Professor Helen Winter Presents "Pioneering ADR and Social Entrepreneurship: Redefining Legal Education” -- Association for Conflict Resolution - Greater New York

Professor Helen Winter presented "Pioneering ADR & Social Entrepreneurship: Redefining Legal Education” at the Association for Conflict Resolution - Greater New York Chapter's 2025 Annual Conference.

About "Pioneering ADR & Social Entrepreneurship: Redefining Legal Education” 

How can we equip mediators to tackle complex, real-world challenges that transcend their professional fields? In legal education, this question is particularly urgent, as traditional curricula often emphasize theory over practical problem-solving. Graduates may find themselves ill-equipped to address pressing societal issues or design innovative dispute resolution mechanisms.

To bridge this gap and in the spirit of Mary Parker Follett and her organization R3solute, Professor Winter developed and introduced the first-ever ADR & Social Entrepreneurship course at the Straus Institute at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law. This groundbreaking program merges Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) principles with social entrepreneurship strategies, empowering students to resolve conflicts while driving meaningful social change. Students develop ADR-focused social enterprises that address urgent global challenges, including post-war reconciliation, pay equity, divorce mediation, and ADR wildfire relief efforts.

By fostering an entrepreneurial mindset among future mediators, this course redefines legal education—moving beyond the classroom and into the world—preparing students to be not only problem-solvers but changemakers.

The Association of Conflict Resolution - Greater New York Chapter's 2025 Annual Conference was presented by ADR Notable and Columbia University Negotiation and Conflict Resolution.

Additional information may be found at Association of Conflict Resolution-Greater New York Chapter