LEADR Member Alert

At the opening of the 9th National Mediation Conference in Perth, the Federal Attorney-General, the Hon. Robert McClelland announced the appointment of LEADR Chair, Margaret Halsmith to the National Alternative Dispute Resolution Advisory Council (NADRAC).

NADRAC is an independent body charged with providing policy advice to the Australian Attorney-General on the development of ADR and with promoting the use and raising the profile of alternative dispute resolution.

The Attorney-General appoints members to the council on the basis of their individual expertise and not on the basis of their membership of any organisation. Members come from around Australia and bring to the Council a broad range of experience in the area of dispute resolution.

LEADR wishes to congratulate Margaret on her appointment.

“This is a clear acknowledgement, not only of Margaret’s expertise in the ADR arena, but of her enormous zeal for promoting mediation and ADR,” said Fiona Hollier, LEADR CEO.

“We are delighted that another of our members, and significantly the LEADR Chair has achieved such a high honour.”

Margaret joins other LEADR members: LEADR Trainer, Professor Tania Sourdin, Professor of Conflict Resolution, ACPCS, University of Queensland, Melbourne; Dr Gaye Sculthorpe, a full time member of the National Native Title Tribunal; Professor Nadja Alexander, a Professor of Dispute Resolution, ACPCS, University of Queensland and Adjunct Professor at Murdoch University; and Stephen Lancken, Australian Principal of the Trillium Group and Adjunct Lecturer in Conflict Management at the University of New South Wales.

More about NADRAC

NADRAC was established in October 1995 and had its origins in the 1994 report of the Access to Justice Advisory Committee chaired by the Hon Justice Ronald Sackville, Access to Justice - an Action Plan. The report recognised the need for a national body to advise the Government and federal courts and tribunals on ADR issues with a view to achieving and maintaining a high quality, accessible, integrated federal ADR system.

NADRAC is a non-statutory body. Funding is provided through the Australian Government Attorney-General's Department.

About Margaret Halsmith

Margaret is Director and Principal Mediator of her mediation, facilitation and training practice, Halsmith Consulting through which she has conducted solo and co- mediation of two party and multiparty disputes for government, business and individuals since 1995.

A LEADR Advanced mediator, Margaret is the Chair of the Australasian Board of LEADR as well as being an active member of the LEADR WA Chapter. Through LEADR, Margaret is accredited to mediate under the Supreme Court Rules (WA). She is also approved to provide clinical supervision under the Family Law Act 1975.

Margaret is a member of a number of mediation panels including the Australian Institute of Company Directors, the Franchising Code of Conduct and through LEADR, the Motor Vehicle Insurance and Repair Industry panels. Margaret mediates VRO matters including for the Children’s Court in a pilot project through the Youth Legal Service. She held the inaugural part time position of Senior Mediator at Legal Aid WA from 2005-2007 with responsibility for excellence in ADR for a panel of 40 mediators. She now holds a similar role with the Aboriginal ADR Service.

Among her many voluntary roles, Margaret is an energetic member of WADRA [Western Australian Dispute Resolution Association] through which she initiated and was the inaugural Convenor of the SCRAM (Schools Conflict Resolution and Mediation competition) committee in WA from 2000-2007.

She was the Convenor of the WADRA Working Group which coordinated the National Mediation Accreditation Project during 2007 and which is being implemented from 1 January 2008.

Currently Margaret is Co-convenor of the 9th National Mediation Conference 2008 in Perth.