Extended Format

May 18 - July 24, 2020

• Each course will meet on different days and times
  

Program Courses and Faculty

Selected Issues in Dispute Resolution: Apology, Forgiveness and Reconciliation

This class will examine each of the themes of apology, forgiveness, and reconciliation. A spectrum of definitions and meanings of each theme will be explored. A variety of approaches on how to implement each theme will be discussed. The material will be addressed from the context of governing our own lives, providing professional advice to another as an advocate, and serving as a mediator. Class material will include religious and nonreligious perspectives on these themes.

Al Sturgeon is vice president of student life and Lipscomb University. Sturgeon oversees all the student life functions outside the classroom which include: spiritual formation, chapel, student activities, campus security, veteran services, residence life, intercultural development, freshmen orientation, campus recreation, intramurals and the Career Development Center among other responsibilities.

Sturgeon is a seasoned higher education veteran and has served in a variety of roles at Pepperdine that gives him a unique perspective for his work in student life at Lipscomb University. At Pepperdine, Sturgeon served as a professor in the law school, as director of academic success, assistant dean for student life, dean of students and dean of graduate programs. He began his career as a high school teacher and coach in Arkansas.

A native of Arkansas, Sturgeon has a Bachelor of Science degree in education from the University of Arkansas and a Juris Doctor from Pepperdine University School of Law. Sturgeon and his wife, Jody, also a veteran of higher education, have two grown daughters, Erica and Hillary..

 Selected Issues in Dispute Resolution: Facilitating Dynamic Groups

Prerequisite: Law 1492 Negotiation Theory and Practice and Law 1422 Mediation Theory and Practice

This course will be highly interactive in nature and will give you the foundational skills and thinking processes that are needed to become a successful facilitator and group participant.  It will increase your understanding of the dynamics of facilitation as it relates to other dispute resolution processes, you will earn how to develop and design a plan for each facilitation session.  It will enhance your ability to manage and control group negotiations and dispute resolution processes as well as increase your proficiency in the tools and skills needed to support facilitated discussions. You will identify the strengths and weaknesses of your personal negotiating style and what impact that might have on your facilitation style while Improving your ability to overcome barriers in facilitated sessions. This course will consider the ethical implications of facilitation; and,  help you gain confidence in your facilitation and dispute resolution skills.

Donna Silverberg. DS Consulting has been in the field of mediation and facilitating consensus-building efforts involving local, state, federal, and tribal governments; nonprofits; businesses; and the public for more than 20 years. Her work has included a wide range of issues and groups addressing endangered species management plans, water resource/quality, human resources and organizational development, nonprofit board planning and management, land-use decisions, cross-cultural interactions, and health care policy.

Arbitration Practice and Advocacy

Prerequisite: Law 1492 Negotiation Theory and Practice and Law 1422 Mediation Theory and Practice

Today many business and employment disputes are resolved through out-of-court binding arbitration processes. This intensive, interactive course is designed to provide students with a practical grounding in counseling and advocacy skills required for state-of-the-art arbitration practice through problems and exercises simulating common arbitration scenarios in which students play the parts of lawyers, arbitrators and parties. Students learn how to draft dispute resolution agreements for arbitration and how to advise clients on many different aspects of arbitration, including the suitability of arbitration as an alternative to negotiation, mediation or litigation. They also experience advocacy roles at all stages of arbitration, including the filing of an arbitration demand, the selection of arbitrators, planning for and conducting hearings, the publication of a final decision (award), and the enforcement or setting aside of an award. The course emphasizes modern commercial and employment arbitration in the U.S. but also includes references to international, consumer, securities and labor arbitration.

Thomas Stipanowich is the William H. Webster Chair in Dispute Resolution and professor of law at Pepperdine School of Law. He has also been the academic director of the Straus Institute for eight of its ten years at the top of the U.S. News & World Report rankings. Stipanowich brings a long and distinguished career as a scholar, teacher, and leader in the field along with wide-ranging experience as a commercial and construction mediator, arbitrator, federal court special master, and facilitator. From 2001 until mid-2006, he served as CEO of the New York-based International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR Institute), a think tank focused on promoting more effective forms of business conflict management. He was also the founder and first director of a court-connected mediation program that has been in existence for more than two decades. He has authored two of the leading books on commercial arbitration and many articles on ADR; his works have been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court and many other federal and state courts. He is co-author of a groundbreaking book and materials entitled Resolving Disputes: Theory, Practice, and Law, soon to be in its third edition. He recently conducted groundbreaking surveys of practices and perspectives among leading U.S. mediators and arbitrators. Among other honors, he is the recipient of the D'Alemberte-Raven Award, the ABA Dispute Resolution Section's highest honor, for contributions to the field.