Straus 40th Anniversary
For 40 years, the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution has helped people approach conflict differently, equipping generations of professionals with the skills to communicate more effectively, navigate difficult conversations, build stronger relationships, and create meaningful change.
As we celebrate our 40th anniversary, we are honoring that legacy while looking toward what comes next.
The work that began in alternatives to litigation has relevance beyond the legal profession. Negotiation, mediation, communication, collaboration, leadership, and conflict management are fundamentally people skills, skills needed wherever people work together, make decisions, solve problems, and navigate change.
Our 40th anniversary is both a celebration and an invitation: to reconnect with the Straus community, experience the return of the Professional Skills Program, and help us imagine how these skills can reach even more people, professions, organizations, and communities in the decades ahead.
40 years of transforming conflict. And we're just getting started.
40th Anniversary Gala Celebration
On March 6, 2027, we will come together to celebrate that community and the people who built it. The Straus 40th Anniversary Gala will honor four decades of impact while looking toward the future and expanding the reach of the Straus Institute.
Professional Skills Program
A Signature Straus Program Returns! For more than three decades, the Professional Skills Program brought professionals from around the world together to learn, connect, and strengthen the skills that shape how they work with others.
In 2027, PSP returns as part of the Straus Institute's 40th anniversary celebration.
Over two-and-a-half days, participants will learn alongside leading practitioners, scholars, and professionals through immersive courses designed to strengthen the skills needed to navigate conflict, lead difficult conversations, negotiate effectively, build trust, and create better outcomes. And those skills aren't limited to one profession. PSP brings together lawyers and mediators alongside leaders, executives, educators, public servants, nonprofit professionals, and others whose work depends on their ability to understand people and navigate complexity.