DUBLIN JUDICIAL CIRCUIT ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROGRAM Elizabeth A. Rutrough Mediation Coordinator P.O. Box 8186 Dublin, Georgia 31040 (912) 272-4824 In 1993, a pilot project called the Laurens County Alternative Dispute Resolution Program was created. This Program became the Dublin Judicial Circuit ADR Program in 1995. The Program offers mediation to all civil cases in superior, magistrate and probate courts in Johnson, Laurens, Treutlen and Twiggs Counties. Mediation is a confidential negotiation process in which a neutral third party, the mediator, meets with the parties, and their attorneys if applicable, to assist them in settling their case. Mediation offers the parties actual participation and a say in the final outcome of their case. Any civil case can be ordered into mediation by the presiding judge or voluntarily submitted by the parties. All contested domestic relations cases are subject to mandatory referral for mediation. In magistrate court, mediators are present at the request of the magistrate judge on civil hearing days. The magistrate judge will send cases to mediation while court is in session. Cases which settle in mediation are then presented to the judge and become the order of the court. Mediation is also used in the pre-issuance hearings in magistrate court for private prosecution warrants. Mediation is available for all levels of court in the Dublin Judicial Circuit. For more information on the mediation program, please call (478) 272-4824.