What is Arts Arbitration and Mediation Services?

Arts Arbitration and Mediation Services (AAMS), a program of California Lawyers for the Arts (CLA), has provided alternative dispute resolution to artists and entertainers since 1980. CLA started AAMS, which was the first alternative dispute resolution program in the country to specifically tailor its services for the arts and entertainment communities, as a natural extension of the organization's mission to provide preventative education and appropriate means of self help for artists, who often become involved in business arrangements without being fully informed of the legal consequences.

CLA established a special alternative dispute resolution program for the arts after noticing that disputes involving artists, performers and arts organizations, while varied in legal content, may revolve around a set of central themes which would be foreign in the contexts of other dispute resolution programs. Recurring themes include the emotional issues involved with the content of artistic work, credit for work performed and the factors contributing to the production of the work.

What type of services does it provide?
AAMS provides counseling, conciliation, mediation, arbitration, meeting facilitation, and training. The service has program coordinators at offices in Berkeley 510-990-6030, Los Angeles 310-207-0001 and Sacramento 916-442-6210 who help artists throughout the state. These program coordinators counsel clients in the use of negotiation techniques in order to help them resolve the dispute for themselves, offer conciliation assistance by communicating between parties by telephone, regular mail and fax, coordinate mediations by setting up a meeting at a neutral site with trained mediators or coordinate arbitrations or early neutral evaluations in accordance with the rules of California Code of Civil Procedure and rules created by the AAMS Advisory Committee. However, AAMS program coordinators are neutral and cannot give legal advice or representation.

What kind of disputes does it mediate?
While disputes with AAMS are generally arts-related, the organization's volunteer mediators have helped parties resolve many types of disputes. AAMS has helped parties resolve disputes involving landlord-tenant issues, payment or credit for work performed, ownership of artistic work or copyright, collaboration or partnership issues and fee collection.

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