NJ Assembly Judiciary Committee unanimously supports A-3542 (Greenstein), The Uniform Mediation Act - New Jersey, after testimony by attorney/mediator Hanan M. Isaacs.

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NEWS-For Immediate Release

Trenton, NJ (June 5, 2003) - The Judiciary Committee of the New Jersey Assembly heard testimony on and unanimously supported bill A-3542, The Uniform Mediation Act-New Jersey, introduced by Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein, D-14. Princeton attorney and mediator, Hanan M. Isaacs, appeared on behalf of the New Jersey State Bar Association, the Association for Conflict Resolution-New Jersey Chapter, and the New Jersey Association of Professional Mediators, all of which strongly support A-3542 in its current form.

Isaacs testified that A-3542 will modernize and strengthen the Dispute Resolution field in New Jersey, by codifying the rules that prevent private mediation communications from leaking into any later judicial or arbitration proceedings, while simultaneously permitting or requiring use of such communications in later proceedings under very specific circumstances and for good policy reasons.

According to Isaacs, " Legal proceedings are essential services in this day and age. However, when parties are able to define and shape their own destiny, voluntarily, in a
self-determined way, with facilitated assistance, privately, and inexpensively, all available data nationwide tell us that those parties are more satisfied with their own resolutions than they are with judicially or arbitration imposed solutions, and, importantly, are more willing to obey outcomes that they themselves have constructed."

The National Conference on Uniform State Law and America Bar Association version of this bill was the product of 5 years of national discussion, debate, and revision, and then redrafting by the New Jersey Law Revision Commission, the New Jersey State Bar Association, and the New Jersey Association of Professional Mediators. New Jersey is at the forefront of states that are working on passing a Uniform Mediation Act (UMA). Nebraska was the first state to enact the UMA. The Illinois Legislature is awaiting action in that State's Senate having passed it in their Assembly. UMA's are also pending in Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont.

In a show of bi-partisan support and addressing the work done by the professional community across the country on this issue, Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-25) commented, "In all my years on the Judiciary Committee, I have never seen a bill presented in such complete form."

Hanan Isaacs went on to comment that it is up to the Bar and the mediation community to educate the bench, the Bar, the mediators, and the public, and for mediators to present
clear and understandable instructions, both orally and in writing, before mediations commence, so that everyone understands the basic rules of the road, including their right, by agreement, to alter those rules.

Hanan M. Isaacs is Immediate Past President of the New Jersey Association of Professional Mediators (NJAPM) having served as President from 1999-2001. He chaired the Dispute Resolution Section of the State Bar Association from 1996-1998. He served on the New Jersey Supreme Court's Complementary Dispute Resolution Committee from 1995 to 1999. He is a Master of the Marie L. Garibaldi American ADR Inn of Court and of the Mercer County American Inn of Court. Recognized as ADR Practitioner of the Year 1999-2000 by the Dispute Resolution Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association (NJSBA) and General Practitioner of the Year 1994 by the NJSBA, Isaacs is a frequent journal author, multi-media contributor and public speaker. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, where he teaches a course in "Conflict Resolution".