STAR: A Systematic Approach to Mediation Strategies
August 23-24, 2018
Faculty: Peter Robinson and Deborah Thompson Eisenberg
We recommend using google chrome web browser for registration.
Mediations are dynamic and fluid. Both aspiring neutrals and sophisticated advocates should know the predictable themes and stages of a mediation as well as the variety of styles and techniques used in each stage. Competence in the mediation approaches and techniques that are not intuitive for a particular mediator marks the differences between the serious professional practitioner and the casual volunteer. This course will survey how successful mediators use a variety of approaches in five fundamental stages of a mediation. The emphasis will be on encouraging the exercise of conscious professional judgment and strategies analysis for both mediators and advocates.
What you will learn:
- Stages of a mediation
- How to convene and open a mediation
- Facilitating communication
- Encouraging problem solving
- Utilizing the predictability of distributive bargaining
- Using intangible interests to overcome impasse
- Facilitating closure
- Balancing neutrality and fairness
- Managing emotions
- Effective case presentation
- Ethical concerns of mediators and advocates
- Mediation advocacy tips
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.
Deborah Thompson Eisenberg is a professor of law and faculty director of the Center for Dispute Resolution at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. She writes and teaches in the areas of dispute resolution, civil procedure, and employment law, and directs the Mediation Clinic. She provides professional trainings in negotiation and mediation and also serves as a private mediator in employment and civil cases. Prior to academia, Eisenberg practiced civil litigation for more than fifteen years. Her diverse practice included work at a large law firm, a public interest advocacy organization, and a boutique litigation firm where she was a partner representing primarily employees. Eisenberg received her JD from Yale Law School in 1994 and graduated valedictorian of her class at the University of Maryland Baltimore County in 1991.