Advanced Track Workshops

This year SCMA and the American Institute of Mediation (“AIM”) have teamed up to offer a unique opportunity for study and advancement for mediators who have mediated 250 cases or have 5 years mediation experience. Co-sponsoring this track with the AIM Institute, and inviting participants with significant mediation experience, allows us to provide sessions that specifically cater to the needs and challenges faced by advanced mediators. The AIM Advanced Track is designed to appeal to even the most experienced mediators as they deal with complex dilemmas that need to be managed in their daily practices. The AIM Advanced Track features the latest work of Ken Cloke, Jim Melamed, Lee Jay Berman and Woody Mosten, as they guide us to become more complete mediators.

Advanced Track Workshops

Advanced Track Workshop I

Course Description: Stereotyping, Prejudice and Bias in Mediation: Lessons for Mediation Practitioners
Time: 10: 15 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
Trainer: Kenneth Cloke, Santa Monica, CA

Every conflict involves diversity, whether in race, gender, nationality, culture, sexual orientation, language, capacity, context, and personality, or simply in positions, interests, ideas, beliefs, backgrounds, values, and environments. These differences often result in prejudice, bias, stereotyping, and cross-cultural conflicts that aggravate underlying differences and make resolution less likely. Mediation therefore requires a developed set of principles and techniques for addressing prejudice, bias, stereotyping, and antagonistic responses to diversity. Participants in this workshop will learn approaches, exercises and techniques that will assist people in identifying the sources of prejudice, bias and stereotyping, and reduce their impact on cross-cultural communications and relationships. Participants will consider how these methods can be used to promote personal, relational, organizational and social change, and help people celebrate their differences.

Kenneth Cloke is a mediator, arbitrator, coach, consultant and trainer specializing in resolving complex multi-party conflicts and designing conflict resolution systems. He is the author of Mediating Dangerously: The Frontiers of Conflict Resolution; The Crossroads of Conflict: A Journey into the Heart of Dispute Resolution; and Conflict Revolution: Mediating Evil, War, Injustice, and Terrorism, and co-author with Joan Goldsmith of Resolving Conflicts at Work: 8 Strategies for Everyone on the Job; Resolving Personal and Organizational Conflict: Stories of Transformation and Forgiveness; The End of Management and the Rise of Organizational Democracy, and The Art of Waking People Up: Cultivating Awareness and Authenticity at Work. He is an Adjunct Professor at Pepperdine University School of Law; University of Amsterdam ADR Institute; Saybrook University, Massey University (New Zealand) and Southern Methodist University. He has done conflict resolution in twenty countries and is founder and past President of Mediators Beyond Borders.

Advanced Track Workshop II

Course Description: Building Trust and Utilizing Personal Power in Mediation
Time: 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Trainer: Lee Jay Berman, Los Angeles, CA

Mediation is, in many senses, a kind of micro-consulting that we do with our clients. Where other consultants have the luxury of weeks or months to build trust with their clients, develop a relationship and eventually become trusted advisors, mediators generally have a day. Within the first 10 minutes, we have secured a first impression with them, and through the next 2-3 hours, we must focus on building trust, above all else, because it is at the end of that day, when the going gets tough, that mediators need all of the impact we can muster. We will learn from the world of client service and consulting how to build trust and utilize personal power and executive presence to gain maximum mediator power and impact.

Lee Jay Berman began as a full-time mediator and trainer over 18 years ago, and has successfully mediated over 1,700 matters. He mediates through PMA Dispute Resolution in the Century City, and is also a national panelist with the AAA, a Distinguished Fellow with the International Academy of Mediators, and a Charter Diplomat with the National Academies of Distinguished Neutrals. He was Mediator of the Year for the US Bankruptcy Court in 2007; the Daily Journal named him a Top Neutral in 2008 and 2009; and he is in the Who’s Who of International Commercial Mediation. He founded the American Institute of Mediation, leaving his position as Director of Pepperdine Law School’s Mediating the Litigated Case program after seven years. He has trained judges, attorneys and business leaders in Croatia, Jordan, The Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, India and Australia. In 2010, SCMA honored him with the Randolph Lowry Award for his leadership in educating mediators.

Advanced Track Workshop III

Course Description: Choreographing Communication in Mediation
Time: 2:45 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Trainer: James C. Melamed, Eugene, OR

Jim describes how mediation is moving away from being “a discrete physical event” and toward a more complex “choreography of communication.” Jim will review the various available synchronous and asynchronous communication modalities and discuss how we are wise to align the communication modalities we use with the practical and psychological needs of the situation. On the front end of a mediation, when issues of trust, rapport development and “being heard” may be paramount, the utilization of “rich” modalities of communication (real time face-to-face, video and audio) are wise choices, whereas, later in the process, when agreement terms are being drafted, asynchronous text-based approaches, such as email and “track changes,” may be best choices. The issue is not “face-to-face or online,” but, rather, how we can best integrate both face-to-face and online communications.

Jim Melamed founded Mediate.com in 1996 and has served as CEO ever since. Before Mediate.com, Jim founded the Oregon Mediation Center in Eugene in 1983 and also served as Executive Director of the Academy of Family Mediators (AFM) from 1987-93. Mediate.com has received the ABA’s 2010 Institutional Problem Solver of the Year Award. Jim received the Oregon Mediation Association’s 2003 Award of Excellence, the Oregon State Bar’s 2006 Lezak Award of Excellence and the 2007 ACR John Haynes Distinguished Mediator Award. Jim’s undergraduate degree is in in psychology from Stanford and his law degree is from the University of Oregon.

Advanced Track Workshop IV

Course Description: Advanced Caucus Strategies: Impasse or Bad Behavior
Time: 4:00 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.
Trainer: Forrest (Woody) Mosten, Los Angeles, CA
Threats, stone silence, loud packing of briefcases: parties and lawyers are about to walk out the door! This workshop will feature 2 Last Stage Strategies to give one final opportunity for parties and lawyers to stay in the Mediation Process and reach a settlement. The highlighted strategies will be: Confidential Mini Evaluations by Accountants, Appraisers and Other Experts and the Final Mediator Settlement Proposal. For each strategy, Woody will set out and demonstrate the theory and concrete steps to perform the strategy and the participants will have the opportunity to discuss challenging facts, relationship dynamics, and ethical considerations.

Forrest (Woody) Mosten has been a private mediator since 1979, has been SCMA’s Annual Keynote speaker 3 times, and trains mediators and lawyers worldwide. He is the author of 4 books, including, Mediation Career Guide, and his training signature is to blend the mastery of advanced skills with strategies to develop profitable mediation practices.