Mediation, Principles and Practice - Hofstra University School of Law

MEDIATION: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE
(2 Credits)
Dates: Monday, January 2, 2012 thru Friday, January 6, 2012
Time:
Tuition:
Each day, from 8:30am – 5:30pm (except Friday)
$1,600 X 2 credits = $3,200.00 total
Registration: Begins on Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 10:30pm
(See Administrative Details section – below)
Tuition Due: Friday, November 11, 2011
ACADEMIC OVERVIEW
The Program
During the January 2012 intersession, Hofstra Law School will offer an intensive skills
training course in Mediation Principles and Practice, administered by Professor Baruch
Bush and several expert adjunct instructors. The class is limited to 30 partcipants,
primarily Hofstra Law School students, although a few seats will be open for non-Hofstra
partcipants.
The course will be taught in an intensive five-day program including lectures, discussion,
skills exercises and coached simulations. The program will run daily from
8:30am – 5:30 pm, except on Friday, when it will begin at 8:00am and end at 3:00pm.
Short morning and afternoon breaks have been included as well as a lunch break each
day.
Course Description
This skills training course will introduce students to transformative mediation theory,
principles and practice skills at a basic, generic level, and will also address the specifics
of family mediation practice (divorce and custody disputes, etc.) (For an introduction to
transformative mediation, if desired, see Bush & Pope, Changing the Quality of Conflict
Interaction, 3 PEPPERDINE DISP. RES. L.J. 67 (2002).)
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Topics addressed in the course include (among others):
• The Experience of Conflict and the Mediator’s Role
• Transformative Mediation Practices
• Underlying Premises/Foundations of Practice
• Understanding Parties’ Conflict Patterns and Process Dynamics
• Effective Mediator Responses and Interactive Strategies
• Creating the Context and Building the Process
• Decision Making in Divorce Cases: Parenting and Finances
• Intergration of Mediation with the Legal Process
• Domestic Violence: Implication for Mediation Practice
• Difficult Questions: Power and Fairness
• Ethical and practice Standards
This is a skills training course, which will allow – and require – participants to participate
in practice exercises and simulations. Through their work in the course, participants will
gain a basic familiarity with with the skills needed for mediation practice – skills which
are also of great value in many other areas of lawyering and client counseling. Those
who complete the course successfully will also receive certificates that qualify them to
apply to work as vounteer mediators in any of the 50+ state-supervised mediation centers
located in New York State.
Faculty
This year the course will be taught by Hofstra Law School Professor Baruch Bush, who is
recognized internationally as a major scholar in the field of mediation as well as the
originator of the transformative model of mediation practice. Professor Bush will be
assisted by several adjunct instructors who are experienced trainers/practitioners
associated with the Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation (see website at
www.transformativemediation.org). The curriculum and materials for the course have
been used to train mediators all over the U.S., including mediators in the United States
Postal Service’s award-winning workplace mediation program, and in many foreign
countries including Australia, Denmark, England, Italy, Sweden, Norway and Israel.
Program Contact Information
For further information about this program, please contact Professor Bush, by e-mail, at
lawrab@hofstra.edu.
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ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS
Registration
Course enrollment is limited. There are no pre-requisites for taking this course.
However, preference will be given to students who have taken one or more of the
following courses: Alternatives to Litigation; Advanced Mediation Seminar;
Negotiation, Mediation and the Family Lawyer; Introduction to child & Family
Advocacy; Negotiation Seminar and Family Court Review. Preference will also be given
to May 2012 graduates. Final decisions on acceptance to the course will be at the
discretion of Professor Bush.
Beginning on Tuesday, October 18, 2011:
To register for this course you will need to add yourself to the Waiting List. In order to
do this, you need to log into the My Hofstra Portal and select the Hofstra On-Line
Information tab. Follow these instructions:
-From the Main Menu, select the “Student” option.
-From the Student Menu, select the “Registration” option.
-From the Registration Menu, select the “Add/Drop Classes” option.
-Select the term – January Session 2012.
-On the “Add/Drop Classes” page, enter the CRN for the course – 10474 and “Submit
Changes”.
-You will then get a screen that says “Registration Add Errors”. Under the title “Action”,
chooose the “Wait List” option and “Submit Changes”.
-You are now Wait Listed for this course.
Students will be notified whether they have been accepted to and registered for the course
by Wednesday, November 2, 2011.
Tuition Payment
Due to the small class size and the trainer/student ratio needed to provide individual
attention to students, special restrictions must be placed on drops and withdrawals from
the course. Payment must be arranged for no later than Friday, November 11, 2011.
Payment may be made in the form of an ACH Debit (personal checking or savings
account) or a credit card (Master Card or Visa) on the Hofstra On-Line Information
System. Students receiving financial aid should consult the Law School Office of
Financial Aid, Joan Axinn Hall. Wait-listed students who are offered a seat must make
payment arrangements within 2 business days of registration or they are in jeopardy of
being dropped from the class.
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PLEASE NOTE: The Law School will offer a number of partial need-based
scholarships. In addition, student loans may be available.
Applications for need-based scholarships must be filed by Friday, November 4,
2011. Please contact the Law School’s Office of Financial Aid, which is located
in Joan Axinn Hall, for information regarding available financial assistance for
this course. You can reach the Office of Financial aid by calling (516) 463-5929
or by sending an e-mail to: lawfinaid@hofstra.edu.
Dropping the Course
Students may drop the course online by 11:59 pm on Sunday, November 13,
2011. Tuition payment will be fully refunded . The course will be deleted from
the transcript.
Students who drop the course between Monday, November 14, 2011 through
Friday, December 9, 2011 (5:00pm) will be assessed a $250 penalty.
The course must be dropped by filing a Course Change or Withdrawal Form with
the Office of Academic Records. The course will be deleted from the transcript.
Withdrawal from the Course
Due to the commitment of funds to hire and transport the trial attorneys who will
teach this program, tuition of students withdrawing after Friday, December 9,
2011 will not be refunded. Withdrawal must be made through the Office of
Academic Records. The course will remain on the transcript with a “W” in the
grade field. On the reverse side of the official transcript, the grade legend
describes the “W” as “Withdrawn without penalty or prejudice.”
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