Reuters recently interviewed Elayne E. Greenberg, Assistant Dean for Dispute Resolution Programs, Professor of Legal Practice, and Director of the Hugh L. Carey Center for Dispute Resolution about the Office of Court Administration’s proposed pilot mandatory mediation program in the Manhattan Supreme Court’s commercial division. The program would require that every fifth case go to mediation within 180 days of the case’s assignment to a commercial division judge. Here’s an excerpt of the interview:
My major concern is that the one-in-five number is arbitrary. It’s less likely to ensure that mediation is a meaningful event because of the randomness of it, meaning appropriate cases are included and attorneys are willing participants and understand it. . . . There has to be an interest in settling. For most cases, mediation could be appropriate if used properly. The caveat is if one side wants to create legal precedent. Family law, bankruptcy, commercial law, in surrogate’s court, in intellectual property; it’s being used more and more in international sports. It can work in most every area.
St. John's University Law Faculty Blog 
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