Alternative Dispute Resolution Print this Page
Phone: (415) 444-7040
Email: ADR@marincourt.org
Location: Civic Center, Hall of Justice, Room 113
Office Hours: 8:30am - 3:30pm




The Court offers several types of Alternative Dispute Resolution: family law mediation (child custody, child support), civil and family law settlement conferences and arbitration. The Court's ADR Coordinator arranges for the trained professionals and schedules the hearings. For more information about these programs, please refer to the Court's Local Rules related to ADR, under the topic, Settlement Conferences, by clicking here.

For copies of all the Judicial Council and local forms in the ADR forms packet, please click here.

For a list of ADR attorneys in Marin and to learn the minimum requirements to serve as a mediator, arbitrator, or ADR neutral, please click on this link.

Locations of Bench Bar and Settlement Conferences at the courthouse:

  • Family Law bench bar settlement conferences are conducted in Room C-86
  • Civil/Probate/Custody-Visitation settlement conferences are heard in the department assigned to your case

Civil Settlement Conference Panelists.

For an attorney wishing to volunteer as a Civil Settlement Conference Panelist, please find the application by clicking here.

Civil Court Appointed Judicial Arbitrators.

For an attorney wishing to volunteer as a Civil Court Appointed Judicial Arbitrator, please find the application by clicking here.

Family Law Settlement Conference Panelists.

For an attorney wishing to volunteer as a Family Law Settlement Conference Panelist, the Court requires that panelists meet certain experience requirements. To see these requirements, please click here. To complete an application to serve on this panel, please find the application by clicking here.

For a mental health professional wishing to serve as a Family Law Settlement Conference Panelist, the Court requires that panelists meet certain experience requirements. To see these requirements, please click here. To complete an application to serve on this panel, please find the application by clicking here.

For more detailed information about the advantages of ADR, please click here.

What is ADR?

Did you know that most civil lawsuits settle without going to trial?

In Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), trained impartial persons decide disputes or help parties decide disputes themselves without going to trial. These persons are called neutrals. In arbitration the neutral is called the arbitrator. The most common forms of ADR are mediation, arbitration and settlement conferences. There are a number of other kinds of ADR as well.

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