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Alternative Dispute Resolution
Maryland Program for Mediator Excellence Prepares for
Roll-out
Four years ago, the Maryland Judiciary's Mediation and
Conflict Resolution Office (MACRO), under the leadership of the Honorable Robert
M. Bell, Chief Judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals and with the assistance of
representatives from every segment of the ADR community set out to
collaboratively design a practical system to support high quality mediation
practice in Maryland. After a great deal of thought, effort and many working
meetings, the Maryland Program for Mediator Excellence was designed.
The Maryland Program for Mediator Excellence (MPME), the first of its
kind in the nation, is designed to provide mediators with an array of options to
continue their professional development on the mediator excellence Atree.@
Branches on the tree include mentoring, training, case and ethics discussions,
consumer education, regional networks, observation opportunities, evaluation,
certification, and a grievance/ombuds program. A summary of the MPME along with
Task Group reports will be provided shortly on MACRO's website: www.marylandmacro.org.
Six regional meetings have been scheduled to update Maryland mediators with
information about the MPME and to explain how individuals can get involved. This
is a very important venture. No other state has developed a statewide consensus
regarding mediator quality assistance measures. Maryland is the first in the
nation to achieve such a plan which meets the needs both of the practitioner
community and of the general public.
The locations and dates of the regional forums are as follows (all from 6:00
p.m. to 8:30 p.m.):
Central Maryland (Baltimore area) on Thursday, October 20, 2005 at The Maryland
Department of Transportation, Harry Hughes Conference Center, Ground Floor, 7201
Corporate Center Drive, Hanover, MD 21076
Southern Maryland (California) on Wednesday, October 26, 2005, at the Higher
Education Center, Room 155, 44219 Airport Road, California, MD 20619
Eastern Shore (Salisbury) on Wednesday, November 2, 2005, at Salisbury
University, The Scarborough Student Leadership Center, Room 206, 1204 Camden
Avenue, Salisbury, MD 21801
Northern Maryland (Cecil County) on Tuesday, November 15, 2005, at Cecil County
Public Library, 301 Newark Avenue, Elkton, MD 21921
Western Maryland (Cumberland) on Tuesday, November 29, 2005, at Allegany College
of Maryland, 12401 Willowbrook Road, SE, Cumberland, MD 21502
Central Maryland (Silver Spring) on Wednesday, December 14, 2005 at Long Branch
Public Library, 8800 Garland Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20901
Fax-back RSVP forms are available on MACRO's website at www.marylandmacro.org. For more
information, contact Cheryl Jamison, MACRO's Quality Assistance Coordinator, at
410-841-2260.
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