E-Mediation Committee

The 7th Circuit Council on eDiscovery and Digital Information has created a Voluntary E-Mediation program to provide volunteer mediators from among the members of the 7th Circuit Council on eDiscovery and Digital Information to mediate e-discovery disputes in smaller civil cases where the parties and their counsel lack the experience and resources to resolve the discovery issues themselves.    Mediators are not special masters and are not appointed by the Court. Mediators will mediate only the e-discovery dispute and not the merits.    Mediation services are available only where all parties to the e-discovery dispute agree.    The Voluntary E-Mediation Program is overseen by the E-Mediation Subcommittee.   The purpose of the program is to assist the Judges of the Northern District and those who litigate here who lack the resources and expertise to resolve their electronic discovery disputes themselves.

The program is intended to provide assistance in smaller cases involving limited amounts of Electronically Stored Information ("ESI").    The Program currently has 19 mediators from 13 firms and companies.   Every mediator is a member of the 7th Circuit Council on eDiscovery and Digital Information and has substantial experience in electronic discovery. Mediators have received six-hours of training. Mediators may decline an assignment for any reason.   For additional details, please consult the Procedures of the E-Mediation Program.  

To submit a matter to mediation, the parties must submit two documents: a Submission Statement and a Mediation Agreement to:

Ben Weinberg
Dentons LLP
233 S. Wacker Drive
Suite 5900
Chicago, Illinois 60606
ben.weinberg@dentons.com

Additional information about the Program is available from the Chair of the E-Mediation Committee, Dan Rizzolo, at drizzolo@esiconconsulting.com.