Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Legal News Blogs -> Legal Blog Watch

Legal News

: Legal Blog Watch

In Search of Wise Latina Arbitrators

By Eric Lipman

Victoria Pynchon, California arbitrator and prolific blogger at Settle It Now, last week raised the issue of gender diversity among "neutrals" in the Alternative Dispute Resolution world. It is a long, thoughtful, well-supported post, delving fairly deeply into the factors leading to the relative paucity of female arbitrators and mediators outside the "Pink Ghetto," which is not a lesbian bar, but, in the context of the ADR world, a term used to refer to the kinds of cases that are commonly thought to require more emotion than reason -- family law, employment law and trusts and estates. Some have suggested that diversity in ADR services might be more difficult to achieve than one would think, despite the stated commitment of many of the big names in the biz. Today, Pynchon found some statistics on the 800 lb. gorilla of ADR -- the AAA. The numbers are over three years old, but, as of December 2006, women made up 13 percent of the AAA's roster of neutrals. That number lags well behind the percentage of female law school graduates, and, according to Pynchon's numbers, behind the percentage of female state judges as well. Pynchon promises "prescriptions for change" in her next...

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on March 04, 2010 (boomark / email).