conflicts

Today’s post concludes a series co-authored by myself and international business attorney Vonda K. Vandaveer on the use of online dispute resolution to solve problems associated with traditional ADR. [Earlier posts: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four.]

This post addresses the question:

Are There Special Considerations In Selecting An ODR Leader For Business Disputes?

Selecting the appropriate person to conduct your ODR is a critical element to success. ADR and ODR specialists are not interchangeable. ODR differs from ADR because the ODR dynamics and the technologies that must be managed are different than face-to-face dispute resolution processes. People behave differently online than in person. While both the “offline” and online dispute resolution specialist must be able to educate the parties about the common psychological barriers to settlement and to structure and promote effective communication between the parties, the ODR specialist must also understand how the online environment affects interactions and must be able to manage this environment to facilitate rather than impede resolution of the problem.

Authors:

K. Vandaveer is an attorney based in Washington, DC concentrating on international business law, immigration, and federal procurement. She publishes the U.S. Business and Immigration Law blog, and can be contacted at (202) 340-1215, and vonda@vkvlaw.com. Her law firm site is www.vkvlaw.com.

Gini Nelson is a mediator and attorney based in Santa Fe, NM who publishes the Engaging Conflicts blog. Previous Engaging Conflicts posts on ODR include posts about Cyberweek 2006 and Cyberweek 2007.