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On August 5, 2019, I had the enlightening opportunity of discussing mediation with Rick Mikels, a seasoned bankruptcy practitioner whose appreciation for the nuances of mediation is remarkable. Rick was one of the first students of the ABI/St. Johns 40-Hour Mediation Training Program, an intensive five-day course that focuses on bankruptcy issues while educating participants about the concepts and techniques available to mediators.
Anyone who has spent any time mediating, either representing a party or acting as the neutral, knows that the role of a mediator is typically defined by the parties, the nature of the litigation and the best path toward a resolution. Certainly, a mediator is a neutral facilitator, but the same can be said of arbitrators. All forms of “alternative dispute resolution” come down to the question of whether the neutral is acting in a facilitator role, advisory role or determinative role.
This webinar is geared to attorneys participating as advocates in mediations. It is intended to provide guidance for attorney advocates on how to select mediators, prepare themselves and their clients for mediation, and how to formulate negotiating strategies for use in the mediation. This program will also include tips for ensuring the attorney advocate and the client have properly formulated a risk assessment and negotiating strategy in advance of the mediation, as well as tips for dealing with impasse.
Every once in a great while, a group of people perform a voluntary service of hard and diligent effort that produces a result of excellence and provides great value to others. That is precisely what a small group of people did in creating model local rules and supporting commentary on bankruptcy mediation.
Mediation training has ventured into mindfulness, a contemplative practice that teaches mediators to develop a sense of calm. One benefit of this practice is evident when the energy in the mediation session is less than positive. With this technique, the mediator can assess how to re-focus that energy in a way that best assists the parties in reaching a resolution of their dispute. I’ve attended three training sessions. Before the first one, being the skeptic that I sometimes am, I thought the training would not prove to be the best use of my time.
ABI’s Mediation Committee, under the current leadership of Leslie Berkoff and John Loughnane, presented the first “Portable Mediation Program” at Suffolk Law School in Boston on May 9, 2019. The program was designed by Lou Kornreich and John Loughnane as co-chairs of the committee’s Special Projects subcommittee.
ABI has been running a mediation training program in conjunction with St. John’s Law School each December for the past nine years. This program stands apart from other programs that are available for training in a more generalized capacity. The history of its development, as well as the specific structure of the program, make it the premier mediation training for anyone involved in bankruptcy-focused mediations.
