BASIC MEDIATION TRAINING FOR CITY PERSONNEL AND NYU LAW STUDENTS

In September 2005, the Center for Mediation Services hosted an intensive mediation training for city personnel, new Center mediators, and law students, in conjunction with the NYU Law School’s Mediation Clinic. In addition to providing new city mediators with basic skills practice and orientation to mediating city workplace disputes at the Center, the session served as a foundation for the law students’ semester-long Mediation Clinic. The Mediation Clinic was developed in the Fall of 2004 as part of an educational partnership between NYU Law School and the Center, with ALJ Ray Kramer co-teaching as Assistant Adjunct Professor.

This was the third such training session the Center has hosted, focusing on developing basic mediation skills. Over the course of four days, the training team and the trainees discussed concepts including general conflict and negotiation theory, the principles and limitations of mediation, and specific mediator techniques. Primary emphasis was devoted to guided instruction and simulations. The trainees explored methods of structuring discussion of disputed issues and facilitating communication between disputants.

Like the Center’s other conflict resolution trainings, this session received positive evaluations from the trainees, who generally rated the session as “excellent” and described the training as “very effective,” “interesting and helpful,” and an “excellent learning opportunity.”