ODR Forum

Friday was the last day of the ODR Forum in Prague – and the day the SMU student team presented their take on “Getting Past eCommerce.”  Patrick Keller, Elizabeth Norton, Rosie Almas, and Ramel Nasseri made the trek from Plano to Prague, and received a very positive response from the ODR group.

The Forum this year has been interesting in a number of ways.  First, and most noticeable to the participants, was the unusual heat wave that hit the city.  A week ago it was cold here, but this week it is sweltering.  The Forum was held in an 800 year old palace where air conditioning consists of opening the windows, which we could not do because of the street noise below the windows.  But everyone survived, and in fact enjoyed the interaction.  The other obvious difference this year was the inclusion of some group discussion and dialogue to augment the usual panel presentations.  The exchanges were lively, and the results can be found posted on this blog – later this month we’ll transfer all of the discussion material to the conference web site and www.odr.info.

P This year was described by more than one participant as a watershed year for ODR, with UNCITRAL, the EU, Latin America, Italy, the UK, Japan, Korea, and China all involved in significant ODR efforts.  erhaps the most significant “take away” from the conference will be the effort to use the National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution as a vehicle for input to the European Union ODR statute, and to the UNCITRAL ODR standards discussions.