ernment as well as fashioning creative solu- the meeting, OMB’s DeSeve, a strong sup-

TOP O F F I C I A L S MEET tions to controversy. Reno closed by stating: porter of government ADR programs, stated
TO BOOST FEDERAL A D R ‘‘I would like to hear success stories, not anec- that while the O M B motto is “ADR ‘R’ U.S.,”
dotes-but how people’s lives have been there must now be a shift from rhetoric to con-
BY DEBORAH S. LAUFER changed through this process.” crete, individually tailored program develop-
Attorney General Janet Reno and other U.S. Though i t is known as the federal ment.
Justice Department officials last month met government’s litigator, the Justice Depart- Many agency accomplishments were high-
with a big crowd of federal agency alternative ment‘s commitment to and experience in ADR lighted and praised in the statements of the
dispute resolution specialiststo praise their work are a relatively recent development compared presiding officials.The Postal Service’s embrace
and to encourage them to step up their efforts. to many other federal agencies. Notwithstand- ofADR to transform its workplace culture was
O n Sept. 14, the Justice Department, des- ing its ADR leadership role, the department particularly noted as a successful solution to
ignated the lead agency for federal ADR ini- has a somewhat different perspective than ad- the agency’s well-publicized problems. Mary
tiatives by President Clinton under the ministrative agencies that have practiced ADR Elcano described the Postal Service’s various
Alternative Dispute Resolution Act of 1996, for a number of years. Nevertheless, the ADR programs, stating that conflict must be
hosted about 200 top-level officials from more department‘s ability to garner a high-level pro- managed, not avoided. She concluded: “Com-
than 50 federal agencies to officially launch file for and commitment to ADR programs munication first, litigation last, is only good
efforts to encourage, support and increase the has been remarkable, and in fact is considered business sense.”
use of “appropriate dispute resolution” in all quite commendable by the federal ADR com- The burden for making concrete changes
federal agencies and programs. munity. Consequently, agency ADR programs is now shifted to agencies-even those with
The meeting was organized to create mo- that historically have lacked credibility and mature ADR programs- to establish a new
mentum following a May 1 presidential funding finally may be elevated to a position ADR initiative within a year. Peter Steenland
memorandum on ADR in which Clinton des- of well-deserved recognition and support. closed the meeting, which was covered on page
ignated the Justice Department to direct an In addition to leadership from the Justice one of the Wmhington Post, with the observa-
official federal agency ADR working group, Department, the enthusiastic support from tion that “we all need to work harder, to be the
as well as subgroups in the areas of contract- the Office of Management and Budget is criti- program solvers and peacemakers, if we are to
ing, workplace, claims, and enforcement. See cal to the success of the new ADR efforts. At fulfill our role.” i
“Clinton and Congress Move on ADR,” 16
Alternatives 85 (June 1998).
At the Justice Department conference, key-
note speaker Reno was joined on the podium
by Associate Attorney General Raymond C.
Fisher; Mary S. Elcano, the U.S. Postal
Service’s general counsel; G. Edward DeSeve,
deputy director for management at the Office
of Management & Budget; and Peter R.
Steenland Jr., who is senior counsel in Justice’s
Office of Dispute Resolution.
In her opening remarks, Reno said that “a
controversy does not necessarily go away when
one party wins and one party loses.” Empha-
sizing the need for lawyers to hone their nego-
tiation skills, Reno outlined a new initiative
in which the department will work with its
client agencies in evaluating cases for appro-
priate dispute resolution and developing learn-
ing skills to facilitate ADR processes. Decrying
the traditional adversarial approach as often
being a wasteful and unproductive use of re-
sources, Reno encouraged all agencies to use
ADR as a method of restoring faith in gov-
The author, a federal attorney concentrating i n ADR,
is director of the Federal ADR Network (FAN), an
interagency working group of more than 400 ADR
professionals throughout the federal government ”Maybe we should have listened t o that bioethics mediator!”
which serves as a professional networking resource.