Plead or go to trial? You may have more options. Lawyers representing youth charged with crimes may learn more about restorative justice, restorative practices and mediation by attending an upcoming virtual workshop, part of West Virginia Public Defender’s 2022 boot camp.

The Joint Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee, comprising members of The Virginia Bar Association and Virginia State Bar published their quarterly newsletter this week and have included my short article on restorative justice. The article describes one case when I witnessed an offender apologize, sparking my interest in what was then referred to as Victim Offender Reconciliation Program (VORP). It was a pleasure it is for me to share this experience and my own education on the topic with the extended alternative dispute resolution professionals in the Commonwealth.

Today, we continue in our review of the alternatives within ADR and will look at restorative justice or restorative practices. My law and mediation practice is based in the principles of restorative justice. Today’s post looks more at a few of the processes often associated with restorative justice that are sometimes used instead of conventional litigation or court processes.

Last week, I returned from the Restorative Practices International conference in St. Paul Minnesota and am frankly swamped at my office!  But I want to finish out a post before I forget about the conference, so I'm going to come up with my top five lessons learned at the conference.  It's no surprise to me that these tend to involve interaction between