(Faculty who typically teach in Mediating the Litigated Case. However, due to illness or unavoidable conflict, we reserve the right to substitute faculty.)
Peter Robinson is professor of law at Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law and the former managing director of the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution. He has presented advanced negotiation and mediation skills courses throughout the United States and in more than 10 foreign countries. He has served on the boards of the California Dispute Resolution Council, the Southern California Mediation Association (SCMA), Dispute Resolution Services of the LACBA, the Ventura Center for Dispute Settlement, and the Christian Conciliation Service of Los Angeles. The SCMA recognized him as Peacemaker of the Year in 1999. He is a Fellow of the International Academy of Mediators and was recognized as a Southern California Super Lawyer in the area of mediation in 2006 and 2008. After being appointed by the Los Angeles City Attorney, he successfully mediated all the environmental objections to building the Farmers Field football stadium in downtown Los Angeles.
Stephanie Blondell is an associate professor of law and practice and associate director of the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution. She supervises the Mediation Clinic and teaches Mediation Theory and Practice and Criminal Law. Prior to joining Pepperdine, she served as the manager of the King County Alternative Dispute Resolution Program and Inter-Local Conflict Resolution Group, a tri-county labor-management and public policy mediation program in the area around Seattle, Washington. Prior to this she was the alternative dispute resolution coordinator for the City of Seattle where she designed and implemented a labor and employment mediation program for city government. Before joining Straus full-time, Blondell served as an adjunct professor at Straus, the Seattle University School of Law, and the University of Washington master of public administration program. Blondell earned her BA with honors in American civilization from Brown University, and her JD from the University of Washington School of Law.
Shaphan Roberts is the Senior Director for Strategic Initiatives and Global Expansion, building upon his extensive experience in dispute resolution and community engagement. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Pepperdine University, where he earned his MBA through the prestigious PKE program. Previously, Roberts held the position of Director for the Los Angeles City Attorney's Dispute Resolution Program, where he managed all programmatic aspects, including community mediation and the Community Police Unification (CPU) Program. His role involved coordinating with public and private alternative dispute resolution programs, as well as federal, state, and local agencies. Roberts' expertise extends to conflict management, de-escalation, and cross-cultural communication. He has been instrumental in training city departments and community organizations in these areas. His leadership was particularly evident in mid-2020 when he advised the Los Angeles City Attorney in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd. Roberts was instrumental in designing, developing, and organizing city-wide conversations between protesters and police officers following the city wide protests.
Steve Rottman is one of California's most requested mediators of commercial disputes. Rottman is an honors graduate of Harvard Law School and a summa cum laude graduate of Duke University. He spent 20 years as a trial lawyer before committing himself full-time to mediation. The Los Angeles Daily Journal named him one of the "top 50 neutrals in the state," and he has been consistently recognized by Best Lawyers in America and the Super Lawyers publications as both a trial lawyer and a mediator. He lectures and trains mediators across the country and serves as an adjunct professor at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, where he teaches Advanced Mediation. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the International Academy of Mediators, an avid whitewater kayaker, and the proud father of two strong-willed daughters.
The Honorable Alexander H. Williams III (retired) is a mediator, arbitrator and discovery referee in private practice with ADR Services, Inc. in Los Angeles. He served as a judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court from 1984 to 2008. He presided for 8 years in a felony criminal trial department and for another 13 years in a general jurisdiction civil trial department, handling thousands of cases and conducting hundreds of court and jury trials. A trained mediator, he spent his final three years presiding over a full-time settlement court, where he daily conducted settlement conferences and settled hundreds of cases. He has co-taught the Mediation Clinic class at the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law for over a dozen years and has instructed judges and others about mediation in programs on every continent except Antarctica. Before taking the bench, he served as a police officer, Navy judge advocate, and federal prosecutor.
Selina Shultz has spent over twenty years, serving as a mediator, consultant and coach, trainer, facilitator, and contract ombudsman. She has provided mediation services to individuals in civil and divorce disputes, as well as providing training, conflict culture interventions, and leadership development to corporations and nonprofits struggling with conflict. She has mediated hundreds of cases and worked with organizations such as FedEx, Home Depot, Nevada OSHA, AMG Research, and Allies for Children. Her years of practical hands on work in mediation is further supported by her academic work in both decision making, neuroscience, and negotiation. Her process and approach to all of her work, including the space she has created at The Conflict Lab, are constantly mindful of how to bring about her client's best thinking. With an ability to understand complicated conflict dynamics and how to improve them. Shultz provides "Conflict Culture Interventions" to organizations who suffer from the effects of an unhealthy work environment. Shultz provides both basic and advance mediation and conflict competency trainings, both locally and internationally for organizations and corporations, as well as at the law school level at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University School of Law, Duquesne University School of Law, and The Saltman Center at The UNLV School of Law.
