Thursday, January 21st, 8 am Pacific / 11 am Eastern
Our special guests this week, Audrey Lee, Senior Mediator at Boston Law Collaborative, LLC; John Sarrouf, Co-Executive Director at Essential Partners; Robyn Weinstein, Director, Mediation Clinic, Cardozo Law School, will present on:
Beyond Mediation: Reflective Structured Dialogue for Mediators
How can mediators create an environment that invites curiosity, engagement and the exchange of perspectives – particularly when parties hold deeply divided views? How can a mediator balance out voices between parties in a way that fosters participation? Reflective Structured Dialogue (“RSD”), an approach drawing from multiple disciplines to dialogue created by Essential Partners, offers a number of strategies for mediators to support understanding and transformation as an initial step in the mediation process or when the goal is to build trust, rather than to reach a specific resolution. Through real-world examples drawn from civil cases, workplace conflicts, the classroom or community, presenters will introduce RSD strategies and explore how they can be incorporated into mediation practice to strengthen communication, deepen understanding, and create more meaningful opportunities for resolution.
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Our presenters:
Audrey Lee
Audrey J. Lee is a Senior Mediator at Boston Law Collaborative, LLC, and a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School, where she teaches courses on mediation and diversity & dispute resolution. She is also the author of Navigating Conflicts at Work: A Guide to Workplace Mediation (2026).
Audrey has mediated or coached hundreds of workplace conflicts over the last two decades. Since 2016, she has served as affiliate faculty at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, currently as a lead faculty for the Harvard Mediation Intensive. Previously, she has served as a mediator for the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination and as a panel mediator for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In her mediations, Audrey draws on her experience as a consultant for the Cambridge, MA-based organization Essential Partners to bring a dialogue-centered approach to create spaces conducive to constructive learning.
In her consulting practice, Audrey works with clients to increase their effectiveness in difficult workplace conversations and negotiations. As a mediator and conflict management consultant, Audrey has worked with clients including lawyers at Am Law 100 firms, mediators at the Australian Fair Work Commission, and musicians at the League of American Orchestras. In recognition of her professional development work with lawyers, she was invited in 2018 to become a trusted advisor for the Professional Development Consortium, the national association for individuals responsible for the professional development of lawyers at law firms, law schools, government agencies, and corporations.
Audrey has been featured in Harvard Business Review's "Insights" series on Leadership and Managing People and in the BBC Capital's Work Ethic column, and her writing on mediation and dispute resolution has appeared in the Harvard Negotiation Law Review, Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal, and ABA Dispute Resolution Magazine, among other publications.
John Sarrouf
John Sarrouf has spent over two decades helping communities and institutions navigate conflict through dialogue and mediation. As co-Executive Director at Essential Partners, he has helped create community-wide initiatives for deliberative democracy in over 20 cities and towns across the country. He has supported over 40 colleges and universities to build capacity for dialogue and deliberation. John has facilitated dialogues on issues such as the role of guns in American life, police and the Black community, Israel and Palestine, interfaith relations, human sexuality in the Christian church, as well as a wide ranging array of environmental, scientific, and public health conflicts. John has led national programs training faculty, pastors, and secondary school educators in dialogue-based approaches to difficult conversations in the classroom on topics spanning religion, immigration, race, and political division.
John was trained as a mediator when he worked in the theater serving as a union representative for Actors Equity Association. His court mediation work came through his studies for his M.A. in Dispute Resolution from the University of Massachusetts. At Gordon College, he co-founded the Peace and Conflict Studies program and designed and taught Mediation Skills, Reconciliation and Conflict Transformation, and Negotiation. Most of John’s current mediation work is in support of co-parenting agreements and families navigating important life decisions.
Robyn Weinstein
Robyn Weinstein is a Professor of Practice and Director of the Mediation Clinic at Cardozo Law School. Previously, Robyn was the Alternative Dispute Resolution Administrator for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY), where she was a mediator and directed the court's dispute resolution program. Robyn has mediated a wide range of civil disputes, including insurance and commercial matters, employment discrimination and labor cases, and civil rights matters. Robyn is also a mediation trainer, and has trained attorneys, judges, and law students to serve as mediators.
Prior to her role at the court, Robyn was the director of the Los Angeles Office of Arts Arbitration & Mediation Services of California Lawyers for the Arts and an adjunct clinical professor of mediation at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law. During her time in California, Robyn was elected president of the Southern California Mediation Association in 2015.
Robyn is a member of the Executive Committee of the ABA Dispute Resolution Section and is the Reporter for the Joint Committee for Review of the Model Standards of Conduct for Mediators. Robyn has written about the Hurricane Sandy response mediation program developed at the Eastern District of New York, and on the subjects of mediation ethics, clinical education in mediation, and diversity, equity, and inclusion in the field of dispute resolution.
Robyn received her B.A. from George Washington University, and her J.D. from Cardozo Law School where she was a member of the Mediation Clinic and a fellow for the Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution. She is admitted to practice in New York and California.
Offered by Will Work For Food, founded by Natalie Armstrong-Motin, and moderated by Kimberly Best, Felicia Harris Hoss, Jeff Kichaven, Jean Lawler, and David Shraga.
This worldwide conversation will be like nothing else. Join in! Share, learn, have fun, and raise money for food banks.