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Pepperdine | Caruso School of Law

Learn More About the Master of Dispute Resolution Program

Be a Trailblazer in Your Field

Conflict is Everywhere: Learn the Skills to Manage

Conflict is pervasive. The ability to manage conflict in businesses and organizations, however, is not. Conflict resolution skill-sets are needed in our rapidly changing, technologically complex, work-world.

Enhance your resumé with a time-tested, top-ranked graduate program designed for mid-career and executive level professionals who wish to remain employed while they complete their graduate studies.

Pepperdine's Master of Dispute Resolution is an inter-disciplinary 32 unit program designed to address the skills needed to resolve conflict in business, management, leadership and diplomacy.

Why leave conflict resolution up to the lawyers?

a man shaking a woman's hand in the School of Law atrium

The study of conflict is not limited to the legal profession. Students apply their MDR to areas including:

  • Human Resources
  • Business
  • Counseling
  • Education
  • International Diplomacy
  • Leadership, and more.

The MDR equips you to lead your organization through difficult moments efficiently while strengthening relationships, partnerships and alliances. The next wave of business professionals recognize the need for conflict resolution skill-sets in an increasingly diverse, technological and global business environment.

Did you know... that over 4,000 organizations including Amgen, Apple, Boeing, Coca Cola, Halliburton, Microsoft, Merck and Xerox have signed the Center for Public Research Corporate Dispute Resolution Pledge? The pledge asks subscribers to seriously consider alternatives to litigation in their business relationships with other companies also subscribing to the pledge.

Designed for Mid-Career Professionals

Courses for the MDR are offered every semester in several formats, and at times that accommodate most schedules. Students complete their required courses, then have the flexibility to take advantage of the more than 40 course offerings on the Malibu campus.

Students participating in the MDR can elect to take courses at Pepperdine's Graziadio Business School as well as the School of Public Policy. This provides the opportunity to customize your MDR coursework to meet your career goals, earning the MDR as a stand-alone or as a joint degree.