Convergence: Ep 1 with Colin Rule

via HNMCP blog

In this series, host Oladeji Tiamiyu will speak with thought-leaders and practitioners at the intersection of dispute resolution and technology, covering topics such as: the role technology has had in resolving disputes during the pandemic; ways that technological tools have historically been incorporated into dispute resolution; and creative use cases that technology presents for resolving disputes into the future.

In this first episode Colin Rule, the godfather of online dispute resolution, joins Convergence to speak about the origins and evolution of the industry, his vision of the future of dispute resolution systems with greater technological integration, and exciting projects he has been working on as the CEO and President of Mediate.com. You’ll also learn about what Colin’s first words as a child were—no, it was not online dispute resolution.

Host

Oladeji M. Tiamiyu is a Clinical Fellow at the Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program.

Prior to joining HNMCP, Oladeji was an Online Dispute Resolution Fellow with the Resolution Systems Institute in Chicago, Illinois where he helped in developing a pilot online dispute resolution program for family law disputes. Oladeji has also worked with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Constitutional Review Commission in The Gambia. He has experience as a teacher in Reunion Island off the coast of Madagascar and as a community organizer with Organizing for America in Ohio. His research interests includes exploring reconciliation initiatives in the aftermath of national crisis, exploring the intersection between technology and dispute resolution, and strengthening best practices for resolving maritime disputes based on the Law of the Sea.

Oladeji has been a member of teaching teams for Harvard Law School’s Negotiation Workshop, an executive-level program at the Harvard Negotiation Institute, and with the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

He is a member of the Illinois Bar, holds a B.A. in Political Science, magna cum laude, from the University of Toledo, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Guest

Colin Rule is President and CEO of Mediate.com. In 2011 Colin co-founded Modria.com, an Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) provider based in Silicon Valley, which was acquired by Tyler Technologies in 2017. From 2017 to 2020 Colin served as Vice President of ODR at Tyler. From 2003 to 2011 Colin was Director of Online Dispute Resolution for eBay and PayPal. He has worked in the dispute resolution field for more than 25 years as a mediator, trainer, and consultant. He is currently Co-Chair of the Advisory Board of the National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution at UMass-Amherst and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Gould Center for Conflict Resolution at Stanford Law School.

Colin co-founded Online Resolution, one of the first online dispute resolution (ODR) providers, in 1999 and served as its CEO and President. In 2002 Colin co-founded the Online Public Disputes Project which applied ODR to multiparty, public disputes. Colin also worked for several years with the National Institute for Dispute Resolution (now ACR) in Washington, D.C. and the Consensus Building Institute in Cambridge, MA.

Colin has presented and trained around the world for organizations including the Singapore Mediation Center, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the International Association of Court Administrators, the International Chamber of Commerce, and the CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution. He has also lectured and taught at UMass-Amherst, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Pepperdine, Southern Methodist University, and Santa Clara University.

Colin is the author of Online Dispute Resolution for Business, published by Jossey-Bass in September 2002, and co-author of The New Handshake: Online Dispute Resolution and the Future of Consumer Protection, published by the ABA in 2017, as well as many dozens of articles in ADR journals and publications. He serves on the boards of the Consensus Building Institute and the PeaceTech Lab at the United States Institute of Peace. Colin received the Frank Sander Award from the American Bar Association in 2019 and the Mary Parker Follett Award from the Association for Conflict Resolution in 2013.  He holds a Master’s degree from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in conflict resolution and technology, a graduate certificate in dispute resolution from UMass-Boston, a B.A. from Haverford College, and he served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Eritrea from 1995-1997.