A Brief Analysis of Selected Demographic Characteristics
of  Missouri Supreme Court Rule 17 Neutrals

Background
Missouri Supreme Court Rule 17 is a mechanism by which circuit courts may encourage litigants to use alternative dispute resolution procedures to help settle cases. Application of the rule is optional with each circuit  court. The following analysis is based upon the Missouri Bar listing. To be included on the Rule 17 List of Mediators, "a person must have a minimum of 16 hours of formal training. To be a listed as an arbitrator or other provider of neutral services requires at least four hours of formal training." A circuit court may adopt a local rule to implement Rule 17 and provide for an exemption  from the training requirement. If an exemption is provided, the circuit must establish its own procedures for determining equivalent experience. Local circuits may impose additional requirements.

The list upon which this analysis is based  is a service the Missouri Bar provides and lists those who have completed the minimum training requirements.

The list has two major categories: 1) domestic relations neutrals and 2) general civil  dispute resolution. According to the Missouri Bar, "A person may be included on both lists, but each hour of training will be classified either as an hour of training for domestic relations dispute resolution or an hour of training for general dispute resolution....To be included on the list as a domestic relations mediator, for example, a person must have had at least 16 hours of domestic relations mediation training. General mediation training, or mediation training directed at some subject matter other than domestic relations, would be creditable toward inclusion on the list of general civil dispute resolution neutrals, but not towards domestic relations mediation.....a single hour of training will not be credited toward both the domestic relations and general civil areas, or toward  both mediation and any other type of dispute resolution procedure."

Rule 17 mediation training and instruction are to consider:

A) The following topics--
Ethical standards and issues in mediation
The role of the mediator
Interviewing techniques
Principles of counseling
Mediation and negotiation theory
Mediator neutrality
Dealing with power imbalances
Legal issues in mediation
Varieties of approaches to mediation
Strategies and techniques in mediation
Confidentiality
Appropriateness of mediation as compared as compared to other methods of dispute resolution in various circumstances

B)Coverage of other topics appropriate to the subject matter, such as child development and family systems in a training program on domestic relations for lawyers.

C) Participation of trainees in simulation of mediation and negotiation

D) Use of demonstrations and group discussions along with lectures

E)The provision of appropriate written materials, including applicable rule and statutory provisions

F) A low student to faculty ratio

Analysis
There are 313 mediators/arbitrators listed on the Missouri Bar List of Neutrals as of 10/17/2000. This analysis is based upon information taken from the list.

Gender and Occupation: Gender assignment is based upon first conventional designation of first names. Using this methodology, 248 (79.2%) are male, 60 (19.2 %) female and 5 (1.6 %) unable to classify male or female.

Attorneys 269 (85.9%) comprise the single major occupation on the List of Neutrals. Males (226) make up 84% of the attorneys. Social workers (nine, 2.9%) are the second largest group of neutrals with only 40% male. A wide variety of occupations make up 6.7% (21) on the list of neutrals. Four list their principal occupations as mediators and one as mediator/arbitrator; 3 as psychologists; 2 as counselors; and one each as economist, stockbroker, architect, constriction/real estate, business consultant administrator, accountant, financial manager, paralegal, family therapist,therapist and an employee of the State Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. Occupational biographies were not given for 13 people; however, it is likely most are attorneys who stated work involved mediation and or arbitration or left occupational background blank. Eleven (84.6%) of the 13 are male.

Type Mediator and Gender: Of the 313 listed, 239 (76.4%) had general/civil mediation certification while only 103 (32.9%) had arbitration/general civil certification.. Females composed only 10.2% (32) of those with general/civil mediation certification and nine (8.7%) arbitration/general civil certification. Almost a fourth (24.9%) on the list of certified neutrals were certified for domestic relations mediation. However, 44.9% were female--more than twice their overall percentage of neutrals. Of those certified in arbitration/domestic relations (14 or just 4.5% of the certification list), 28.6% were female.

General Discussion: It is not surprising that attorney is the largest mediator occupation. Attorneys are gatekeepers to the courts and in that capacity also have the opportunity to direct clients to alternative avenues of conflict resolution. However, one in six mediators come from a wide variety of occupation.

Gender plays a major role in the type of  certified mediator. While females represent just 22.1% of mediators, they comprise 48.5% of domestic relations mediators.  More than a third (12 of 33) of the female domestic relations mediators are non-attorneys (therapist, psychologist, mediator, counselor and social worker).   Thirty-two (47%) of the 68 domestic relations mediators are exclusively certified in domestic relations.

The traditional social service professions are heavily invested in domestic mediation with high female representation while general/civil mediators have the highest representation by attorneys and more esoteric specialized knowledge areas, such as stockbroker, architect, financial manager.