The Dispute Resolution Institute (DRI) held its biennial symposium, An Intentional Conversation About ADR Interventions: Eviction, Poverty and Other Collateral Consequences at Mitchell Hamline School of Law (MHSL) from October 10 through 12, 2019. It is DRI’s tradition to design the symposia as “intentional conversations” about particular topics. This means that all participants attend by invitation and are expected to actively participate in the conversation. For a comprehensive conversation, DRI strives to include a broad cross section of participants and perspectives. Consequently, for this symposium, DRI invited landlords, tenants, respective attorneys, community dispute resolution program executive directors and mediators, academics (including clinical professors who run housing clinics), researchers, legislators, housing reform project funders, human rights staff, members of the judiciary who sit in housing court, local government administrators, and students. In addition, DRI sought geographic, gender, ethnic, and racial diversity of the participants. This year, fifty-four individuals participated in the symposium, representing each of the invited groups. Further, some of the invitees served as theme leaders, providing context for the large group conversations.

The symposium consisted of three sessions:

Session I: Setting the Context: What’s the Problem?

Session II: An Exploration of Interventions: What’s Working and What’s Not?

Session III: Where Do We Go from Here?

DRI Director and MHSL Professor of Law, Sharon Press opened the symposium and explained why DRI chose this theme for the symposium:

[T]he issues related to eviction have risen to a crisis level – here in Minnesota and nationally. I became inspired to explore the role ADR can play as a result of the remarkable changes I saw in Ramsey County Housing (eviction) court where I serve as a volunteer mediator for the Dispute Resolution Center,4 one of our wonderful Community Dispute Resolution Programs here in Minnesota.5 As a result of some amazing collaborative work between the judiciary, Legal Services, Volunteer Lawyers Network, the Dispute Resolution Center and Emergency Assistance, what happens at court now is 180 degrees different than what was happening before – and all for the positive6. . . [I]t became clear to me . . . that the Community Dispute Resolution Programs have a role in addressing this crisis and that by working together, we can make a real difference.

Over the course of our time together, it is my hope that we will be able to identify and capitalize on our collective insights and be inspired and re-energized to continue this important work. I am not naïve enough to think that the complex issues involved in evictions can be resolved solely by activating alternative dispute resolution processes, but I do believe that ADR has a place at the table. During the course of our time together, I hope that we will identify when and how ADR can be used appropriately as well as what else needs to be in place to make a difference – and also when ADR processes are not appropriate.