ABI/St. John’s Bankruptcy Mediation Training will offer its fifth 40-hour training session this spring. In recognition of this grand achievement, we spoke with Elayne Greenberg, the program’s co-creator and facilitator. As a participant of the inaugural ABI/St. John’s mediation class of 2011, it was a pleasure to catch up with Elayne and learn how the program has grown since its inception.
Judy Weiker (Judy): What was the genesis for creating the ABI/St. John’s Forty-Hour Mediation Training Program focusing on bankruptcy practice?
Elayne Greenberg (Elayne): The ABI/St. John’s Bankruptcy Mediation Training is actually a collaboration among three leaders in the field of bankruptcy education and mediation training: ABI, St. John’s Center for Bankruptcy Studies and St. John’s Hugh L. Carey Center for Dispute Resolution. ABI is the nation’s leading provider of quality bankruptcy educational programs. St. John’s Center for Bankruptcy Studies offers the nation’s premier bankruptcy program featuring the only LL.M. in Bankruptcy. The Hugh L. Carey Center for Dispute Resolution, a leader in the field of dispute resolution, offers a wide range of dispute-resolution programs, training both students and practitioners about the values and skills of dispute resolution. Together, ABI and the St. John’s Bankruptcy program publish the American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review, which has a circulation of approximately 11,000. In 2009, ABI's Executive Director, Sam Gerdano, approached Prof. G. Ray Warner, then Associate Dean of Bankruptcy Studies and Professor of Law at St. John's Law School, about developing a bankruptcy mediation training for experienced bankruptcy mediation practitioners. Jerry Goldstein, an ABI member and a bankruptcy mediation enthusiast, had also been discussing the need for a specialized training. The need for well-trained mediators was growing. Yes, there were many mediation training programs available, but none of them addressed the specific concerns of bankruptcy mediations.
Sam and Ray invited me in my capacity as director of the Hugh L. Carey Center at St. John's to join their successful collaboration and develop this bankruptcy mediation-training program. Over the next two years, I met with the ABI Judges Advisory Group, ABI Bankruptcy Community and ABI Bankruptcy Mediators focus groups to ensure that the training was responsive to bankruptcy's specialized needs. Specialized bankruptcy mediation simulations based on actual bankruptcy cases were created. On Dec. 7, 2011, the ABI/St. John's Inaugural Bankruptcy Mediation Training was launched.
(Judy): How has the program evolved over the last 5 years?
(Elayne): The foundation of the program is solid, and except for the ongoing refinement that is de rigeur of any quality training, the basic training has remained constant. However, bankruptcy mediation continues to be a dynamic field that is helping shape mediation practice and law. In each of our mediation programs we also include such timely topics as practice challenges in chapter 9 bankruptcy mediations and tackling confidentiality issues when hedge funds participate in bankruptcy mediation.
(Judy): What do participants take away from the program?
(Elayne): Many participants echo their surprise at how much they learn and how quickly the 40-hour training flies by. An added bonus for all who take the training is that they become part of a supportive and collegial mediation community that is an ongoing and welcome resource in their professional lives.
A Roster of ABI/St. John’s Bankruptcy Mediation Training participants and mentors are listed below.
Michael Sean Amato - Ruskin Moscou Faltischek, PC
Jerald I. Ancel - Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP
Elizabeth J. Austin - Pullman & Comley, LLC
Scott L. Baena - Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod, LLP
David M. Banker - Lowenstein Sandler LLP
Lawrence Bass - Larry Bass Mediation Services
Michael M. Beal - McNair Law Firm, PA
Peter J. Benvenutti - Keller & Benvenutti LLP
Leslie Ann Berkoff - Moritt Hock & Hamroff LLP
Geoffrey L. Berman - Development Specialists, Inc.
Thomas E. Biron - Blank Rome LLP
Rachel S. Blumenfeld - Law Office of Rachel S. Blumenfeld
Michael V. Blumenthal - Thompson & Knight LLP
Donald Brady - Blair & Brady
Timothy T. Brock - Satterlee Stephens Burke & Burke LLP
Deirdre Carey Brown - Hoover Slovacek LLP
Howard Brod Brownstein - Brownstein Corp.
James T. Burghardt - Moye White LLP
Carollynn H.G. Callari - Venable LLP
Norma Caquatto - Duquesne University School of Law
Hollace T. Cohen - Troutman Sanders LLP
H. Miles Cohn - Sheiness Scott Grossman & Cohn LLP
Michael E. Comerford - Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP
Bernard G. Conaway - Cohen Seglias Pallas Greenhall & Furman PC
Francis G. Conrad - Jager Smith PC
Karen Cordry - National Association of Attorneys General
Michael A. Crawford - Taylor, Porter, Brooks & Phillips, LLP|
Walter H. Curchack - Loeb & Loeb LLP
H. Slayton Dabney, Jr. - Heller, Draper, Patrick, Horn & Dabney, LLC
Robert N. Dangremond - March Brown LLC
C. Edward Dobbs - Parker, Hudson, Rainer & Dobbs LLP|
Van C. Durrer, II - Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Esther DuVal - CBIZ MHM, LLC
Judith Elkin - Haynes and Boone, LLP
Bonnie Glantz Fatell - Blank Rome LLP
Benjamin D. Feder - Kelley Drye & Warren LLP
Ralph A. Ferro, Jr. - Ralph A. Ferro, Jr. Esq. Law Offices
Eric B. Fisher - Dickstein Shapiro, LLP
Robert M. Fishman - Shaw Fishman Glantz & Towbin LLC
Ryan G. Foley - AIG Property Casualty Law Department
Gregory E. Garman - Gordon Silver
Jay Steven Geller - Law Office of Jay S. Geller
Arlene N. Gelman - Vedder Price PC
Jeffrey L. Glatzer - Reed Smith, LLP; Retired
Jerry D. Goldstein - Goldstein Vespi & Vazquez LLC
Elayne E. Greenberg - St. John's University
Joseph W. Grier, III - Grier, Furr & Crisp, PA
Geoffrey Groshong - Miller Nash LLP
Yvette Gutierrez - St. John's University School of Law
Eric J. Haber - Cooley LLP
Reginald W. Jackson - Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP
Jill R. Jacoway - Jacoway Law Firm
Paul G. Jennings - Bass Berry & Sims PLC
Allen G. Kadish - DiConza Traurig Magaliff, LLP
Soneet R. Kapila - Kapila Mukamal
Lewis M. Killian, Jr. - Berger Singerman, LLP
Richardo I. Kilpatrick - Kilpatrick & Associates, PC
Norman N. Kinel - Lowenstein Sandler LLP
Shelley A. Kinsella - Elliott Greenleaf
Roy S. Kobert - GrayRobinson
Michael P. Kruszewski - Quinn, Buseck, Leemhuis, Toohey & Kroto, Inc.
Dean A. Langdon - DelCotto Law Group PLLC
Raymond T. Lyons - Fox Rothschild LLP
Jennifer Manfredi - St. John's University Law School
Jerry M. Markowitz - Markowitz, Ringel, Trusty + Hartog, P.A.
Richard A. Marshack - Marshack Hays, LLP
Sylvia Ann Mayer - S. Mayer Law PLLC
G. William McCarthy, Jr. - McCarthy Law Firm, LLC
Michael K. McCrory - Barnes & Thornburg LLP
Selinda A. Melnik - DLA Piper
Gregory Messer - Law Offices of Gregory Messer, PLLC
R. William Metzger, Jr. - Robinson, McFadden & Moore, PC
Linda A. Michler - Professional Dispute Resolution, LLC
Richard E. Mikels - Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo, PC
Richard K. Milin - DiConza Traurig Kadish LLP
Hon. Cecelia G. Morris - U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York
Maureen Mulligan - St. John's University Law School
Tara E. Nauful - Adams and Reese LLP
Jean Nolan - Hugh L. Carey Center for Dispute Resolution
Dion Oglesby - EisnerAmper LLP
Richard P. Olson - Perkins Olson, PA
James M. Peck - Morrison & Foerster LLP
Hon. Elizabeth L. Perris - U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Oregon
Hon. Keith L. Phillips - U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of Virginia
Gerrit M. Pronske - Pronske, Goolsby & Kathman, P.C.
Roger Bennett Radol - Roger B. Radol, ESQ., LLC
Ira A. Reid - Baker & McKenzie LLP
Gary Rosen
Marc David Rosenberg - Golenbock, Eiseman, Assor, Bell & Peskoe LLP
Hon. Barry Russell - U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Central District of California
Maura I. Russell - DiConza Traurig Kadish LLP
Hon. Louis A. Scarcella - U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of New York
Frederick E. Schmidt - Herrick, Feinstein LLP
Edward L. Schnitzer - Hahn & Hessen LLP
Mark D. Silverschotz - Reed Smith LLP
Wendy M. Simkulak - Duane Morris LLP
Joann Sternheimer - Deily & Glastetter, LLP
Hon. Elizabeth S. Stong - U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of New York
Scott Y. Stuart - GCG
Donald L. Swanson - Koley Jessen
Walter J. Taggart - Villanova Law School
Judy D. Thompson - JD Thompson Law
John A. Thomson, Jr. - Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, LLP
Joel M. Walker - Duane Morris LLP
Prof. G. Ray Warner - St. John's University School of Law and Of Counsel Greenberg Traurig, LLP
Judy W. Weiker - Manewitz Weiker Associates, LLC
John C. Weitnauer - Alston & Bird LLP
Rory D. Whelehan - Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, LLP
David M. Whittaker - Bricker & Eckler LLP
Allen D. Wilen - EisnerAmper LLP
Renee S. Williams - Bankruptcy Trustee
Jeffrey C. Wisler - Connolly Gallagher LLP
T. Barrett Wood - Rezerve Consulting
Donald Wyatt - Wyatt and Gracey, PC
Kevin Zuzolo - Otterbourg P.C.
Mediation Newsletter Articles: Request for Article Submissions and Committee Participation
The ABI Mediation Newsletter subcommittee is seeking volunteers who would like to submit articles for publication in the quarterly newsletter. Articles should run between 500 and 1,200 words. We will arrange a conference call in April (publicized by listserve) welcoming all of interest to participate and share ideas and topics for publication.
The 2015 schedule for submission is as follows:
May 28, 2015
September 3, 2015
November 19, 2015
If you have any questions about newsletter guidelines, please contact Martha Cannon (mcannon@abi.org).