A new board has been elected to guide policymaking for the Dispute Resolution Foundation (DRF) over the next year, with a commitment to expand the services of the private, not-for-profit company.

At the DRF annual general meeting, held on December 11, board chairman, industrial relations expert, Novar McDonald, advised that the DRF board would be giving support to the expansion of all DRF services, with significant attention being given to its corporate, commercial and court services.

Expansion

He noted that the DRF would continue its rollout of worldclass arbitration services, under the auspices of the Caribbean chapter of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. The adoption of a new organisational structure in 2008, he said, now positions the foundation for the projected expansion next year.

A management consultant with National Commercial Bank, McDonald leads a team of board members who have been joined for the 2008-2009 business year by Senior Legal Officer in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Carla-Ann Harris-Roper, and administrator and human resources specialist, Lezanne Azan.

DRF's Chief Executive Officer, Donna Parchment-Brown, reported that mediation referrals to the foundation from the Supreme Court rose by 931 per cent, from 104 in 2006, to 969 in 2007, with the introduction of automatic referral after filing first defence, in keeping with the Supreme Court's new Civil Procedure Rules.

Arbitration cases being handled by the DRF are also on the rise, following a sharp increase in arbitration training programmes conducted by the foundation. The DRF is now set to host the Jamaica branch of the Caribbean Chapter of the Charted Institute of Arbitrators. This is expected to support the DRF's plans to develop sector arbitration panels to service the areas of sport, tourism, finance and construction among others.

The Dispute Resolution Foundation was started in 1984 by its subscribers Rt. Hon. Edward Zacca, former Chief Justice of Jamaica; Hon. R. Carl Rattray, former President of the Court of Appeal; Secretary of the Jamaican Bar Association, Sonia Jones (deceased); United Way of Jamaica's Avis Henriques; Novar McDonald; Steadley Webster; and Donna Parchment Brown