JAMS, formerly known as Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services, Inc. is a United States-based for-profit organization of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) services, including mediation and arbitration. H. Warren Knight, a former California Superior Court judge, founded JAMS in 1979 in Santa Ana, California. A 1994 merger with Endispute of Washington, D.C. made JAMS into the largest private arbitration and mediation service in the country. It is one of the major arbitration administration organizations in the United States. As of 2014, JAMS has 28 resolution centers, including its headquarters in Irvine, California and centers in Toronto and London.
JAMS administers a few hundred consumer arbitration cases per year. JAMS's Consumer Minimum Standards have been the subject of scholarly commentary. A policy promulgated by JAMS in 2004 that would have allowed for class arbitrations, even if the arbitration agreement did not allow them, and the subsequent retraction of that policy, were also the subject of controversy.
Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
ADR services
JAMS handles complex mediation, arbitration, neutral evaluations, settlement conference, Mini Trials, Summary Jury Trials, Neutral Fact Findings, Special Master, Discovery Referees, Class Action Settlement Adjudications and Dispute board (DRB) services. Areas include Business/Commercial (Antitrust, Bankruptcy, Breach of Contract, Franchise, High-Tech/Software, Partnership Disputes, Sarbanes-Oxley, Securities, Telecommunications, and Utilities/Electric and Nuclear Power/Oil & Gas), Civil Rights, Class Action, Construction Defect & Delay, E-Discovery, Employment (ERISA, Wage & Hour Division/FLSA, Harassment, Retaliation, and Discrimination based on Disabilities/ADA, Race, Religion, National Origin, Gender/Sex), Environmental, Family Law, Healthcare, Insurance Intellectual Property (Copyright, Patent, Trademark, and Trade Secret), Landlord/Tenant, Professional Liability/Malpractice (Accounting, Architectural, Dental, Directors & Officers/D&O, Legal and Medical), Mass Tort, Partnership Disputes, Personal Injury, Product Liability, Real Estate, Toxic Tort and Trusts & Estates.
International scope
JAMS and ADR Center in Italy announced an agreement to form JAMS International and provide mediation and international arbitration of cross-border and domestic disputes and ADR services worldwide. JAMS International is headquartered in London with additional locations in the EU plus a network of partners, including JAMS in the United States, ADR Center in Italy and Result ADR in the Netherlands.
CLE programs
In the interest of promoting the use of ADR to resolve disputes, JAMS panelists conduct complimentary Continuing Legal Education programs for attorneys at law firms, bar associations, legal and business organizations.
JAMS Foundation
JAMS established the JAMS Foundation to offer financial assistance for conflict resolution initiatives with national or international impact and to share its dispute resolution experience and expertise for the benefit of the public interest. Funded entirely by contributions from JAMS neutrals and staff, the JAMS Foundation has provided nearly $3 million in grants for conflict resolution initiatives. The JAMS Foundation also established the Weinstein International Fellowship Program to provide opportunities for individuals from outside the United States to visit the U.S. and learn more about dispute resolution processes and practices and to pursue a project of their own to advance dispute resolution in their home countries. The Foundation, through the Warren Knight Award, has awarded $25,000 grants to programs dedicated to resolving conflict both in the US and around the world.
Complaints
As of April 2017, nine reports of complaint about JAMS have been published by Ripoff Report.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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