At the urging of the Michigan Supreme Court, the State Bar of Michigan established a task force to evaluate and propose any recommended changes in discovery practices in the Michigan trial courts. In 2016, as part of the Bar’s 21st Century Task Force final report, the Board included the following amongst its goals:
Modify court rules to reduce the expense and burden of civil discovery.
Research whether pretrial discovery and practice should be tailored on a case-by-case basis, taking into consideration the parties’ financial resources and other relevant factors.
Modify court rules and administrative procedure to better utilize mediation and alternative dispute resolution (ADR).
Promote business process analysis, problem-solving court principles, and best practices to courts, law firms, legal aid programs, and other justice system entities.
Promote the use of properly trained mediators or special masters to expedite the discovery process.
Michigan's business courts continue to have a significant impact on litigation in our state. With an emphasis on efficiency and expediency, judges now encourage parties to exchange information and negotiate settlement earlier than ever, placing mediation, arbitration, and other useful ADR techniques squarely in the spotlight.
Richard Hurford, along with accomplished and well-recognized litigators and ADR practitioners Douglas Toering and Brian Wasson, recently led a discussion regarding the developments in the business courts, a program that was recorded and now available on demand through the Institute of Continuing Legal Education. For more information and to purchase access to the webinar, please visit the ICLE website.
The Michigan Judicial Institute, the State Court Administrative Office’s continuing education division, held its annual Judicial Conference on October 27-28 in Grand Rapids, and Richard Hurford was one of the speakers to take the podium.
This one day institute held on March 13, 2014, at the Inn at St. John’s is a must attend for neutrals, arbitrators and litigators. In addition to a mediation and arbitration track, ANDRI also has tailored a program for the specific needs of litigators and how best they might leverage ADR to serve the needs of their clients.
Don’t miss this extraordinary event and opportunity. For a full description of the offerings and to register please visit www.icle.org/ANDRI. Hope to see you there!
