2026 Maryland Mediators Convention

What were you taught about safety when you were trained in your ADR practice? Sit near the door? Don’t mediate cases with restraining orders? Anything?
Fortunately, solid guidance is available now. The Association for Conflict Resolution Task Force on Safety has developed safety guidance for ADR practitioners. In this session, Task Force members will share practical advice to keep you and those you serve safer during ADR processes. Along with specific guidance for creating a physical site safety plan, they will discuss the inherent biases, challenges, gaps, and common misunderstandings to consider when designing and implementing your plan.

Learning Objectives:

• To build their awareness of physical site safety best practices.
• To work with participants to identify components of their own physical safety plan.
• To foster awareness of how bias can impact these components and how to be more bias-resistant in their planning and implementation.

Through briefings and structured dialogue, presenters will foster nuanced thinking about accessibility to online ADR processes.
Notably, a 2024 DOJ Final Rule will be discussed. Findings from a research project on “remote mediation” will be explored. This session will provide the latest research and insights on ensuring the accessibility and usability of online ADR processes, e.g., “remote mediation,” and foster a broader discussion on technology inclusion.
To help the audience, including court staff, reflect on their practices. Encourage concrete steps to increase the accessibility of online tools.

This is a chance to reexamine the foundational assumptions of our field and confront what no longer works. Any system that has been in place for a long time inevitably accumulates inefficiencies, outdated practices, and unnecessary friction. That is why it is essential to step back, assess the structure honestly, and determine what must be repaired, replaced, or refined to keep it effective and relevant.
Several outstanding issues in our field that have been called into question will be highlighted. Each will be used to provide an opportunity for an intellectually stimulating conversation and to develop a 360-degree view of the issue.
Attendees will have the opportunity to do a checkup from the neck up in an effort to be the best version of themselves.

In this session, I will discuss the importance of intake as the first step in the resolution process. I will share two models for professionals to use, HERE and SORTED, that enable conflict professionals to establish the parameters of the conversation, remain fully present to the conversation, and map the elements of the conflict, from thoughts and feelings, to what has actually occurred. In this engaging presentation, participants will have the opportunity to practice the models and leave with model handouts that they can put into practice immediately.

Most access denials based on a disability, including those involving a service animal, never reach a meaningful resolution. Consider shared-economy drivers. Some riders use the “pet option” in a rideshare app as a self-selecting strategy to prevent an access denial before it happens. Even so, many still face stressful and upsetting denials. Drivers claim they were improperly matched, or that they cannot transport a dog team. As a service animal handler, and as the colleague of one, we are repeatedly surprised by how misinformed the public remains. Access denials continue to occur, even though most people recognize the name of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as amended.

The enforcement picture compounds the problem. Even where national settlements have been reached, such as with a major rideshare company, implementation of those requirements remains elusive. The pathway for an individual complaint, whether through state or federal government, is narrow to nonexistent. Given these gaps, one would expect a roster of neutrals ready to step in, to train the public and service animal handlers in de-escalation, and, when a matter becomes formal, to mediate. No such organized resource exists. Few neutrals have training in the overlapping legal frameworks or the distinct emotional weight these disputes carry. This session responds to that gap. Participants leave better trained, and they help shape an emerging program they could one day join. We explore two points along a spectrum:
• Before a formal process. Places of public accommodation could benefit from a platform that recognizes and incentivizes good customer service, and that offers training to all sides when an experience goes wrong.
• A structured alternative. A formal, out-of-court program staffed by professionally trained neutrals, paired with training that equips the service animal handler community to resolve issues in real time.

By the end of the session, participants will be able to:

• Distinguish service animals from emotional support animals across the relevant legal frameworks, using a fact pattern, and recognize where those frameworks diverge in settings such as public accommodations and transportation.
• Map the current resolution landscape for an access denial, including the limits of federal enforcement, the barriers to private litigation, and the role of state and local conflict-resolution infrastructure.
• Understand the long-term health and personal consequences of access denials.
• Recognize the layered interests in an access dispute, including legal, medical, financial, dignity, and operational interests, without taking sides.
• Identify the components of a durable resolution, one that changes a policy or practice rather than settling a single incident

Participants are invited to a conversation with 3 community mediators discussing the ways that they normalize collaborative decision making in their professional, personal and public lives.
Each presenter will bring two questions for all panelists to respond to, creating a collaborative dialogue about the realities of mediation practice. The discussion will explore psychological safety, authenticity, neutrality, seeking mediation as mediators, and processing the emotions that arise from our work. Through stories, reflection, and audience engagement, panelists and participants will examine how mediators support one another and how mediation values can inform relationships and community both at and away from the mediation table.

Learning Objectives:

• Explore how authenticity and neutrality can coexist in both mediation practice and everyday relationships.
• Reflect on the ways mediators seek support, including the use of mediation and other collaborative processes in their own conflicts.
• Identify approaches for processing the emotions that arise from mediation work while maintaining professional and ethical boundaries.
• Consider how mediation values can shape interactions and relationships both at and away from the mediation table.

Collect your continuing education certificates and complete an evaluation of your experiences.

Don't let the inspiration end when the Maryland Mediators Convention does!

Join the MSBA ADR Section immediately following the October 14th Convention for an exclusive post-event gathering. This is your chance to dive deeper into the day's breakthroughs, spark meaningful discussions with fellow practitioners, and solidify the connections that matter.

Beyond the networking opportunities, staying for this event allows you to avoid the peak post-convention traffic, ensuring a more relaxed journey home later in the evening! Whether you are reconnecting with established colleagues or building new professional ties, we look forward to your presence at this vibrant conclusion to an impactful day!


Pricing:

$10 MSBA Member
$15 non-MSBA Member

You must register separately for this event. Please visit the MSBA website to complete registration or click here.