NEW YORK, N.Y.–February 27, 2020– For the first time in commercial dispute resolution history, there is now a standard baseline across the North American region. This is due to the efforts of the International Mediation Institute (IMI) supported by a grant from the American Arbitration Association-International Centre for Dispute Resolution Foundation®.

Beginning in 2016, IMI conducted the Global Pound Conference (GPC) Series, a collection of 28 conferences held in 22 countries across the globe. The GPC events brought together the commercial community to discuss dispute resolution (DR) in their jurisdictions and to collect data that could be used to stimulate change. The findings were released in seven reports throughout January 2020, focusing on the cities where events were held: Austin, Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, Miami, San Francisco and Baltimore. A final comparative North America report followed, which brought together all these findings and will help in forming future policy and practice.

“Each of these reports gives unique insight into the characteristics of users of DR in each area, how the market responds to their needs, obstacles and challenges facing the process, and a vision for the future,” said Laura Skillen, Executive Director of IMI. “There is a clear call for an encompassing approach to dispute resolution that tailors the mechanism—whether litigation, arbitration, or mediation—to the specific needs of the parties and their context.”

IMI is a non-profit public initiative with the vision of professional mediation worldwide, promoting consensus and access to justice. It sets international mediation standards, convenes stakeholders and parties, promotes understanding and adoption of mediation, and disseminates skills for parties, counsel and mediators.

“The Foundation was delighted to provide the grant to assist IMI in this work, as it reflects our core objective to support causes that improve the process through research and implementation proposals,” said Edna Sussman, AAA-ICDR Foundation Chair.

For more information on the AAA-ICDR Foundation and to view the full North America reports, please visit: https://www.aaaicdrfoundation.org/resources. Additionally, the GPC reports and data are also available by visiting: https://www.imimediation.org/gpc.

About the AAA-ICDR Foundation
The American Arbitration Association-International Centre for Dispute Resolution Foundation (AAA- ICDR Foundation) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that is able to solicit donations and provide grants to fund a range of worthy causes that promote the Foundation’s wide-reaching mission, which is to support the use and improvement of dispute resolution processes in the United States and internationally.

Its focus includes fostering measures that reduce potential escalation, manage and resolve conflicts; increasing access to justice in and through alternative dispute resolution; and encouraging collaborative processes to resolve public conflicts.

The Foundation is a separate 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization from the AAA®, and the Foundation is not involved in any way in the oversight, administration or decision making of the AAA-ICDR® cases or in the maintenance of the AAA-ICDR's various rosters of arbitrators and mediators.

For more information on the AAA-ICDR Foundation, please visit: www.aaaicdrfoundation.org.