Sheila Purcell
Sheila Purcell directs the Multi-Option ADR Project, “MAP”, a partnership of the San Mateo Courts, bar and community with distinct programs and staff in civil, small claims, family, probate, complex litigation and juvenile courts. She served as the State Bar of California’sADR Program Developer. A Hastings graduate, she received a Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs and mediated for the S.F. Mayor’s Office. She helped found the California Dispute Resolution Council, is a frequent conference presenter and assisted in drafting several ADR bills and Court Rules.
She served as the ABA ADR Courts Committee Co-Chair and received the ABA Dispute Resolution Committee of the Year award for work on the first-ever national Court ADR conference. She initiated and co-chaired the ABA Court ADR Technical Assistance Committee and served on the California Administrative Office of the Courts Advisory Committee on Compliant Procedures for Court ADR. She is on the Advisory Committee of the Institute for Local Government and is a Board member of the Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center.
Publications include the Calif. Judicial Education and Research, Judges Guide to ADR, guest editing the ABA Dispute Magazine, Court ADR issue, co-authoring a chapter in the ABA ADR Handbook for Judges, and authoring Growing Mediation in our Courts, the Spring 2007 cover story of the California Courts Review magazine. She has taught ADR Policy courses at both Hastings School of Law and UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall Law School and will teach Dispute System Design at Hastings in fall 2009.
In addition to providing technical assistance on program design and development throughout California and the United States, she has hosted several international delegations, and has assisted and presented on implementing ADR, Case Management and other civil law reforms in Eastern Europe, Italy and India.
She received a California Dispute Resolution Council Founder’s Award in 2004 and special recognition in 2008 from Chief Justice Ron George for her many contributions to court mediation programs. Her program is a 2009 recipient of an Administrative Office of the Courts Award for Innovation.