THE US DISTRICT COURT, District of New Hampshire has significantly modified its local rules to provide parties with greater flexibility and choice when participating in the voluntary Federal Court Mediation Program.

The federal court encourages all parties to participate in voluntary mediation through either the court’s mediation program or private mediation. In the Federal Court Mediation Program, parties may now select, by agreement, a mediator of their choice from the panel of federal court mediators, and select the appropriate date and time for their mediation. These two significant changes in federal court mediation became effective Jan. 1, 2002.

Local Rule 53.1(c), Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), of the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire (amended 1/1/02) provides that counsel confer regarding the suitability of their case for mediation and, if applicable, the date on which mediation will occur. The parties must include in their discovery plan a joint statement regarding mediation. See Civil Form No. 2, Sample Discovery Plan, attached to Local Rules.

Thereafter, the court will provide the parties with a list of five potential federal court mediators, from which the parties are encouraged to select one mediator by agreement. Approximately 40 mediators comprise the federal court mediator panel. These mediators are divided into areas of specialty, which include diversity, civil rights, employment, intellectual property and complex tort/commercial cases.

In February 2001, a subcommittee of the Federal Court Advisory Committee was formed to review the court’s mediation program. The subcommittee included federal court practitioners Ronald Snow, Eleanor MacLellan, Heather Burns and Charles Bauer. A survey was distributed to counsel previously involved in the Federal Court Mediation Program. Results of the survey indicated general approval of the program, with some suggestions for improvement. Based upon that input, the program was modified to allow parties and practitioners to select a mutually agreeable date and time for their mediation, and to select, by agreement, a mediator from the federal court mediator panel. Also based on input from federal court practitioners, the standard hourly rate for mediators has been set at $175. All mediators are required to serve up to six hours each year without compensation, as requested by the court.

Guidelines for the Federal Court Mediation Program, as well as the amended Local Rules and sample discovery plan, are available from the clerk’s office, 225-1423, or on the court’s Web site at www.nhd.uscourts.gov.

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