A cooperative weblog on all things related to Online Dispute Resolution (ODR).
The ODR and Consumers 2010 Forum will be held in Vancouver on November 2 and 3,2010. The Forum (ODRAC) is being convened in response to recent proposals advanced by delegations to the United Nations (UNCITRAL) and the Organization of American States. These proposals have begun to outline model rules for a global resolution system to handle cross-border,low value disputes. This work is perfectly in line with ongoing initiatives in the European Union (e.g. European network of consumer centers ECC-NET and European Extra-Judicial Network –EEJ-NET) and the Asia-Pacific region (e.g. the Global Trustmark Alliance). There have been several international fora this year which have examined the relationship between Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) and the conduct of B2C or B2B international e-commerce transactions. The meeting in Vancouver is the first attempt to join all of these regional conversations into a single dialogue focused on how this global,online,low value resolution system could become a reality.
ODRAC will serve to bring together interested parties from the Internet industries,civil society,governments,the judiciary,banks and payment systems,consumer groups,the legal profession,ODR proponents,and the academic and technical communities for two days of in-depth evaluation of possible designs to create efficient alternative dispute resolution systems which may be used to resolve both transnational and local e-commerce disputes. The intention is to finish the forum with general consensus around next steps,and to inform international and public entities of the conclusions reached.
Key organizers include ADR.EU,PayPal,the Law Society of British Columbia,ICANN Office of the Ombudsman,the National Centre for Technology and Dispute Resolution and the Canadian Centre for Court Technology (CCCT).
Colin Rule
Colin Rule,
Colin Rule is eBay and PayPal’s first Director of Online Dispute Resolution. He is also the author of Online Dispute Resolution for Business (Jossey-Bass,2002).
Colin co-founded Online Resolution,one of the first online dispute resolution (ODR) providers,in 1999 and served as its CEO (2000) and President.
He currently serves as Co-Chair of the Advisory Board of the National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution at UMass-Amherst and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School.
David J. Bilinsky
David J. Bilinsky,BSc,LLB,MBA,
David J. Bilinsky is a Practice Management Consultant,lawyer and advisor. He is a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management and past Editor-in-Chief of ABA’s Law Practice Magazine. Dave’s mission in life is to empower lawyers to anticipate the changes,realizethe opportunities,face the challenges and embrace the expanding possibilities of the application of practice management concepts to the practice of law in innovative ways that provide service excellence.Dave is the founder and current Chair of the Pacific Legal Technology Conference and a past Co-Chair of ABA TECHSHOW. Dave’s consulting services focus on enhancing law firm practice group profitability,strategic business planning and the application of technology to thepractice of law. Dave has been called upon from Shanghai to New York City,from the Yukon to deep in the heart of Argentina by law firms and legal associations to address personal productivity,change management,technology implementation,career satisfaction and leadership development.You can read his blog at:www.thoughtfullaw.com.
Dr. Frank Fowlie
Dr. Frank Fowlie,
Dr. Frank Fowlie has been Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
Ombudsman (www.icannombudsman.org) since 2004. He is an internationally recognized expert practitioner in the Ombudsman field. He is a world leading authority on Ombudsman evaluation,and is one of the world leading experts on online dispute resolution. Dr. Fowlie is experienced in board governance;and is an experienced manager. Dr. Fowlie has organized international conferences,and is a frequent speaker and presenter on the topic of dispute resolution,Ombudsmanship,and the use of technology to resolve conflict.
Zybnek Loebl
Zbynek Loebl,LLM;
Zbynek Loebl is an international Internet and technology lawyer. He has been external counsel of ADR.EU,Internet dispute resolution center attached to the Czech Arbitration Court in Prague (www.adr.eu). Zbynek managed an international team which on behalf of ADR.EU implemented an on-line platform for the resolution of disputes related to .eu domain names in 21 languages (2006). He also managed a team which implemented a novel UDRP on-line platform for ADR.EU and lead successful accreditation talks with ICANN (2008);Currently Zbynek coordinates a team which intends to implement multi-lingual on-line platform for e-commerce disputes in Europe.
Vikki Rogers
Vikki Rogers
Vikki Rogers is the Director of the Institute of International Commercial Law at Pace Law School. She teaches as an adjunct professor at Pace and Fordham Law School on international commercial law and international arbitration. Prior to that,she worked at leading domestic and international law firms on construction law and international arbitration. Additionally,she was a case manager at the ICDR at the AAA. She has published in the areas of international sales law and online dispute resolution and international arbitration. Her current work focuses on international sales law,international consumer law,online dispute resolution (for domestic and cross-border disputes),and electronic and mobile commerce. She is the Director of the Global Consumer Law Forum,Vice-President of the Internet Bar Association and an Editor of the UNCITRAL CISG Digest (2011 Edition). Ms. Rogers advocated for the adoption of the topic of ODR to a Working Group at UNCITRAL,and is an active participant of the ODR Working Group that was established in 43rd session of UNCITRAL.
John Gregory
John Gregory
B.A.,LL.B. (Toronto),M.Sc. (Econ.) (London),LL.M. (Osgoode Hall Law School)
John D. Gregory is General Counsel in the Policy Division,Ministry of the Attorney General (Ontario). After clerking for the Chief Justice of Canada,he was called to the Ontario Bar in 1977. He practised commercial law in Toronto with Wright &McTaggart until 1985,when he joined the provincial government. He has developed policies on alternative dispute resolution,private international law,trade law and provincial offences,including the electronic filing rules for photoradar speeding tickets. He has been president of the Uniform Law Conference of Canada .
He chaired the working group that produced the Uniform Electronic Evidence Act and another that created the Uniform Electronic Commerce Act . From 1997 through 2005 he was a member of the Canadian delegation to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law’s working group on electronic commerce . He has been a director of the Information Technology Lawyers Association of Canada and is currently a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Internet and E-Commerce Law in Canada and the Canadian Journal of Law and Technology . He is also co-chair of the Working Group on International Issues of the Cyberspace Committee of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association.
He is a frequent speaker on electronic commerce and the law of the paperless office,a subject on which his knowledge is more theoretical than real.
He is also on the Editorial Board and management committee of The Philanthropist,an online journal about legal,accounting and management issues affecting Canadian charities,and a director and officer of the Couchiching Institute on Public Affairs.