Thursday, November 17th
8 a.m PST| 11 a.m EST
Offered by Will Work For Food and moderated by Jeff Kichaven (www.JeffKichaven.com ) and Jean Lawler (www.LawlerADR.com)
This worldwide conversation will be like nothing else. Join in! Share, learn, have fun.
Please consider supporting Ms. de Kovachich’s preferred food bank,
Loisirs adaptés en nature, Cavaletti
Our Special guest this week, Hélène de Kovachich, Maître ( lawyer and mediator) will present on:
Judicial Mediation And Private Mediation: When, Why, And How.
Take Aways From The Quebec Experience.
Mediation as a means of resolving conflicts and litigation has come a long way. Many jurisdictions have developed rules and legislation related to court mediation programs. Quebec is the only civil law jurisdiction in Canada. Some 20 years ago, it developed one of the first integrated judicial mediation programs which is considered a reference in the field. In 2016, Quebec’s civil procedure code provided that parties must consider private prevention and resolution processes before referring their dispute to the courts.
Vastly experienced in both private and judicial mediation, Me Hélène de Kovachich will share for thought, various experiences and situations in both judicial and private mediation processes. These can be informative and helpful in the context of decision-making by councils and mediators as they address private or judicial mediation for their clients.
About Maître Hélène de Kovachich, mediator, attorney
Me Hélène de Kovachich is regarded as one of the leading pioneers of ADR in Québec and Canada.
After practising in the field of tax law (Ministère du Revenu du Québec, Stikeman Elliott), in 1994 she founded Groupe Option Mediation, from which she practiced mediation. She works as a civil commercial mediator at the Canadian and international levels. She received the title of “Distinguished Fellow” from the International Academy of Mediators in 2006.
Me de Kovachich helped create and participated in the implementation of one of the first integrated judicial mediation programs now a global reference in the field: the Québec settlement conferences and facilitator program for criminal proceedings.
She has trained judges in Québec, Canada and abroad on judicial mediation.
She presided over 1000 cases in private and judicial mediation on a national and international level (civil, commercial, construction disputes, insurance, work-place issues, Financial Markets Authority). She has spear-headed various work related partnerings, and has participated in conflict design processes for organisations, institutions, and businesses.
Me de Kovachich has a long list of accomplishments including
-participation in creating the Front Line Justice (FLJ), a transitional system of justice for countries affected by conflicts and environmental disasters implemented in Mali and Haiti.
-member of the board of the Institut de Médiation et d’Arbitrage du Québec (IMAQ), she also chaired the national ADR section of the Canadian Bar Association leading the development and acceptance of the Canadian Commercial Model Law based on the UNCITRAL conciliation model Law. She was an executive member and founder of Mediators Without Borders in 2006.
-she co-authored the “Guide pratique de médiation” in 1997 and has since published many articles on commercial and civil mediation, Administrative law mediation and arbitration as well as developed the training manual and trained and supervised lawyers to become accredited Quebec Bar family mediators.
-Appointed member of the Quebec Administrative Tribunal in 2006 she was its President-chief justice from 2008 to 2013. While a judge at the TAQ, Me de Kovachich developed and implemented the first judicial co-mediation process in expropriation matters and participated in the development of the conciliation processes in the social affairs section.
-She was Commissioned by the Quebec Government cabinet in 2016 to create, implement and direct the first university mediation clinic in Québec at the law faculty of the Université de Montréal.
- She received in 2007 the institutional award for « quality teaching » from the Law Faculty of the Université de Sherbrooke.
-Through out her career, Me de Kovachich has been invited to speak on many occasions to various local, national and international audiences, including students, colleagues, member of business community and international dignitaries.