Alternative Dispute Resolution

The Sharon Press Excellence in ADR Award is bestowed to an individual who demonstrates the qualities of visionary leadership, professional integrity and unwavering devotion to the field of alternative dispute resolution.  Sharon Press was the Dispute Resolution Center Director from 1991 through 2009 and Associate Director from 1988 – 1991.  During this time period, court-connected mediation and arbitration flourished in the state.  To this day, Sharon remains a respected ADR leader in Florida and enjoys a national reputation in the conflict resolution field.  The Sharon Press Excellence in ADR Award was created in 2009, and its first recipient was The Honorable Shawn L. Briese, Circuit Judge, Seventh Judicial Circuit, who chaired two standing Supreme Court Committees on ADR for two decades.  Past recipients of the award include two Florida Supreme Court Justices, The Honorable Benjamin Overton and The Honorable Peggy Quince.  Currently, Sharon is a Professor and Director of the Dispute Resolution Institute at the Mitchell Hamline  School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota.  This award is conferred annually, and this year the Sharon Press Excellence in ADR Award is presented to Fran L. Tetunic.

Fran L. Tetunic is a Professor of Law at Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad College of Law.  Fran directs the Dispute Resolution Clinic, and teaches the Mediation Workshop, and Elder Law Seminar.  She works with the clinic students to provide pro bono mediation services for arrested youth, their families, and possibly victims to divert the youth from the Juvenile Justice System.  The clinic also handles other pro bono cases, providing mediation and eldercaring coordination services to serve the parties, community and the court.  An attorney licensed to practice law in Florida since 1984, Fran has served on the Alternative Dispute Resolution Rules and Policy Committee and as chair of the Mediator Ethics Advisory Committee.  Certified as a Florida Supreme Court Circuit Civil, Family, and County Mediator,  Fran provides training for circuit civil mediation certification courses as a subject matter specialist, as well as continuing legal education and continuing mediator education in mediation ethics and case law.  She has been mediating in Florida for three decades and since the inception of Florida’s Eldercaring Coordination program, Fran has served as an eldercaring coordinator to enhance the voice of the elders and help the family members focus on the elder’s needs and interests.  Fran’s publications include law review articles on mediation case law and ethics, a Florida Bar Journal article on mediation myths, an article on the new dispute resolution process of eldercaring coordination, and her article on mediator misconduct setting aside mediated agreements, which was published in the Harvard Negotiation Law Review.

The Dispute Resolution Center Award of Appreciation was inaugurated in 1997 to formally recognize individuals who make outstanding contributions to the field of ADR in Florida over a significant period of time.  In the last 27 years, over 40 individuals have received the DRC Award of Appreciation including trial court ADR staff, volunteer county court mediators, ADR committee members, trial court judges, former DRC staff, and legislative leaders for their contributions in advancing the peaceful resolution of disputes.  These awards are conferred annually, and this year awards of appreciation are presented to Christy Foley and Elinor Robin.

Christy L. Foley is an attorney, mediator, and arbitrator who is considered a leader in the field of conflict resolution.  She was a pioneer in e-mediation, having started a mediation firm called E-Mediation Services in 2018.  She has also served as Chairwoman of Florida's Mediator Ethics  Advisory Committee ("MEAC") since from 2018 to 2024.  Moreover, she served as Chair of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Section of The Florida Bar from 2023 to 2024.  Christy has also presented multiple workshops at Florida’s Annual Dispute Resolution Conferences, including serving as the 2021 and 2023 keynote ethics presenter.  In 2010, Christy's effective presentation style led her to teaching in higher education.  She currently serves as a lecturer at the University of Central Florida, where she teaches negotiation, mediation, and conflict resolution.  She also coaches the University’s award-winning Mediation Team.

Elinor Robin, PhD has spent the last 35 years committed to her mediation clients, her mediation students, and Florida’s mediation community.  Elinor has served the DRC as a member of the Mediator Qualifications and Discipline Review Board, the Mediation Training Review Board, and the Committee on ADR Rules and Policy.  She has presented at many DRC Conferences, to trial court staff, and to over 14,000 professionals in both certification and continuing mediator education programs.  Elinor has mediated thousands of disputes in both the public and private sectors, and she introduced elder mediation in Florida.  One of her most significant contributions was her Train-The-Trainer Program which produced a new generation of mediation trainers who are now continuing to train Florida’s mediators.  Elinor lives in Gainesville with her husband David Spofford. Together, they created their unique mediation practice, A Friendly Divorce, to provide Floridians with an alternative to attorney driven divorces.  Elinor’s current projects include teaching the psychological issues of divorce for three family mediation certification programs, training divorce coaches with the Divorce Coach Institute, her Divorce Depot podcast, her 10-Minute Mediation program, being a Grandma, and playing mah-jongg.