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Membership is by invitation only and limited to professional mediators and arbitrators
who are well established as trusted neutrals amongst the legal
community within their state of practice. All Academy
members have been found to meet stringent practice criteria and
are amongst the most in-demand neutrals in their respective
states, as nominated by both peers and litigation firms. Criteria and
Requirements:
- Two existing Academy members are
required to nominate/second a neutral for consideration. If the
applicant is not known to the membership, then the Exec.
Committee may offer approval for due diligence to
proceed.
- Only attorneys in good standing with
their State Bar associations are considered eligible.
(Exceptions may be made for non-attorneys who are
nonetheless in high demand among local litigators)
- Nominees should ideally be certified/ registered in their state of
practice, if formal ADR practice protocols applied by the local
Bar or courts. (e.g.; "Circuit-Civil"
certification in Florida, "Rule31 Approval" in
Tennessee)
- All Members are professional
neutrals, in civil/commercial mediation or arbitration practice for a
minimum of 5 years,
with a minimum of 30% of their professional
efforts dedicated to civil/commercial ADR practice.
-
All members must receive remuneration for such ADR practice
at least 60 days annually.
- Members identified as MEDIATORS must have
mediated a minimum of 200 private civil disputes*,
excluding pro bono and
family law cases.
- Members identified as ARBITRATORS must have arbitrated to
final award a minimum of 20 civil cases. (Exceptions may be made in the case
of former judges/justices, whose decisions from the bench can be
considered)
- Nominees who are believed to meet all these
criteria must then submit materials for consideration,
including biography/CV, and contact info for 8 attorneys (4 plaintiff,
4 defense counsel) for whom the neutral has
a) mediated civil disputes in the preceding 120
days, or,
b) arbitrated civil disputes within the
previous 12 months. References will then be contacted by
phone and interviewed by NADN staff as to nominee's approach, effectiveness,
professionalism and reputation as a neutral within his/her firm.
The final decision to approve or decline membership rests with the Executive Director and the
NADN Executive Committee.
NOTE: As of 2013, NADN will also
consider survey data from both the AAJ
(Plaintiff Bar) and DRI
(Defense Bar) in order to identify widely acceptable nominees for
membership on an annual basis.
* Waivers of the mediations total
benchmark may be considered by NADN and Exec. Committee
members in cases of substantially sufficient experience and
qualifications (eg; those practitioners dividing
their time between academic and private practice, or those
involved exclusive in lengthy class action cases, major Special
Master assignments, etc.)
Member
Dues
$720
per annum. Paid annually by credit card, or prorated to $60
monthly payment on 1st of each month.
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