Please allow me to introduce myself: I am what is known in today's parlance as an "alternative dispute resolution" professional. Specifically, I am an arbitrator, mediator, and Certified Administrative Law Judge (CALJ), as well as a licensed attorney. However, I am also a mom to very young children, and I recently had an epiphany as to how those roles can be reconciled. Hint: Dr Seuss....
Watching Dr. Seuss with my boys, I realized both the parent and the ADR professional seeks to reconcile competing interests, opinions, mindsets and attitudes, like those of the North and South going Zaxes, and the Starred & Starless Sneetches. We also seek to encourage Sam I Am's buddy to at least TRY the green eggs and ham because, say, you might just like it.
I had long noted that my entry into the ALJ profession fittingly coincided with my entry into motherhood. I say "fittingly" because it had always seemed to me that both roles required unilateral decision-making as to credibility determinations and the appropriate application of rules/laws to facts.
However, since staring my private practice as an arbitrator and mediator as well as ALJ, I have realized that there are still deeper depths to conflict resolution that I had not previously appreciated. For instance, in my mediation cases I am now called upon to help parties reconcile their interests, which may be competing or complementary, rather than merely "deciding" who is the winner and who is the loser. Likewise, in my arbitration cases, I am called upon to respect the agreement of the parties to submit a particular question to me, rather than the question I believe is more appropriately raised by the record before me.
In other words, in my new roles I am required to concede more control to the parties because it more properly lies with them. Although I do have a role as umpire, voice of reason, or traffic controller, depending on the circumstances, I cannot overstep my agreed-upon role or willy-nilly impose my unsolicited insight on the parties. These limitations have in turn cause me to exercise my authority and discretion as an ALJ with much greater sensitivity and awareness for the surrounding circumstances and context.
In sum, although the shift in role and perspective has presented me with unexpected challenges from time to time, I think I will actually become a better, more well-rounded person and decision-maker for it in the long run.
And those are my thoughts today, on being a neutral.
If you are interested in arbitration, mediation, or contract ALJ services, please contact me, Pilar Vaile, P.C., at (505) 247-0802 or info@pilarvailepc.com.
