The Mediator as Likeable Badass
Thursday, July 31st
8 a.m PST| 11 a.m EST
Our special guest this week, Alison Fragale will Present on:
The Mediator as Likeable Badass
Status - one of the biggest determinants of our quality of life and career success - is poorly understood and rarely discussed. Professor Alison Fragale, organizational psychologist and bestselling author of Likeable Badass: How Women Get the Success They Deserve, will shed light on the science of status. What it is, why it matters, and how we leverage it for individual and collective success.
When you’re thinking about where to donate, please consider supporting the food bank, Greater Chicago Food Depository
Our presenter:
Alison Fragale is an organizational psychologist, professor at the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School, and bestselling author of Likeable Badass: How Women Get the Success They Deserve. Her academic research on status, power, negotiation, and influence have been published in her field’s top academic journals as well as national media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. She is a sought-after keynote speaker who uses behavioral science to help individuals, especially women, excel. Prior to her academic career, Alison worked as a consultant for McKinsey and Company, Inc.
She holds a B.A. in Mathematics and Economics from Dartmouth College and a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Alison resides in Chicago with her husband and her three children, who are all named after professional athletes. She also loves, in no particular order: cheap coffee, not-so-cheap wine, fabulous shoes, sushi, the Pittsburgh Steelers, Peloton workouts, Hallmark movies, and The Golden Girls.
Offered by Will Work For Food, founded by Natalie Armstrong-Motin (www.HowToMarketMyMediationPractice.com and moderated by Jeff Kichaven (www.JeffKichaven.com ) and Jean Lawler (www.LawlerADR.com)
This worldwide conversation will be like nothing else. Join in! Share, learn, have fun, and raise money for food banks.
The Deal Behind the Deal: Hollywood Negotiation Secrets from the Trenches
David Shraga offers an insider's look at the hidden dynamics of entertainment dealmaking, where every contract is a delicate balance of ego, leverage, and creative control. This seminar provides an overview of the complex landscape and ecosystem of dealmakers, and how the key players navigate negotiations over the lifecycle of a project. Within this framework, David reveals the sophisticated psychological and strategic techniques he has developed in Hollywood's pressure-cooker environment that translate directly to high-stakes mediation and complex business negotiations.
Luxury Real Estate Negotiations: High-Stakes Strategies for Complex, Emotion-Driven Deals
Thursday, August 14th
Our special guest this week, David Kramer, Director of Global Luxury for Compass Real Estate, will Present on:
Luxury Real Estate Negotiations: High-Stakes Strategies for Complex, Emotion-Driven Deals
This seminar presents a unique opportunity to pull the curtain back and peer into the fascinating world of high stakes negotiations occuring at the ultra-high end of the luxury real estate market. Your guide on this exploration is David Kramer, an agent with over 30 years experience selling iconic properties like the Spelling Mansion and others, and who will share the lessons he has learned as negotiator, relationship builder and dealmaker.
David's seminar explores the unique psychological and strategic challenges of negotiating luxury property transactions, where buyers and sellers often have deep emotional attachments, multiple decision-makers (including trustees and lawyers), and non-monetary motivations. David will share techniques for managing ego dynamics, cross-cultural considerations for international clients, leveraging scarcity and exclusivity (including in multiple offer situations), and navigating deals where trustee protection and relationship preservation is as important as price optimization - insights that translate directly to high-stakes mediation and negotiations.
When you’re thinking about where to donate, please consider supporting Food On Foot
Our presenter:
David Kramer is the Director of Global Luxury for Compass Real Estate, the largest residential brokerage in the United States by sales volume. Based in Los Angeles, David has over 30 years of experience in representing buyers and sellers of high-end estates throughout the local region and globally. David previously served as the President of the Beverly Hills based luxury brokerage firm Hilton & Hyland, where he was a top producing agent. Among his other accomplishments, David sold an incredible $357,000,000 in properties in 2021, has been named a Top 20 Luxury Agent by The Real Deal, and has been named among the 35 Go-To Real Estate Brokers for Hollywood Heavyweights by The Hollywood Reporter.
David has earned the trust of organizations as diverse as Cedar Sinai, pre-eminent law firms, the trust departments of major financial institutions and specialists in trust administration, and other institutions when it comes to selling prestigious residential assets. A deep commitment to service in his private life has led him to be involved with The American Cancer Society, Jewish Big Brothers, Project Angel Food, Food on Foot, Gabby Giffords, and the Remote Area Medical Foundation. He is especially proud of his past work volunteering as a Big Brother.
Offered by Will Work For Food, founded by Natalie Armstrong-Motin (www.HowToMarketMyMediationPractice.com, moderated by Jeff Kichaven (www.JeffKichaven.com ) and Jean Lawler (www.LawlerADR.com) and Program Coordinator, David Shraga
This worldwide conversation will be like nothing else. Join in! Share, learn, have fun, and raise money for food banks.
Passionate Attachments: Navigating the Emotional Cauldron of Contentious Disputes
Thursday, August 21st
Our special guest this week, Alexander Stein, PhD Founder + Managing Principal Dolus Advisors will Present on:
Passionate Attachments: Navigating the Emotional Cauldron of Contentious Disputes
Sometimes, people in relationships – couples, business partners, family enterprises – are perfectly wrong for each other in just the right ways. This idea is a point of entry to recognizing and addressing the dizzying array of powerful psychodynamic forces – seething resentments, rivalries, bullying, shaming, guilt, hostility, blame, power plays for dominance, attention, and affection, histories of love and deep attachments to shared wounds and conflicts – underlying personal and commercial relationships in discord and contestation. This session provides penetrating analysis and practical strategies for mediators to help disputing parties navigate situationally particular but generally predictable stages (or zones) of conflict and then guide them out of intractable spirals – helping them see that movement brings friction which can be challenging but crucial for change or resolution.
When you’re thinking about where to donate, please consider supporting one of these:
City Harvest
World Central Kitchen - ChefsForUkraine
For important non-food-related support, please consider donating to Physicians for Human Rights
Our presenter:
DR ALEXANDER STEIN | Dolus Advisors
alexanderstein@dolusadvisors.com
Alexander Stein is founder and managing principal of Dolus Advisors, a strategic consultancy specializing in organizational issues with complex psychological underpinnings. Trained and licensed as a clinical psychoanalyst, Dr Stein leverages deep expertise in decision-making, behavior, and the influences of power and psycho-social dynamics to advise CEO's, executive teams, and boards on psychological aspects of leadership, provide psychologically incisive leadership and culture assessments, elevate board effectiveness and governance capabilities, and architect and lead CEO succession and transition processes. An internationally regarded authority in human risk and the psychodynamics of fraud, Dr Stein regularly serves as a consulting expert in situations involving corporate misconduct and executive malfeasance, and frequently collaborates with members of ICC FraudNet, a worldwide network of leading lawyers who specialize in fraud and international asset tracing and recovery, in multijurisdictional serious fraud and grand corruption matters. He is also a specialist collaborator to the Center for Human Centered Cybersecurity (HCC) of The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and helps companies mitigate and resolve challenging human factor disturbances through the development and implementation of psycho-socially sophisticated cybersecurity and corporate culture and ethics programs. His technology practice provides expert guidance in the human decision-making behind the complex psychological, psycho-social, and ethical risks and responsibilities of frontier computational systems designed to assume unsupervised autonomous decision-making functions in human affairs.
He sits on several advisory boards, notably including PsiAN, a leading mental health advocacy organization, is the co-chair elect of both the Committee on Public Information and the Committee on Corporate and Organizational Consultants of the American Psychoanalytic Association, and is the Regional Chair for North America of the Virtual Library of the International Psychoanalytical Association.
A prolific writer and expert resource, Dr Stein is widely published and cited in the business press, varied industry publications, and peer-reviewed journals, including Fast Company, INC, Financier Worldwide, Risk & Compliance, the Wall Street Journal, the ICC FraudNet Global Report, Journal of International Banking Law and Regulation, among many others. He is a former monthly columnist for FORTUNE Small Business Magazine, CNN/Money, and CBS Business News, and a former regular contributor to Forbes. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of The CAI Report, a publication of the American Psychoanalytic Association, delivering insights and commentary at the intersection of psychoanalysis and artificial intelligence.
An engaging and experienced public speaker adept at explaining complicated topics clearly and compellingly for any audience, Dr Stein is a frequent podcast and webinar guest, on-camera commentator, and keynote speaker and panelist at conferences, symposia, and corporate events internationally.
Offered by Will Work For Food, founded by Natalie Armstrong-Motin (www.HowToMarketMyMediationPractice.com, moderated by Jeff Kichaven (www.JeffKichaven.com ) and Jean Lawler (www.LawlerADR.com) and Program Coordinator, David Shraga
This worldwide conversation will be like nothing else. Join in! Share, learn, have fun, and raise money for food banks.
The role of in-house counsel in mediation
Thursday, August 28th
8 a.m PST| 11 a.m EST
Our special guest this week, Cindy Randall, VP, Deputy General Counsel, Microsoft, will Present on:
The role of in-house counsel in mediation
Reflections of an in-house veteran of dozens of mediations on how the in-house lawyer can best contribute to the success of mediation and the ultimate settlement of disputes.
When you’re thinking about where to donate, please consider supporting Northwest Harvest
Our presenter:
Cynthia Randall is VP, Deputy General Counse and Head of Litigation at Microsoft, where she oversees the defense of commercial and IP litigation, regulatory enforcement actions and international arbitrations. Cindy has 30 years of complex litigation experience, including in-house roles at Verizon and Cigna, and law firm experience with Dechert LLP and Saul Ewing LLP. Cindy is a graduate of Duke University and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She serves on Microsoft’s Pro Bono Steering Committee, the Class Action Committee of Lawyers for Civil Justice, the Liability Reform Committee of the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center and the Council of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR).
Offered by Will Work For Food, founded by Natalie Armstrong-Motin (www.HowToMarketMyMediationPractice.com and moderated by Jeff Kichaven (www.JeffKichaven.com ) and Jean Lawler (www.LawlerADR.com)
This worldwide conversation will be like nothing else. Join in! Share, learn, have fun, and raise money for food banks.
What Moves the Needle? Essentialism in Dispute Resolution
Thursday, September 4th
**This presentation will not be recorded**
Our special guest this week, Anthony Vidovich, Global Head of Insurance Legal - AIG will Present on:
What Moves the Needle?
Essentialism in Dispute Resolution
To paraphrase Tolstoy, all happy mediations are alike; each unhappy mediation is unhappy in its own way. After over 25 years of being in and around every manner of mediation from the most run of the mill personal dispute to the most complex and multi-layered commercial matter . . . I have come to the conclusion that mediations fail - a lot. They fail for a myriad of reasons. I have also concluded that successful mediations all share a common core of essential attributes.
Successful mediation depends on these essential pieces all working together: choosing the right approach for the specific dispute (listen and understand the problem to be solved), having a skilled mediator who can balance the power dynamics and keep things fair and organized (structure, objectivity, clarity), and making sure all parties come prepared with the information and authority they need to make decisions - as well as possessing the necessary mindset (accountability). The process must help parties understand what’s realistic while encouraging creative solutions that go beyond what a court could order, all while keeping participation truly voluntary and maintaining a flexible and positive approach to pivot when something isn’t working.
Most importantly, the mediation must focus on creating agreements that actually work in the real world, because if any of these pieces is missing, the whole process can fail no matter how well everything else goes. Success ultimately comes down to the mediator’s ability to create the space that allows for resolution and the parties to control their own decisions in which they are invested, leading to lasting solutions that address what the parties really need and avoid the costs and unpredictability of going to court. It is about behaviors. This is the essentialism of mediation.
When you’re thinking about where to donate, please consider supporting The Open Door
Our presenter:
Anthony Vidovich is currently the Global Head of Insurance Legal for AIG. He and his teams are responsible for providing comprehensive legal support for all of the worldwide property and casualty businesses of AIG, as well as the product underwriting, reinsurance, and risk capital business capabilities of the Company globally. Previously, Anthony was AIG’s Global Head of Underwriting and Reinsurance Legal. Prior to January 2024, Anthony was the Global Chief Claims Officer for AIG which includes the North America, International, Specialty Commercial and Personal Insurance businesses of AIG, and was responsible for setting the strategic direction of AIG's claims operation and service offerings, providing market-leading claims expertise and technical service to AIG's clients across the globe, and driving best practices and data driven insights for the company and its clients.
Prior to joining AIG in May 2018, Anthony served as XL Catlin’s Executive Vice President and Global Head of Claims for Insurance and Reinsurance. Anthony previously served as XL Group’s Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Global Insurance Claims. Before joining XL Group in 2014, Anthony was Senior Vice President, Associate General Counsel and Director of Commercial Markets Law for The Hartford, having previously served as The Hartford's Director of Reinsurance Law. Prior to 2006, Anthony was associated with the law firm of Blank Rome LLP where his practice centered on contentious and non-contentious matters for financial institutions, including re/insurance companies, regulators, and receivers.
Anthony received his BA, summa cum laude, from Boston University, and his JD, with highest honors, from Rutgers University School of Law. He is active in industry trade associations and philanthropic and charitable organizations.
Offered by Will Work For Food, founded by Natalie Armstrong-Motin (www.HowToMarketMyMediationPractice.com, moderated by Jeff Kichaven (www.JeffKichaven.com ) and Jean Lawler (www.LawlerADR.com) and Program Coordinator, David Shraga
This worldwide conversation will be like nothing else. Join in! Share, learn, have fun, and raise money for food banks.
Bridge to Exit: Crafting and Cashing in on Your Mediation Practice
Thursday, September 11th
Our special guest this week, Diana Mercer, Esq., retired Attorney-Mediator will Present:
Bridge to Exit: Crafting and Cashing in on Your Mediation Practice
If you’d like to sell your practice when you retire or switch gears, you need to have something to sell---financials, IP, good will, and/or tangible assets. These don’t have to all be perfect, and you don’t have to have all of them, but you need a good mix of these or you won’t have anything to sell. Advance planning will set you up for success when the time comes to cash out
When you’re thinking about where to donate, please consider supporting the Second Helpings
Our presenter:
Diana Mercer sold her mediation practice, Peace Talks Mediation Services, Inc., in 2013. She’s a graduate of the Indiana University Mauer School of Law and has a bunch of impressive credentials, happily none of which matter anymore.
Diana Mercer, Esq. is a retired Attorney-Mediator and the founder of Peace Talks Mediation Services in Los Angeles, California (www.peace-talks.com), which she built by herself from the ground up and sold in 2013. A veteran litigator, she devoted her practice solely to mediation starting in 2000.
She is the co-author of Making Divorce Work: 8 Essential Keys to Resolving Conflict and Rebuilding Your Life (Penguin/Perigee 2010), Your Divorce Advisor: A Lawyer and a Psychologist Guide You Through the Legal and Emotional Landscape of Divorce (Simon & Schuster/Fireside 2001) and 8 Simple Keys to Building and Growing Your Mediation or Arbitration Practice (Peace Talks Press 2011). An active blogger, she wrote for the Huffington Post and maintained the interactive Making Divorce Work blog. She’s an Advanced Practitioner Member of the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR) and is admitted to practice law in California, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and before the Supreme Court of the United States.
Since her retirement, she’s attended culinary school in the United States and France, written a novel, Cooking School, A Love Story (Quill & Copper 2024), played in the World Series of Poker, traveled extensively, renovated houses, learned woodworking, learned to fish, attended bartending school, and rescued a sassy pug, among other dogs.
Offered by Will Work For Food, founded by Natalie Armstrong-Motin (www.HowToMarketMyMediationPractice.com, moderated by Jeff Kichaven (www.JeffKichaven.com ) and Jean Lawler (www.LawlerADR.com) and Program Coordinator, David Shraga
This worldwide conversation will be like nothing else. Join in! Share, learn, have fun, and raise money for food banks.
How to Negotiate Like the Adult You Want to Be
Thursday, September 18th
8 a.m PST| 11 a.m EST
Our special guest this week, Andrea Kupfer Schneider, Professor of Law and Director of the Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution at Cardozo School of Law will Present on:
How to Negotiate Like the Adult You Want to Be
Social media, the Covid lockdown, campus unrest, and political polarization have upended and challenged norms of communication. Many of us have lost the skills of listening with curiosity to those with whom we strongly disagree. And yet we know that we need these skills to manage our career, our family, our friends, and the typical day to day disputes in which we engage, let alone the broader societal challenges we face. How can we (re)learn communication and negotiation skills? How can we determine when to talk, when to listen, when to negotiate, and when to fight?
When you’re thinking about where to donate, please consider supporting Upward NY
Our presenter:
Andrea Kupfer Schneider is a Professor of Law and Director of the Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution at Cardozo School of Law. Professor Schneider was the previous director of the nationally ranked ADR program at Marquette University Law School in Wisconsin, where she taught ADR, Negotiation, Ethics and International Conflict Resolution for over two decades. In addition to overseeing the ADR program, Professor Schneider was the inaugural director of the university’s Institute for Women’s Leadership.
In 2024, Professor Schneider was awarded the Rubin Theory to Practice Award given by the International Association of Conflict Management (IACM) honoring meritorious and long-standing contributions at the nexus of theory, research and practice. She was named the 2017 recipient of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution Award for Outstanding Scholarly Work, the highest scholarly award given by the ABA in the field of dispute resolution. And in 2009, Professor Schneider was awarded the Woman of the Year Award by the Wisconsin Law Journal and the Association for Women Lawyers. She was elected to the American Law Institute in 2022 and the Council for Foreign Relations in 2023.
She is a founding editor of Indisputably, the blog for ADR law faculty, and started the Dispute Resolution Works-in-Progress annual conferences in 2007. In 2016, she gave her first TEDx talk titled Women Don’t Negotiate and Other Similar Nonsense. Professor Schneider received her A.B. cum laude from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs and her J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School. She also received a Diploma from the Academy of European Law in Florence, Italy.
Offered by Will Work For Food, founded by Natalie Armstrong-Motin (www.HowToMarketMyMediationPractice.com, moderated by Jeff Kichaven (www.JeffKichaven.com ) and Jean Lawler (www.LawlerADR.com) and Program Coordinator, David Shraga
This worldwide conversation will be like nothing else. Join in! Share, learn, have fun, and raise money for food banks.
How Mass Claims Settlements Can Help Restore a Sense of Agency and Dignity in Victims
Thursday, September 25th
8 a.m PST| 11 a.m EST
Our special guest this week, Jordana ("Jordy") H. Feldman will Present on:
How Mass Claims Settlements Can Help Restore a Sense of Agency and Dignity in Victims
By definition, settlements arising from mass tragedies address a large number of claims, often after years of contentious litigation. How can Special Masters and settlement administrators balance equity and efficiency when determining compensation and allocating damages among eligible claimants?
The sheer volume of claims can make individualization a challenge. But an individualized approach (to varying extents) can be critically important in validating a claimant’s experience and assuring a claimant’s sense of justice. We’ll discuss what that looks like, the many considerations at play when designing and administering mass claims programs, and how the guiding principles in those programs apply in the traditional mediation context.
When you’re thinking about where to donate, please consider supporting Backpack Buddies
Our presenter:
Ms. Feldman has spent most of her career serving as an independent neutral, designing and administering litigation-alternative mass claims resolution programs and mediating highly sensitive, emotional disputes. She has extensive experience in cases involving sexual abuse and sexual assault, personal injury and wrongful death, having run programs to resolve claims of sexual abuse against Jeffrey Epstein and his estate and against clergy and faith-based organizations, as well as serving for many years as Deputy Special Master of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.
She founded her own claims resolution company, Davarker Advisors, LLC after leaving the Justice Department in 2019, and recently joined JAMS in New York, continuing her mass claims work and more traditional mediation practice. Drawing on her experience and seeing a void in law school curricula, she also developed a first-of-its-kind course on victim compensation funds as alternatives to litigation, which she teaches as an adjunct professor at NYU Law School and University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School.
Offered by Will Work For Food, founded by Natalie Armstrong-Motin (www.HowToMarketMyMediationPractice.com and moderated by Jeff Kichaven (www.JeffKichaven.com ) and Jean Lawler (www.LawlerADR.com)
This worldwide conversation will be like nothing else. Join in! Share, learn, have fun, and raise money for food banks.
Different Wiring, Shared Solutions: Why Understanding Neurodiversity Can Help You Resolve Conflict
Thursday, October 16th
Our special guest this week, Laura Anthony, Disability Attorney, Speaker and Mediator will Present on:
Different Wiring, Shared Solutions: Why Understanding Neurodiversity Can Help You Resolve Conflict
Imagine conflict resolution as tuning a radio: each of us broadcasts on different frequencies, and without the right adjustments, static fills the air. In “Different Wiring, Shared Solutions,” we’ll explore how embracing neurodiversity—those unique ways our brains process information—can transform the way you navigate disagreements. You’ll discover simple, step‑by‑step strategies.
We’ll unpack practical tools for spotting sensory triggers, decoding non‑literal language, and crafting inclusive dialogues that honor everyone’s perspective. By the end, you’ll leave equipped not only to resolve conflict more creatively, proof that different wiring doesn’t divide us; it powers our shared success.
When you’re thinking about where to donate, please consider supporting Mid Ohio Market
Our presenter:
Laura Anthony is a nationally recognized speaker, disability attorney and consultant with an extensive background in neurodiversity, inclusive leadership and dispute resolution. For over 25 years, Laura has led a neurodiverse team and helped business and organizational leaders understand the differences in how people think, process and communicate. As a certified mediator and investigator, Laura has also been at the forefront of neuroinclusive conflict resolution efforts, training professionals on how to implement practices that are effective, affirming and trauma-informed.
Beyond her professional experience, Laura brings a deep personal connection to her work. As the child of a parent who suffered a brain injury, Laura spent her life navigating the realities of neurodiversity and this, coupled with her studies of psychology and brain science, gave her a firsthand view of the strengths and struggles that can occur when people think and communicate in different ways. This understanding fueled her interest in breaking down stigmas, improving workplace inclusion and helping improve dispute resolution practices.
Offered by Will Work For Food, founded by Natalie Armstrong-Motin (www.HowToMarketMyMediationPractice.com, moderated by Jeff Kichaven (www.JeffKichaven.com ) and Jean Lawler (www.LawlerADR.com) and Program Coordinator, David Shraga
This worldwide conversation will be like nothing else. Join in! Share, learn, have fun, and raise money for food banks.
Effectively Representing Clients in Family Mediation
Thursday, January 15th
Our special guest this week, Woody Mosten, Mediator, will Present on:
Effectively Representing Clients in Family Mediation
Based on 2023 ABA book of the same title, this presentation will highlight innovative ways that consulting lawyers and mediators can be partners to help families in conflict.
When you’re thinking about where to donate, please consider supporting Feeding San Diego
Our presenter:
Forrest (Woody) Mosten has spent his entire career as a tireless peacemaker working for increased legal access and dispute resolution for the underserved and diverse members of our society. Woody is a professional mediator helping families, businesses, and organizations resolve disputes. He has mediated conflict involving schools, community boards. churches and synagogues, and non-profit organizations. He is the co-founder of Mosten Mediation Training Academy for online Mediation Training.
Woody is the author of eight books. and numerous articles on mediation and other dispute resolution topics.
View his full and expansive resume.
Offered by Will Work For Food, founded by Natalie Armstrong-Motin (www.HowToMarketMyMediationPractice.com, moderated by Jeff Kichaven (www.JeffKichaven.com ) and Jean Lawler (www.LawlerADR.com) and Program Coordinator, David Shraga
This worldwide conversation will be like nothing else. Join in! Share, learn, have fun, and raise money for food banks.
The Art of Impasse-Breaking in Mediation
Thursday, July 24th
8 a.m PST| 11 a.m EST
Our special guest this week, David Hoffman, Founder, Boston Law Collaborative, LLC and John H. Watson, Jr. Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School will Present on:
The Art of Impasse-Breaking in Mediation
Mediators use a wide variety of tools to break impasses, ranging from reality testing and risk analysis to range bargaining and double-blind mediator's proposals. As a long-time mediator who teaches mediation to law students and trains mediators for the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, David Hoffman has collected a toolbox full of techniques, which he will share in this presentation. (David's ideas on impasse-breaking will also be published by the ABA later this year in a book with the same title as this presentation.) Please join us and share your tools too.
When you’re thinking about where to donate, please consider supporting Greater Boston Food Bank
Our presenter:
David A. Hoffman is the John H. Watson, Jr. Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School, where he teaches three courses: Mediation; Diversity and Dispute Resolution; and Legal Profession: Collaborative Law. David is also an attorney, mediator, arbitrator, and founding member of Boston Law Collaborative, LLC, where he handles cases involving family, business, employment, and other disputes. He has mediated/arbitrated approximately 2,000 cases since 1991 and he’s still at it. Prior to founding Boston Law Collaborative in 2003, David was a litigation partner at the Boston firm Hill & Barlow, where he practiced for 17 years.
He is past-chair of the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution, a Distinguished Fellow of the International Academy of Mediators, and has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American College of Civil Trial Mediators and from the Academy of Professional Family Mediators. David has published three books (including “Bringing Peace into the Room,” with co-editor Daniel Bowling) and more than 100 articles and book chapters on law and dispute resolution. David earned his bachelor’s degree from Princeton, a master’s degree in American Studies from Cornell, and his law degree from Harvard, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review and a research assistant for Prof. Laurence Tribe.
He served as a law clerk for Hon. Stephen G. Breyer on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. David lives in a cohousing community in Acton, Massachusetts with his wife, Leslie Warner, who is a career coach. They have five adult children, an adolescent cat, and a rescued golden retriever from a shelter in Serbia. His fun fact is that in the year 2000, he hiked the Appalachian Trail from Maine to Georgia with his then-19-year-old son, living out of a backpack for five-and-a-half months, and yes – they did encounter bears! More info about David’s background, publications, and current work can be found here: https://blc.law/team/david-hoffman/. David can be reached at dhoffman@blc.law.
Offered by Will Work For Food, founded by Natalie Armstrong-Motin (www.HowToMarketMyMediationPractice.com, moderated by Jeff Kichaven (www.JeffKichaven.com ) and Jean Lawler (www.LawlerADR.com) and Program Coordinator, David Shraga
This worldwide conversation will be like nothing else. Join in! Share, learn, have fun, and raise money for food banks.
How Stress Hijacks Mediation—and What You Can Do About It
Thursday, July 17th
8 a.m PST| 11 a.m EST
Our special guest this week, Ben Stich will Present on:
How Stress Hijacks Mediation—and What You Can Do About It
Mediation often asks people to engage in their most thoughtful, collaborative selves, right when they’re under the most pressure. Stress can quietly erode the very abilities that mediation depends on, like perspective-taking, flexible thinking, and emotional regulation.
This session draws from neuroscience and the evidence-based Collaborative Problem Solving® model to offer insights and practical strategies for supporting clients through the emotional intensity of conflict. You’ll leave with concrete tools to help clients stay engaged, grounded, and open to progress—even in the heat of mediation.
When you’re thinking about where to donate, please consider supporting S.K.I.P. (Soup Kitchen in Provincetown)
Our presenter:
Ben Stich is a divorce, co-parenting, and family mediator based in Massachusetts. Before becoming a mediator, Ben spent over a decade as a social worker, helping teens and families navigate tough moments in schools and residential programs—an experience that deeply shaped his approach to conflict resolution.
After discovering mediation in 2009, Ben quickly realized it was his calling. He founded Mediation and Family Services in 2014 and has since helped hundreds of families navigate conflict with compassion and clarity—while staying in control of their own decisions.
Ben also works as a Divorce Coach in the Collaborative Law process and serves as an instructor for the Massachusetts Collaborative Law Council. He trains professionals in Collaborative Problem Solving through MGH’s Think:Kids program and serves on the Board of Directors for the Massachusetts Council on Family Mediation. You can find his blog and more about his work at www.benstich.com.
Offered by Will Work For Food, founded by Natalie Armstrong-Motin (www.HowToMarketMyMediationPractice.com, moderated by Jeff Kichaven (www.JeffKichaven.com ) and Jean Lawler (www.LawlerADR.com) and Program Coordinator, David Shraga
This worldwide conversation will be like nothing else. Join in! Share, learn, have fun, and raise money for food banks.