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OVERVIEW OF ARTICLES
July 7, 2006

1. Legislative Update: ACR Endorses Revised Uniform Arbitration Act ( RUAA)
2. Annual Conference: Online Registration Open, Morris Dees to Deliver Keynote
3. Annual Conference: Showcase Your Business, School, or Organization
4. International Conflict Resolution Day 2006: Join the Celebration
5. Your Membership at Work: Check out ACR's CareerCenter
6. Section News: Register Now to Attend the Family Section Conference
7. Chapter News: Updates from Northern California and Dallas, Texas Chapters
8. Quotations

At its June 16–17, 2006 meeting, ACR’s Board of Directors adopted a resolution endorsing the Revised Uniform Arbitration Act (RUAA). This legislation was drafted by the National Conference of Commissioners of Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) and adopted in 2000 to update the Uniform Arbitration Act (UAA) of 1956. The RUAA is now being considered at the state level and at this time has been adopted in twelve states.

ACR’s endorsement follows a process that included legislative analysis, the distribution of a proposal to the membership and a member comment period, a review by leaders of key ACR Sections and a final legislative review using principled criteria.

Click here to read the text of the resolution and the press release.

Online Registration Open; Register today to attend ACR’s Sixth Annual Conference!

Registration is now open online for the 2006 Annual Conference, which will be held October 25–28, 2006 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. To view program information or to register, go to http://acrnet.org/conferences/ac06/ac06-homepage.htm.

Morris Dees, Jr. to Deliver 2006 Annual Conference Keynote

ACR is proud to welcome Morris Dees as its keynote speaker for the 2006 Annual Conference in Philadelphia, PA.  Mr. Dees is the co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in Montgomery, AL. What started as a small civil rights firm is today an internationally known institution with tolerance education programs, a litigation and legal affairs department and an intelligence project geared at monitoring hate groups and extremist activity.

Throughout the course of his illustrious legal career, Dees has taken on cases that have challenged the racial divisions in our society. In 1967, he helped file suit against the construction of a white university in a town with a predominant black state college. In 1968, he worked to desegregate the Montgomery, Alabama YMCA. Today, Morris Dees serves as the Chief Trial Counsel for the Center and continues to devote much of his time to suing white supremacist groups and working on the famed Teaching Tolerance program which promotes understanding and appreciation for diversity to youth.

We hope that you are able to join us in Philadelphia on October 28th to hear Morris Dees’ message of diversity and equity! His inspiring energy and enthusiasm will make the concluding luncheon an event that you won’t want to miss. Go to http://acrnet.org/conferences/ac06/ac06-homepage.htm today to learn more about Morris Dees and the 2006 Annual Conference.

“Philadelphia Here We Come” Part 7: Getting to and Around Town

by James A. Rosenstein

The Annual Conference hotel, the Sheraton Philadelphia City Center, is conveniently located both for out of towners and locals, and it’s easy to get around Center City because most Philadelphia streets are oriented on a north-south axis grid.  I’ll start by describing how to reach the hotel by public transportation or by auto, and then discuss using the hotel as your headquarters for your visits around town and in the region.

To continue reading this article, which includes details on arriving in Philly by plane, train or automobile, and how to get around once you’re there, click here. Other articles in this series also can be accessed on ACR’s website. Just click here and then click on “About Philly.”)

• Online Discussion Forums/ Message Board

• Access to the full Membership Directory

• Reduced Rates on Professional Liability Insurance

• ACR CareerCenter

• CRQ Online: Access ACR's academic Journal online anytime

• 20% off Purchases from BNA Books and Jossey-Bass publications

• Discounts on Medical Insurance, Hertz Car Rental and buymagazines.com

• and much more...

Showcase Your Business, School or Organization at the Annual Conference!

Would you like to promote your company’s services? Recruit new students for your ADR programs?  Sell your publications to an interested audience of professional mediators, arbitrators and other practitioners?  Consider buying an exhibit table at the sixth Annual Conference.

Exhibitors play a starring role at ACR’s Annual Conferences. ACR places them at center stage, in a place where conference attendees pass by several times a day on their way to workshops. This year the spacious foyers of the Sheraton Philadelphia City Center have room for 60 or more exhibitors.

Jim Melamed of Mediate.com says this about exhibiting: “Mediate.com exhibits at every ACR conference. Even for an Internet and media company, there is no substitute for meeting established and new clients face-to-face.”

Exhibit tables begin at $575. (Philadelphia exhibitors get a 10% “hometown discount.”) Deadline for purchase is September 1, but guarantee your space by signing on early!  For more information on exhibiting, advertising and other promotions, contact agallivan@ACRnet.org and request a copy of our Partnership and Marketing Opportunities brochure.

Is it time for a change?

Are you looking for a new job?  Or are you an employer looking for qualified employees?  Then look no further!  The ACR CareerCenter can help.  Sign up now to take advantage of this full-service resource designed just for members of the conflict resolution field!

Go to the ACR CareerCenter today to start searching!

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ACR’s Family Section Conference, July 13–16, 2006 in Cape Cod, Massachusetts

The ACR Family Section Conference, “Making Waves – Breaking Barriers,” will be held July 13–16, 2006 at the Sea Crest Oceanfront Resort and Conference Center. The conference site is the beautiful Old Silver Beach in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, scene of the AFM conference in 1997. 

To register, download the pre-conference brochure complete with registration information and a full description of workshops at: http://ACRnet.org/sections/family_section_conference_2006.htm. Please note that advance registration is open until July 7. After that date, attendees are asked to register onsite.

Northern California–ACR Holds Film and Dialogue Festival

The Northern California Chapter of ACR (ADRNC) held its Film and Dialogue Festival, titled “Reconciling Differences” on June 1, 2006 in San Francisco. The festival opened with Gacaca, a film about village mediation and efforts to seek transitional justice in post-genocide Rwanda.  It was screened at the Parkway Speakeasy Theater in Oakland, CA.  The use of the film was made possible by Facing History and Ourselves, whose local director, Jack Weinstein, led the conversation following the film and spoke about the organization’s ongoing work in Rwanda, helping to rebuild the country’s educational system.

The next venue was San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Screening Room, which featured The Fire Next Time and a conversation with award-winning director Patrice O'Neill.  The film examined the breakdown in community relations and fragile efforts at reconciliation in Kalispell, Montana, after a hate radio station branded environmentalists as “Eco-Nazis” and incited unemployed forestry workers to use “free speech” as a weapon in a battle with longstanding neighbors.

The final venue was the Chops Teen Center in Santa Rosa. The features, donated by a local video store, included Mi Familia, a story of former members of a Los Angeles teen gang turning around their lives and Knock it Off, a film produced by local teens from Healdsburg, CA.  Also screened was the just-released Northern California episode of Not In Our Town, about community response to hate crime, including the murder of transgender teen Gwen Araujo.  The 20 year-old sister of a teenage boy who had been recently killed due to gang involvement participated in a discussion after the showing of the films.

Bringing Spirituality into Practice: Spirituality Section and ADRNC Program Report

The Spirituality Section of ACR and Association for Dispute Resolution of Northern California (the Northern California Chapter of ACR) presented a one-day program on May 5, 2006 in Tiburon, California.  Gary Friedman and Barbara Ashley Phillips presented their perspectives on enfolding spirituality and mediation in their professional and personal lives. They were preceded in the day’s events by inspiring yoga and meditation sessions, led by instructor Tim Lenheim.

ACR-Dallas Chapter: The Big Bad Wolf on Trial in Dallas, Texas

Was it murder or involuntary manslaughter? On June 29, 2006, ACR – Dallas Chapter presented the Sixth Annual Children’s Mock Trial Experience. A lucky group of Dallas area students spent an afternoon at Dallas County Court at Law Number 2, passing judgment on the “Big Bad Wolf” as they viewed the judicial process from the perspective of lawyer, witness, juror, defendant, bailiff, press and judge. As the children assumed the roles of participants in the judicial system, they experienced presenting evidence, cross-examining witnesses, making and ruling on objections, presenting closing arguments, and ultimately deliberating over the fate of the wolf, the classic folktale, “The Three Little Pigs” and the judicial system took on new meanings in their lives.

The Sixth Annual Children’s Mock Trial Experience (CMTE) was sponsored by the Dallas Chapter of the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR), Dispute Mediation Services of Dallas, and Hobeiche Mediation Group. Sheikha Susie Hobeiche, immediate past

President of ACR-Dallas and Texas Mediator Credentialing Association (TMCA) Distinguished Mediator presided as the Honorable Mock Trial Judge. Ms. Hobeiche, the founder and creator of the CMTE program, along with the Hon. John Peyton, Presiding Judge Dallas County Court at Law No. 2, guided the children through the process and provided insights into our judicial system. The children experienced the justice system first-hand and discussed the benefits of alternative methods of conflict resolution. 

For more information on these and other ACR Chapter activities, please contact Chapters@ACRnet.org.  ACR has 20 regional Chapters.  To find one in your area, visit http://ww.ACRnet.org/chapters.

Interested in participating in a teleconference? Send an email to sections at ACRnet dot org to receive dial-in instructions. Please note: most Section teleconferences are a Section member benefit. To join a Section, log in to ACR’s Online Member Center, click on “My Account History,” then “Add Sections,” and select the Sections you want to add.

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