Navigating ADR Online: Ethical Practice Decisions from Beginning to End 

The fifth session in the series, Navigating ADR Online: Ethical Practices from Beginning to End is presented in partnership with the Center for Dispute Resolution (C-DRUM) at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law.

Mediators and participants now have more options in scheduling and attending mediation - should the session be held in person? By video conference? By phone? A combination of these choices? With all of these possibilities, mediators face a new maze of ethical considerations around a quality process, access, self-determination, and impartiality. Presenters Stacy Smith and Toby Guerin of C-DRUM will explore ways to navigate ethical decision-making in setting up, conducting, and closing the mediation in an online environment and identify some tips to avoid ethical pitfalls. This webinar will be recorded and will be made available on the MACRO website.

About the Presenters

Anastasia (Stacy) Watson Smith, J.D., is the Director of Special Projects at the Center for Dispute Resolution at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law (C-DRUM). Stacy has over 15 years of experience in offering and promoting effective conflict resolution processes, including mediation, group facilitation, facilitated dialogues, negotiation, and restorative approaches. She implemented and coordinated C-DRUM’s innovative attendance mediation program, and successfully expanded the program throughout Maryland in a collaboration with Community Mediation Maryland.

Ms. Smith graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a B.A. in Economics and received her law degree, cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center. As an attorney she practiced for several years in the areas of corporate, health care and higher education law, with expertise in business organization, contract and regulatory compliance.  Ms. Smith is a member of the Maryland Bar and the Maryland Program for Mediator Excellence, and currently serves on the Section Council for the MSBA Section on Alternative Dispute Resolution. She resides in Takoma Park, Maryland.

Toby Treem Guerin, J.D. is the Associate Director for the Center for Dispute Resolution at Maryland Carey School of Law and Clinical Instructor. At Maryland Carey Law she teaches a mediation clinic and seminar and advises students in the field of dispute resolution. Ms. Guerin has over fifteen years of experience as a neutral in various venues including government agencies, non-profit organizations, schools, and court systems. She served as the first chairperson of the Mediator Excellence Council, a mediator quality assistance initiative in Maryland and is the primary author of the Maryland ADR Landscape, a comprehensive overview of court-affiliated ADR programs in Maryland. She is a trained mediator, facilitator, conflict-coach, ombudsperson, and restorative practitioner. She regularly trains on topics from basic to advanced mediation, co-mediation, giving and receiving feedback, and negotiation. Ms. Guerin is the past chair of the MD State Bar Association’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Section and the recipient of the 2020 Chief Judge Robert M. Bell Award for Outstanding Contribution to ADR in Maryland.