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Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution

MEDIATOR BOOT CAMP: Surviving in the trenches

Faculty: Tracy Allen and Eric Galton

Mediator Boot Camp is an entirely practical, interactive course designed to bring the commercial mediator to the edge of disaster followed by adept recovery. Surviving as a mediator is dependent on the ability to anticipate, manage, and live through the unexpected mischief of conflict. There are many tools the mediator can deploy to prevent derailment of a negotiation and lost settlement opportunities. The course content is drawn from real-world experiences and designed to build stronger, more agile and effective mediators. The class will address your needs, concerns, and "no matter what" lists so that you leave Mediator Boot Camp more confident in your ability to straddle the minefields in mediation.

What you will learn:

  • Mediator as traffic cop of the negotiation
  • Trust, timing, and tenacity — the three keys to survival
  • Taking the offensive on 10 things mediators hate to hear
  • Befriending the insurance adjuster
  • Finding the nonexistent or vanishing settlement authority
  • Reading dynamics accurately
  • Brackets and mediator proposals — is there anything new?
  • When the uniformed attempt to hijack the process
  • Toxic proposals and the suicide bomber
  • Reengineering multiparty mischief

Tracy L. Allen is a full-time mediator, arbitrator and ADR trainer. She teaches and practices internationally, providing conflict management, prevention, and training services worldwide. A former tax and business attorney, Allen mediates and arbitrates complex and highly emotional commercial, business, probate, securities, and employment cases. She is a Distinguished Fellow and a past president of the International Academy of Mediators. She has written numerous articles and is a contributing author in several books on ADR, with emphasis on mediation and negotiation strategies. She received the State Bar of Michigan ADR Section Distinguished Service Award in 2008 and currently serves on several specialty ADR provider panels nationally and internationally. Allen is an adjunct professor for the Institute for Conflict Management at Lipscomb University and a frequent lecturer for the Institute of Continuing Legal Education at the University of Michigan. Allen is the owner of her Detroit-based resolution firm, Global Resolutions, PLLC.

Eric R. Galton is a full-time mediator, arbitrator, and lecturer. Galton's book, Mediation: A Texas Practice Guide, received the Center for Public Resources Annual Book Award. He has since authored four more books with his most recent work, Ripples from Peace Lake. Galton is a Distinguished Fellow of the International Academy of Mediators and the Texas Academy of Attorney-Mediators. He is a member of the Texas State Bar ADR Section and has served on the American Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section, and the board of directors for the Texas Association of Mediators. He has practiced law for 30 years, and is currently a partner in the mediation firm Lakeside Mediation and the law firm of Galton, Cunningham & Bourgeois, a purely dispute resolution and mediation firm in Austin, Texas.