Mediation Intensive Training

• Next offered New York June 18 - 22, 2008
• Next offered California October 29 - November 2 , 2008

   Advanced Programs:

• Mediation and Collaborative Law Support & Development Groups - Ongoing in New York – February - June 2008
• Creating the Collaborative Team 
• Negotiations in a Collaborative Case 
• Difficult Conversations with Collaborative Colleagues 
• Mediation Skills for Collaborative Practitioners
• Self-Reflection in Action for Conflict Professionals: Bringing the Depth of who we Are To Our Work - May 15-18 2008
• The Inner Meets the Outer: Using Self Reflection to Deal with Conflict in Mediation and Collaborative Practice – California - September 2007 through June 2008

MEDIATION INTENSIVE TRAINING

The Mediation Intensive Training provides both experienced mediators and those new to the field with the perspective and skills necessary to work within the Center’s model of mediation. Participants learn what it takes to shift from a stance of advocacy to one of mediation – for professionals and parties alike. The program is open to attorneys as well as other professionals working to integrate the principles of mediation into their practice.

Program highlights:

• Reaching an agreement to mediate;
• Establishing parties' responsibility for decisions;
• Supporting each party's autonomy while encouraging mutuality;
• Understanding fully each party's point of view while remaining neutral;
• Dealing with conflict by enhancing understanding;
• Employing analytic skills in clarifying issues and goals;
• Integrating the law into mediation;
• Generating bases for decision other than law;
• Developing creative options that address differing needs and interests;
• Working with parties' attorneys and other professionals.

The learning addresses the practical, theoretical and personal dimensions of integrating a mediative perspective into your practice. Training at the Center combines presentations, teacher demonstrations, case simulations and discussions. Concise briefings introducing the five stage model and tools of the Understanding Based Approach alternate with demonstrations and role-plays designed to immerse the participants in the mediation process. Central to the learning are real to life simulations in which the participants work through mediations from beginning to end. Each participant has the opportunity to role-play, in turn, mediator and party. They have a chance to apply the concepts and skills introduced in the briefings, and to experience the emotional challenges faced by parties in dispute. Participants have described these different modes of learning and their interplay as enjoyable as they are engaging and rewarding.

For continuing legal education purposes, the Mediation Intensive Training is appropriate for both newly admitted and experienced attorneys

PROGRAM DETAILS
(NEW YORK, CALIFORNIA)

Dates and Fees: The next Mediation Intensive Training in the New York area will take place June 18- 22, 2008 . The program begins Wednesday afternoon at 2pm. Thursday, Friday and Saturday sessions run from 9am - 9pm (with ample time for meals and breaks). The training ends Sunday mid-day. The program fee is $1,350. An early registration discount of $100 will be applied to registrations received before May 8, 2008.

Reduction in fee is available on the basis of economic hardship.

Cancellation Policy: Two weeks or more prior to the program, your payment will be refunded minus a $250 administrative fee (which may be applied toward a future program). Less than two weeks prior to the program, the Center will retain 50% of the total cost of the program (part of which may be applied toward a future program). Further details available upon registration or request.

Site: The Garrison Institute, a retreat center located one to one and half hours north of New York City, overlooking the  Hudson river, in Garrison, New York. We recommend that you stay at the facility.  For more information go to www.garrisoninstitute.org

Click here to register for the Mediation Intensive program

MCLE Certification: New York: The Center for Mediation in Law has been certified by the New York State Continuing Legal Education Board as an Accredited Provider of Continuing Legal Education in the State of New York [May 18, 2005 to May 17, 2008]. The Mediation Intensive Training will fulfill 39 NY MCLE credit hours[6.5 Ethics Credits; 19.5 Professional Practice Credits & 13 Skills Credits] and is suitable for both newly admitted and experienced attorneys. Reduction in fee is available on the basis of hardship. For more information on CLE and financial aid, please contact us.

The training has also been approved for MCLE credit in other states. More information on CLE for NY attorneys can be found on the NY State Courts web-site at www.courts.state.ny.us/attorneys/cle/index.shtml.

Dates and Fees: The next Mediation Intensive Training will be held October 29 - November 2 , 2008. The program fee is $1,350. A $75 discount applies if you register 30 days prior to a program.

Program Schedule: The Mediation Intensive Training begins on Wednesday afternoon at 2:30pm through 9:00pm. Thursday, Friday and Saturday the sessions run from 9am - 9pm (with ample breaks for meals and rest). The program wraps up on Sunday with a session from 9am - 12noon. The Advanced Mediation Training begins on Thursday afternoon at 2:30pm through 9pm. Friday and Saturday the sessions run from 9am - 9pm (with ample breaks for meals and rest). The program concludes on Sunday with a session from 9am - 12noon.

Site: Green Gulch Farm, located in Marin County. The facility is both rustic and unique, within walking distance of Muir Beach and the Pacific Ocean. To maximize your learning, we strongly suggest that you plan to stay at the facility. Housing arrangements and payment are coordinated through The Center once we receive your registration. Housing costs (which include meals) are as follows: Private room - $650, Shared room - $450, Commuter fee - $200.  To view the facilities, please go to www.sfzc.org.

Cancellation Policy: 2 weeks or more prior to the program, your payment will be refunded minus a $250 administrative fee (which may be applied against a future program). Less than 2 weeks (but more than one week) prior to the program, we will retain 50% of the total cost of the program (half of which may be applied against a future program). Please note that refunds are not made for cancellations within the last week prior to the program.

MCLE Certification: The Center for Mediation in Law has been approved as a continuing legal education provider of Minimum Continuing Legal Education by the State Bar of California. The Mediation Intensive program will qualify for MCLE credit in the amount of 32 hours, of which 8 hours will apply to legal ethics, 1 hour to law practice management, and 1 hour to the elimination of bias. Advanced programs qualify for 23 MCLE credit hours. The Center certifies that this activity conforms to the standards for approved education activities prescribed by the rules and regulations of the State Bar of California governing minimum continuing legal education.

Click here to register for the Mediation Intensive program

ADVANCED TRAINING PROGRAMS

For those who have completed the Center Mediation Intensive Training and are interested in integrating the perspective into their work, we offer advanced supervision groups. One group is designed for Mediators; the other is for professionals practicing Collaborative Law. These Support and Development groups meet monthly and focus on integrating the Understanding-Based Model into their participants’ mediation and/or collaborative law practice. The faculty facilitates group supervision of participants’ actual cases with an emphasis on understanding the dynamics of conflict and integrating theory into practice, as well as what is needed to develop practice in this field.  For further information on joining, email mediationinlaw@aol.com or call 212-501-4044.

MCLE Certification:

California: The Center for Mediation in Law has been approved as a continuing legal education provider of Minimum Continuing Legal Education by the State Bar of California. Advanced programs will fulfill 23 CA MCLE credit hours. The Center certifies that this activity conforms to the standards for approved education activities prescribed by the rules and regulations of the State Bar of California governing minimum continuing legal education.

New York: The Center for Mediation in Law has been certified by the New York State Continuing Legal Education Board as an Accredited Provider of Continuing Legal Education in the State of New York [May 18, 2005 to May 17, 2008]. Advanced Programs will fulfill NY MCLE credit hours based upon duration of the program. The trainings are appropriate for both newly admitted and experienced attorneys

Where the Inner Meets the Outer: Using Self-Reflection to Deal with Conflict in Mediation and Collaborative Practice

Self-Reflection in Action For Conflict Professionals: Bringing the Depth of Who We are to Our Work

This advanced training, reflecting developments in the Center’s understanding of dealing with conflict, will be for a small group of conflict professionals who wish to explore how who we are impacts our work with conflict and how that work impacts us.  It will bring together persons from the larger New York community as well as from elsewhere in the United States and also other countries who have participated in prior Center trainings and have been working with the principles underlying the Understanding-Based approach in their work with people in conflict.

In this program, we will seek to learn together about connecting with the deeper impulses that fuel our commitments, such as compassion and the search for mutual understanding, and also how we can deal with the tendencies that can get in the way, such as being judgmental or seeking to control the outcome.  While an appreciation for the deeper motivations and currents that underlie our work with conflict has always been a part of the Center’s approach, we have recently started to shine the light more explicitly on this dimension. 

We will be joined at the program by Norman Fischer, a Bay Area based Buddhist Meditation teacher whose work focuses on the connection between our inner lives and what we do in the world (through his Everyday Zen Foundation). The program will include a meditative perspective as we seek to explore the inner dimensions of our work with conflict and how that understanding directly applies to our cases and can help us deal more effectively and whole-heartedly with parties/clients. We have found that this inquiry with Norman brings a deeper appreciation for what is within us when we work with persons in conflict, a greater sensitivity to what might underlie what is going on for others, and a framework and language for integrating that understanding into our work. 

Norman has participated with Gary and Jack at different advanced Center trainings over the years, he and Gary are currently leading a support group on the West Coast, and he and Jack have taught together at the Harvard Negotiation Insight Initiative through the Harvard Program on Negotiation.  Last February, Norman, Gary and Jack facilitated a six day advanced program in Mar de Jade, Mexico, for 24 Center associates which took this focus on the subjective dimension a giant step forward. Those participating were both personally touched and professionally supported by the inquiry.   

The program will take place May 15-18, 2008 at the Garrison Institute in Garrison, New York (approximately 1- 1 1/4 hours north of NYC by car or train).  If you wish further information, please contact mediationinlaw@aol.com.

Mediators, as well as collaborative lawyers and negotiators, assist parties in conflict in many ways. For example, we help them understand their priorities and interests and the very real costs that will endure if they cannot work out an agreement together. We also formulate with them creative solutions to the problems.

But some parties stay stuck in conflict's grasp without any awareness how they are trapped except to blame the other, which only serves to perpetuate the trap. For many, understanding conflict itself and how it has them trapped holds the key to their moving through it together.

In this advanced program, experienced practitioners will learn:

• how to identify the ways that "conflict traps" keep the parties ensnared;
• how helping parties understand the specific traps of their conflict can open a path through.

In many business disputes, the parties begin in an atmosphere marked by mutual hostility and suspicion. For mediation to be successful, a shift needs to occur from enmity and standoff to dialogue and working together. In this program, we will focus on how the mediator can help that shift take place with particular emphasis on:

• Engaging lawyers for the parties in a supportive role;
• Working with lawyer-lawyer tensions and lawyer-client tensions;
• Turning accusations into understanding;
• Deepening the parties' awareness of their mutual dilemma;
• Fostering a climate for creative collaboration.

For successful mediation, there must be successful communication. In order to establish a framework for responsible decision-making, the mediator needs to help the parties understand and assert their own points of view while being open to those of others.

Parties in conflict are usually locked in patterns of interaction that keep them from communicating effectively. Recrimination, avoidance and confusion are just a few of the dynamics that need to be dealt with before more constructive forms of communication can develop. In this seminar, participants learn how to open the process of communication in mediation, including:

• Establish the pivotal role of the mediator in the communication process.
• Developing constructive patterns of communication between the parties.
• Dealing with problematic dynamics.
• Utilizing the language of creative conflict.
• Integrating consulting lawyers' role with sensitivity to the impact on communication in the mediation.

A crucial challenge for mediators is the ability to assess and to deal effectively with power imbalances. This issue is fundamental to a mediator's work. It is also at the core of the debate about whether mediation can play a central role in the just resolution of conflict. This program will address the following:

• Recognizing power imbalances and the different elements that comprise them (including ways the gender of both the parties and the mediator can play a role).
• Assisting the parties in effectively confronting and changing power imbalances; understanding the limitations of mediation in dealing with power imbalances.
• Dealing with how the law can help rectify power imbalance, as well as how it can contributes to it.
• Addressing the tension between the mediator's commitment to neutrality and his/her responsibility to deal effectively with power imbalance.

In the Center's model of mediation, we assume neither that law determines the outcome nor that it is irrelevant. The challenge for the mediator is how the parties can be informed about the law without becoming controlled by it. The goal is that the parties themselves determine the weight and relevance of the legal standard to the choices they need to make. The program addresses the following issues: