The SDNY Mediation Program and the Office of Pro Se Litigation have worked together for many years to support self-represented litigants whose cases have been referred to mediation. The Office of Pro Se Litigation locates limited-scope counsel for the mediation process, and the Mediation Program assigns the mediator and manages the case in mediation. Both offices have been assisted over the years by law schools, legal services organizations, and private attorneys who volunteer their time to provide counsel to the self-represented party. 

For many years judges in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York have been encouraged to consider referrals to mediation for cases with self-represented parties, as well as the appointment of limited scope pro bono counsel for mediation. These appointments and referrals have never been subject to a local rule or automatic process. SDNY has presented the DSD Clinic with two objectives: (1) to map the existing system and better understand current practices around how limited-scope counsel are connected with self-represented litigants in mediation cases, and the dynamics and impacts of the system on the stakeholders involved and the court system more broadly; and (2) to identify opportunities for incorporating best practices and systematizing the process. This could potentially include developing policies around pro bono assignments with an exploration of the balance between standardized procedures versus case-by-case, refining how the two offices work together, and/or exploring whether there is a different system altogether that could meet the needs of the court and the litigants with fewer resources from these two offices.