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Pepperdine | Caruso School of Law

Mediation Skills for Judges
from Around the Globe

Malibu, California

July 26-31, 2010


Presented by:
The Conference for International Mediation for Justice,
The Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law, and
The JAMS Foundation

This unique mediation skills training program for judges from around the world is a result of a partnership between the Conference for International Mediation for Justice (CIMJ) and the Straus Institute at Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law (Straus). CIMJ is a newly created NGO committed to advancing mediation among the judiciary around the world. Straus has been presenting its “Mediation Skills for Judges” program annually since 1998. This unique program will combine five days of classroom instruction with one day of field observation of judges and retired judges conducting mediations. This program is offered free of charge as a public service by CIMJ, Straus, the JAMS Foundation, and the faculty for this program.

The Program

The program will focus on the various stages of the mediation process, identifying and working with different negotiation styles, and facilitating problem solving in the context of judges assisting in the resolution of pending court cases. In addition to providing mediation skills training, the program will deal with issues specific to the judicial setting including managing attorney advocates, the parameters of confidentiality, and concerns about discovery. It will also focus on issues of particular concern to judge-mediators including discussions of how judicial philosophies and ethics inform this area of practice. Finally, this unique program offers participants opportunities to practice mediating simulated disputes, observe judges and retired judges mediating, and share those experiences during the advanced segment of the program.

Who Can Apply?

Any full-time judicial bench officer may apply to participate. Only three judges from any one country will be accepted to attend the program to ensure a diverse representation of judges from around the world. Enrollment for each class will be limited to 42 judges.  The participants must be able to speak and read English.

Judges from the following countries
are attending the PROGRAM:

Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Spain, Switzerland, and United Kingdom (as of June 21, 2010)

Cost of the Program

The tuition for the program is waived. Each participating judge will need to cover all costs associated with attendance, including airfare, housing, local transportation, and dinners. Breakfasts and lunches on the program days are provided.

Location and Times

The program will take place on July 26-31, 2010, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law in Malibu, California. One day will be devoted to site-visits in the Los Angeles area.

Housing and Residence Life

A hotel list is provided on the registration page. A limited number of affordable on-campus housing (no frills) is available for participants on a first-come, first-served basis. These on campus apartments accommodate one person to a bedroom in four-bedroom apartments. Each apartment will have participants of the same gender who will share a bathroom. Payment will be required upon confirmation of your reservation for these accommodations.

Arrive Saturday, July 24 / depart Sunday, August 1 (8 nights) - $460 *includes bedding

Arrive Sunday, July 25 / depart Sunday, August 1 (7 nights) - $400 *includes bedding

Beds are made up upon arrival. Additional towels can be order at $5.00 (two week notice please.)

Food and Materials

A continental breakfast and lunch are served each day of the program. A mediation workbook in English will be provided for each participant on the first day of the program.

Food service for the program is generously provided by JAMS.

Faculty

Faculty for this program will include:

  • The Honorable Louise Otis, Quebec Court of Appeal – Retired
  • The Honorable Alexander Williams III, Los Angeles Superior Court – Retired
  • John “Jay” Welsh, Esq., Executive Vice President and General Counsel for the Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services (JAMS)
  • Associate Professor Peter Robinson, Pepperdine Caruso School of Law
  • Denise Madigan, Mediator, ADR Services

 

TO REGISTER AND APPLY FOR THE PROGRAM

At the top of the page, click on "Register Now!"  The application can be downloaded from this site.

For additional information and questions, please contact Lori Rushford at (310) 506-6342 or email lori.rushford@pepperdine.edu.

 

Program Topics and Schedule

Day 1
  • Define Mediation in Process Continuum
  • Judicial Mediation as a Mode of Dispute Resolution
  • Mediator's Stylistic Grid
  • STAR Approach to Mediation
  • Five Stages of Generic Mediation
  • Mixed Motive Exchange in Consensus Processes
  • The Geometry of Distributive Bargaining
  • Linkage and Anchoring
Day 2
  • The Integrative Approach to Negotiation
  • How to Discover Underlying Interests
  • Creativity in Negotiation
  • Facilitating Integrative Bargaining
  • Mediator Timing in Facilitating Negotiation
  • Settlement Conference Mediation Model
  • Interest Based Mediation Model
Day 3
  • The Opening Stage
  • How to Define Issues and Set an Agenda
  • Facilitating Communication
  • Effective Use of Caucus
  • Validation
Day 4
  • Closing and Overcoming Barriers
  • Neutrality and Fairness
  • Convening
  • Managing Attorneys
  • Managing Emotions
Day 5
  • Field Observations at Los Angeles Superior Court and JAMS
Day 6
  • Confidentiality
  • Judicial Ethics, Rules of Professional Conduct, and Immunity
  • Guidelines for Establishing a System of Judicial Mediation

A Distinctive Faculty

Peter Robinson is managing director of the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution and associate professor at Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law. He has presented advanced negotiation and mediation skills courses in more than 39 states and foreign countries. He has served on the boards of the Christian Conciliation Service of Los Angeles, Ventura Center for Dispute Settlement, Dispute Resolution Services of the LACBA, Southern California Mediation Association, and California Dispute Resolution Council. He is a fellow of the International Academy of Mediators, a member of the American College of Civil Trial Mediators and was recognized as a Southern California Super Lawyer in the area of mediation in 2006.

Louise Otis is deputy judge for the Administrative Tribunal of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). During her career as a lawyer, Otis practiced labor law and specialized in the fields of mediation and negotiation. In 1997, while a judge at the Quebec Court of Appeal, she developed one of the world’s first judicial mediation systems, and later helped establish mediation programs in Canada and abroad. Otis created and dispensed intensive mediation training courses in different countries, including France, Belgium, Russia, Brazil, Mali, and Australia. In December 2006 she was appointed by the United Nations secretary-general, Kofi Annan, to a five-member group of international experts charged with redesigning the U.N.’s internal justice system, including the creation of a mediation system. Louise Otis is an active mediator in civil and commercial matters.

Jay Welsh is the general counsel of JAMS and oversees all legal matters, panel quality, risk management, and ethics. Welsh was a founder of the JAMS Foundation and guides both the foundation and the JAMS Institute, which provides the JAMS panel of neutrals with training on all ADR topics. Currently, he has been leading the JAMS initiative in international mediation and arbitration. A frequent lecturer and speaker, he conducts numerous training programs in negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and related topics throughout the world. Welsh has assisted numerous businesses and government agencies in the formation and implementation of formalized alternative dispute resolution programs and has written extensively on reducing legal costs through the use of ADR. Prior to joining JAMS, Welsh practiced law in San Francisco. He served as an adjunct professor of law at both USC and USF Law Schools. He is a graduate of Hamilton College and the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law.

Alexander H. Williams III 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. Williams was the chair of the Judicial Education Subcommittee of the Court's Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee. Before taking the bench, he served as a police officer, Navy judge advocate, and federal prosecutor.

Denise R. Madigan is with ADR Services, Inc., in Los Angeles, California, and was formerly with JAMS/Endispute for 10 years. She entered the field as an associate director for the Harvard-MIT Public Disputes Program in the early 1980s and has mediated disputes in the areas of complex commercial, intellectual property, high technology, financial institutions, insurance coverage, environmental and energy policy, and employment (in both union and non-union settings). In addition to her full-time practice, Madigan has taught mediation as an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law for over a decade. She has designed and taught negotiation and ADR courses for state and federal courts, government agencies, and numerous commercial entities over the past 20 years.

Please contact Lori Rushford at (310) 506-6342 or lori.rushford@pepperdine.edu for more information.