The Canadian Foundation for Dispute Resolution is
a nonprofit alliance of business corporations and law firms in Canada working together to
promote the creative resolution of business disputes.
PROFILE
Mission and Objectives
The objectives of the Foundation include:
- promoting awareness of the full range of alternative dispute
resolution techniques for commercial disputes;
- encouraging corporations and law firms to take a leadership
role in demonstrating the value of alternative dispute resolution and integrating it into
the mainstream of business practices;
- promoting the adoption of a corporate policy statement which
commits signatory corporations to consider alternative dispute resolution processes in
appropriate cases, willingly and prior to beginning litigation; and,
- promoting the adoption of a law firm policy statement to
encourage signatory law firms to demonstrate a commitment to alternative dispute
resolution capability in advising clients and assisting them in reaching cost-effective
resolution of business disputes.
Distinctiveness of the Foundation
The Canadian Foundation for Dispute Resolution differs from
most other organizations focusing on alternative dispute resolution. It does not provide
professional mediation or arbitration services; rather it assists those needing such
services to find appropriately qualified neutrals. The Foundation’s mission,
objectives and services have a particularly distinctive "user-focus".
Foundation Services
The Canadian Foundation for Dispute Resolution provides a
variety of services which include;
- a distinguished roster of "neutrals" with
appropriate experience, capability and specialization from which parties may make a
fully-informed choice;
- training and a clearinghouse for resource materials for
those at the frontlines of disputes — business clients, in-house lawyers and
private-practice lawyers — through conferences, in-house seminars, training
materials, model procedures and model clauses;
- dispute-audit consulting to assess the suitability of
various alternative dispute resolution techniques to a particular dispute;
- dispute-resolution "emissary" facilitation to
demonstrate — in the context of a particular dispute — the value of appropriate
alternative dispute resolution options to parties who may be unfamiliar with the potential
benefits;
- independent "early-neutral evaluation" to enable
corporations to assess the merits of a particular dispute and alternative cost scenarios;
- for corporate members a free alternative dispute resolution
systems design consultation with a specialist to assist in the design of conflict
management systems;
- for law firm members a two hour seminar, at a modest fee, to
assist them to maximize the opportunity for alternative dispute resolution, including the
drafting of alternative dispute resolution clauses; and
- administrative services — such as helping to formulate
case-specific agreements on ground rules or procedures, arranging for meeting facilities
and ensuring the overall integrity of the dispute-resolution process.
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