Beth din course for commercial disputes

VICTORIA’S Attorney-General, Rob Hulls, launched the country’s first rabbinical commercial arbitration course this week.

The program, which qualifies rabbis to mediate in commercial disputes through the mechanism of the beth din, saw judges and senior lawyers share their knowledge with rabbis.

“The course has equipped our community’s spiritual leaders with the proficiency to be able to respond professionally and expeditiously to matters of dispute as they may arise. It was an eye-opening forum in which civil law met halachah,” Rabbinical Council of Victoria (RCV) president Rabbi Yaakov Glasman said.

Meanwhile, Hulls expressed full support for the course, explaining that it fits the Victorian Government’s plans of promoting arbitration as an alternative to lengthy, costly court proceedings.

“It is important that we think smarter when it comes to access to justice,” he said.

He referred to alternative dispute resolution, often abbreviated to ADR, as “appropriate dispute resolution”.

“ADR has to be the mainstream when it comes to resolving disputes,” he said.

He congratulated the RCV, which has been the driver of the commercial beth din.

“You are certainly at the forefront when it comes to ADR, when it comes to meaningful resolution of disputes.

“It’s a wonderful thing and you should be congratulated for embarking on it,” he added.

He called the RCV’s plan to use halachah to arbitrate difficulties between businesses a “cultural change”.

“ADR is the way of the future, but it needs champions.”

However, he did not address the fact that rabbis would be arbitrating cases based, not on secular law, but Jewish law.

Speaking to The AJN after the opening, a spokesperson added: “The Attorney-General welcomes initiatives aimed at encouraging parties to resolve their disputes outside the court process, and notes that the proposed rabbinical arbitration process will be consistent with the requirements of the Commercial Arbitration Act, and, as with all ADR processes, the consent of the parties to the process is a fundamental requirement.”

An errant taxi meant that many of the 17 rabbis -— from the Chabad, Mizrachi and Modern Orthodox streams -— were late to the three-day city course, but they settled straight in.

The first order of the day was an introduction to arbitration by Peter Callaghan SC, the chair of the Institute of Arbitrators and Mediators of Australia, NSW branch.

Among the other speakers were Justice Julie Dodds-Streeton, who has experience in the Jewish community having acted in a case involving a Melbourne synagogue, Justice Clyde Croft, Justice Michael Sifris and Justice David Byrne. Senior barristers George Golvan QC and Ian Waller SC were also involved.

On Wednesday, the final day of the course, saw rabbis arbitrate a mock dispute between a Jewish school and parents who had not paid school fees.

NAOMI LEVIN