In December, 2016, the executive committee of ABI’s Board of Directors created the ABI Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy. The Commission is comprised of seventeen members charged with examining the consumer bankruptcy system and delivering a report in December 2018 with recommended improvements.

The Mediation Committee looks forward to another productive year. Our ABI-published mediation book, Bankruptcy Mediation, is an excellent resource for mediators and representatives of parties in mediation.

We are pleased to report that many bankruptcy judges responded to our survey on the use of mediation in their courts. The response rate was 26 percent, and we are told this is a very high rate of return. We appreciate the time and effort each of the participating judges expended in this effort and hope you will find this summary of results to be useful.

Mediation is receiving an increasing amount of attention in international commercial matters, including cross-border insolvency and restructurings. The global nature of business enterprises today, with exposure to litigation — and its expense and risk — in more than one forum, is a compelling reason to pursue mediation as a solution to contentious disputes.