CONFLICT RESOLUTION
What is Arts Arbitration and Mediation Services?
Arts Arbitration and Mediation Services (A.A.M.S.), a program of California Lawyers for the Arts (C.L.A.), has provided alternative dispute resolution to artists and entertainers since 1980. C.L.A. started A.A.M.S., which was the first alternative dispute resolution program in the country to specifically tailor its services for the arts and entertainment communities, as a natural extension of the organization's mission to provide preventative education and appropriate means of self help for artists, who often become involved in business arrangements without being fully informed of the legal consequences.
C.L.A. established a special alternative dispute resolution program for the arts after noticing that disputes involving artists, performers and arts organizations, while varied in legal content, may revolve around a set of central themes which would be foreign in the contexts of other dispute resolution programs. Recurring themes include the emotional issues involved with the content of artistic work, credit for work performed and the factors contributing to the production of the work.
What type of services does it provide?
A.A.M.S. provides counseling, conciliation, mediation, arbitration, neutral evaluation and meeting facilitation. The service has program coordinators at offices in San Francisco (415-775-7715), Los Angeles (310-998-5590) and Sacramento (916-442-6210) who help artists throughout the state. These program coordinators counsel clients in the use of negotiation techniques in order to help them resolve the dispute for themselves, offer conciliation assistance by communicating between parties by telephone, regular mail and fax, coordinate mediations by setting up a meeting at a neutral site with trained mediators or coordinate arbitrations or early neutral evaluations in accordance with the rules of California Code of Civil Procedure and rules created by the A.A.M.S. Advisory Committee. However, A.A.M.S. program coordinators are neutral and cannot give legal advice or representation.
What kind of disputes does it mediate?
While disputes with A.A.M.S. are generally arts-related, the organization's volunteer mediators have helped parties resolve many types of disputes. A.A.M.S. has helped parties resolve disputes involving landlord-tenant issues, payment or credit for work performed, ownership of artistic work or copyright, collaboration or partnership issues and fee collection.
How are mediation sessions started?
Program coordinators are available to help parties mediate their differences. Most cases are initiated when one party informs A.A.M.S. staff of the dispute and asks the coordinator to contact the second party. The program coordinator contacts the second party in order to explain the mediation process and invites him or her to consider it as a method for resolving the dispute. Once the program coordinator obtains the parties' consent to schedule a mediation session, he or she works with them to clarify the issues to be discussed, establishes agreement about who will attend and notifies the parties and mediators as to the date and time of the session. After the mediation session, the coordinator also follows up each party and sends them an evaluation form.
How much does it cost?
There is no fee for initiating mediation. A.A.M.S. mediation fees are payable per session and fees are determined individually with each party. As A.A.M.S. is a nonprofit organization with volunteer involvement, fees are based on a low sliding scale depending on the household income and organization income or budget.
More AAMS information:
Arbitration/Mediation Fees & Services
AAMS sample mediation clauses for contracts
Other AAMS resources - National and California resources.
New! Arts Arbitration and
Mediation Services (A.A.M.S.) presents:
**A training for experienced mediators interested in qualifying for
membership on our San Francisco A.A.M.S. panel
**A refresher opportunity for current A.A.M.S. panelists
When: Saturday, March 29, 2008, 9:00 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Where: Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabin,
Three Embarcadero Center, San
Francisco
For more information about the training please see our flyer which you
can be downloaded in Word or PDF format.
All prospective panelists must fill out a questionnaire which can be
downloaded in Word
or PDF format.
Deadline
for submission of the questionnaire is February
8th. Please send questionnaire by fax to: 415. 775. 1143 or by email to
aams@calawyersforthearts.org.
Webmaster: Josie Porter
© 2007 California Lawyers for the Arts, all rights reserved.