Colin Rule Receives D’Alemberte-Raven Award (Eritrea)

Colin Rule (Eritrea 1995-97), CEO of Mediate.com and ODR.com, has been announced as the 2023 recipient of the D’Alemberte/Raven Award from the American Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section. Colin will be recognized at the May 11th Award Ceremony at the 25th annual ABA DR Spring Conference in Las Vegas.

This D’Alemberte Raven Award award honors Talbot D’Alemberte and Robert D. Raven, who each held the unique position of being both ABA Presidents and Chairs of either the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution or its predecessor ABA Special Committee.

Resourceful Internet Solutions, Inc., and Mediate.com were founded in 1995 by John Helie and Jim Melamed. Jim Melamed served as CEO of Mediate.com for 25 years until Colin succeeded Jim as CEO in June 2020.

Rule returned to Mediate.com where he served as the company’s first General Manager in 1999! Rule spun his first ODR company, OnlineResolution.com, out of Mediate.com in 2000, creating one of the world’s first ODR providers. In 2003, Colin became the first director of ODR for eBay and PayPal. In 2011, Colin co-founded Modria.com, where he was CEO and COO. Tyler Technologies acquired Modria in 2017, and Rule then became Tyler’s first vice president of Online Dispute Resolution (ODR).

In rejoining Mediate.com in 2020, Colin stated, “I am very excited to be re-joining Mediate.com. Mediate is uniquely positioned to lead the global effort to apply technology to the task of resolving disputes. I am excited to work with the established Mediate.com team to further evolve the practice of mediation over the next decade and to expand access to resolution around the world.”

Prior to founding Modria, Colin also served as director of ODR at eBay and PayPal. Colin led a worldwide team that resolved more than 400 million cross-border disputes over seven years. At Modria, Colin led the development of the ODR platform used by the American Arbitration Association to manage its largest caseload, eventually growing the company to resolve millions of disputes in government, insurance, eCommerce, and the courts. At Tyler Technologies, Rule helped to launch court ODR systems across the United States, including counties in Georgia, Texas, California, Florida, New Mexico, Ohio, and Nevada.

In taking the helm at Mediate.com, Jim Melamed commented, “Colin is the right leader for Mediate.com. In fact, there is only one person on this planet that I wanted to take over the leadership of Mediate.com, and that is Colin Rule. In addition to his having become the world’s leading expert and voice for ODR, Colin is, quite simply, a prince of a person. Colin’s intelligence, passion, integrity and generosity make him the perfect choice to lead Mediate.com and ODR.com going forward. While Covid-19 has driven nearly all dispute resolution online seemingly overnight, Colin and Mediate.com have been preparing for this time for over 25 years. For Mediate.com to have Colin Rule now leading our way is a blessing for our company and for the world.”

In notifying Colin of his prestigious award, ABA Dispute Resolution Section Chair Brian Pappas stated the following: “As you may know, the D’Alemberte Raven Award recognizes the development of new and innovative work in the dispute resolution field. Your professional career has exemplified the mission of the Award by exhibiting excellence in innovation; particularly in the area of technology and online dispute resolution.

More About Colin Rule

Colin Rule is CEO of Resourceful Internet Solutions, Inc. (“RIS“), the corporate home of Mediate.com, Arbitrate.com, ODR.com, MediateUniversity.com, CaseloadManager.com and Ombuds.org.

Colin is the author of Online Dispute Resolution for Business, published by Jossey-Bass in September 2002, and co-author of The New Handshake: Online Dispute Resolution and the Future of Consumer Protection, published by the ABA in 2017.

Colin received the first Frank Sander Award for Innovation in ADR from the American Bar Association in 2020, and the Mary Parker Follett Award from the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR) in 2013.

Colin holds a Master’s degree from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in conflict resolution and technology, a graduate certificate in dispute resolution from UMass-Boston, a B.A. from Haverford College. Colin also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Eritrea from 1995-1997.