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Pepperdine | Caruso School of Law
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Helen Winter

Assistant Professor of Law and Practice
Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, Caruso School of Law

Biography

Dr. Helen Winter is an Assistant Professor of Law and Practice at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, teaching at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution. Dr. Winter teaches in the Straus Institute’s academic programs and professional training programs and provides mentorship and advisory services to international students.

Professor Winter holds a law degree with a focus on International Public Law from Heidelberg University, and an LL.M in Dispute Resolution from Pepperdine Caruso Law Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution. Before coming to Pepperdine, she served as a Research Fellow at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School while completing her Ph.D. at European University Viadrina in Germany. Dr. Winter's Ph.D. thesis (magna cum laude) examines the link between ADR and self-efficacy in the refugee setting. At Harvard, Professor Winter researched proven strategies for bias reduction, and peer mediation mechanisms as a means to promote self-efficacy for refugees and migrants. She additionally assisted with teaching, mentoring, and training future mediators and ADR professionals around topics such as cross-cultural mediation, systems design, and negotiation.

Dr. Winter has an extensive background in mediation and intercultural dispute resolution. In addition to having served as a guest lecturer at Harvard Law School, and the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, she has also worked at the European University of Viadrina. She further has run her own mediation practice and co-founded R3SOLUTE, a charitable organization based in Berlin that empowers refugees and locals to manage and prevent community conflicts through dialogue and peer mediation. She has worked with the United Nations Office of the Ombudsman and Mediation Services (UNOMS), addressing systemic issues. Professor Winter also serves as an ambassador for the International Justice Mission in Germany.

Dr. Winter has been published in the Harvard Negotiation Law Review, and Conflict Resolution Quarterly and has been invited to speak at numerous events, webinar series, and podcasts within the ADR community both nationally and internationally, including at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law. She hopes to use her position to continue researching ways to foster agency and self-efficacy of underrepresented minorities of society through a bottoms-up approach to ADR while supporting the Pepperdine community.

Education

  • PhD, European University Viadrina, 2024, magna cum laude 
  • Graduate Research Fellowship, Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School, 2022
  • L.L.M, Pepperdine University, 2017
  • German Law degree, University of Heidelberg, 2016

 

Articles 

  • Helen Winter with David Hoffman, Follow the Science: Proven Strategies for Reducing Unconscious Bias, 28 HARV. NEGOT. L. REV. 1 (2022) SSRN
  • Helen M. E. Winter with Felix  Klapprott, Muhamad Naanaa, A. Marco Turk & Sebastian F. Winter, Psychosocial Peer Mediation As Sustainable Method for Conflict Prevention and Management Among Fefugee Communities in Germany, 39 CONFLICT RESOL. Q. 195 (2022) SSRN

Books

  • Helen M. E. Winter, PEER MEDIATION IN REFUGEE SHELTERS, WHAT CONSTITUTES PEER MEDIATION FROM THE PARTICIPANTS' POINT OF VIEW? (Dissertation) (2024) SSRN

Book Chapters

  • Helen Winter, Working from the Heart, in MORE JUSTICE, MORE PEACE: WHEN PEACEMAKERS ARE ADVOCATES (Susanne Terry ed., Rowman & Littlefield 2020) 

Popular Press

  • Helen M. E. Winter, Sharing What Divides Us, HARVARD NEGOTIATION & MEDIATION CLINICAL PROGRAM BLOG, May 2019
  • Helen M. E. Winter, Competition Authority Intervenes to Prevent Eason's Planned Purchase of its Rival Argosy, IN FOCUS, September 2012

 

Awards

  • 2021 Graduate Research Fellowship at Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School
  • 2019 Pepperdine University, Outstanding Alumni Abroad Award, in recognition of living the Pepperdine mission around the world and demonstrating a life of purpose, service and leadership
  • CALI Excellence for The Future Award for excellent achievement in the study of “International Identity Based Conflict and Dispute Resolution” (A+), February 2017
  • CALI Excellence for The Future Award for excellent achievement in the study of “Advanced Mediation” (A+), April 2017

Presentations 

  • Helen Winter, Speaker with David Hoffman, Follow the Science: Proven Strategies for Reducing Unconscious Bias, Webinar: PON Live!, Harvard Law School, April 26, 2023 
  • Helen Winter, Speaker, Peer Mediation Among Refugee Communities: A Path to Self-efficacy and Sustainable Conflict Prevention, Webinar: PON Live!, Harvard Law School,  January 11, 2023
  • Helen Winter, Panelist, Dispute Resolution Law Journal Symposium: Cross-Cultural Border Conflicts: Identifying Parameters, Transforming Perceptions and Methodologies, Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, March 2023
  • Helen Winter, Project Assistant with Professor Rachel Viscomi & Lecturer Morgan Michele Franklin, Dispute System Design Clinical Seminar, Harvard Slavery Remembrance Project, Harvard Law School, Spring 2023
  • Helen Winter, Panelist, International Stalemate – Dispute Resolution and Diplomacy, Mediation Interventions on a Global Scale, Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, November 2022
  • Helen Winter, Speaker with David Hoffman, Reducing Unconscious Bias, Workshop: International Academy of Collaborative Professionals, October 2022
  • Helen Winter, Panelist, The Future of Post-Pandemic Mediation, Mediate.com, July 2022 
  • Helen Winter, Guest Lecturer with David Hoffman, Diversity and Dispute Resolution - What Role Do Issues Like Class and Culture Play in Establishing Peer Mediation Mechanisms in Refugee Shelters?, Harvard Law School, January 2022
  • Helen Winter, Webinar Speaker, A Multidisciplinary Approach to Conflict Resolution in Refugee Shelters in Germany: Challenges, Opportunities and Lessons Learned, addressing members of the International Committee of the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution, November 2021
  • Helen Winter, Keynote Speaker, Healing the Divide, Working from the Heart, ACR Annual Conference 2019, Tucson, AZ, September 2019
  • Helen Winter, Guest Lecturer, Conflict Resolution and Entrepreneurship: Finding a Niche to Solve a Social Problem, Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, Pepperdine School of Law, September 2019
  • Helen Winter, Panelist, Peer Mediation with Refugees,Future Pro Bono Advocacy, 7th Asia Pro Bono Conference, Hong Kong, October 2018
  • Helen Winter, Seminar Teacher, PTM3 Internationalization and Professionalization of Mediation and Conflict Management, Psychology of Conflict, European University Viadrina, University of Copenhagen, 2017

Media