Expert: Timmy Chou - 11/19/2009

Question
Mr. Chou,

I am in my first year of law school and I have decided to go into ADR as a career, ideally as mediator for international business disputes. What would be the fastest path for me to achieve that goal? In law school, are students usually able to specialize within ADR and acquire the skills necessary to enter the occupation right out of law school, or must a student gain experience in other areas of the law before he can become a mediator?

Answer
Thank you for your question.

Mediators, as you know, are trained in specialized facilitation skills and work to bring disputing parties together to work out solutions.  They specifically do not advocate any position or try to persuade parties to do one thing or another, but they typically will work to identify the core issues underlying disputes and try to craft creative solutions.

The ADR profession is still really in its infancy and only primitive professional structure exists for practitioners in many states.  Often, virtually anyone may provide services as a mediator.  However, licensure is offered in many states, some with training requirements and others merely requiring the oversight of another licensed mediator for a time.  Interestingly, few states will forbid you to offer services if you are not state licensed.  For example, a sample of the Virginia mediation code and rules is available here:

http://www.courts.state.va.us/drs/main.htm

My experience is that effective mediators have taken advantage of some specific training because the role of a neutral facilitator is quite different than that of an advocate.  Lawyers and therapists may have to retool their natural professional approach and behave in some counter-intuitive ways.  Quite a range of training is offered from Master's degrees to specific certificate training (such as ADR in health care settings, for example).  It is not necessary to go to law school to be an effective mediator, though many lawyers offer mediation services (and many have really no specific training to do so).  ADR is offered in certificate programs and undergraduate schools and graduate schools across the country.  

The best online resources are found here:

http://www.mediate.com/

and here:

http://adrr.com/

Other excellent information resources may be found at these professional organization sites:

American Bar Association:

http://www.abanet.org/dispute/home.html

American Arbitration Association:

http://www.adr.org/

The truth is that it is very difficult to "start out" as a mediator or arbiter.  Virtually anyone who gets into the field permanently as a career has come from some other field and is able to rely on related expertise and income.  Typically professors, attorneys, people with state department experience, therapists, and consultants have the credibility and financial resources to make a career viable, but almost all of us begin (and continue) mediation work relying on income from our primary expertise.  Typically, for example, a new mediator gets trained and begins a practice by getting on the state mediator list.  However, there are usually dozens of more experienced people on the list and you have to just sit there and see what happens.  Other than the yellow pages perhaps, it is not usually cost-effective to advertise (except for divorce mediation in some states).  My primary cases come by referrals from colleagues or lawyers that know my work over the years and trust me.  Rates are about $150/hour.  Only about 1 out of 5 referrals actually become cases I hear and bill out -- as I typically spend time qualifying the parties individually on the phone before agreeing to mediate the case.  

I can tell you that mediation is by far some of the most rewarding work I do and when successful it makes a big difference in people's lives.  It has never been, however, a source of significant income.  The big money in mediation is in teaching, or in areas like environmental mediation, peacemaking (diplomacy), health care, insurance, human resource, or other large institutional or governmental settings. This usually is just another job -- but at least it is rewarding if successful.  Divorce mediation has emerged in recent years as a somewhat successful private business model in some states where the mediated settlement is allowed as a stipulated judgment, but divorce lawyers are not happy about being cut out of the process.

Some career paths are emerging in some states through local government and court systems.  These jobs are typically around court-ordered mediation for divorces, small business disputes, and often around victim-offender mediation.  They are usually staff level court-system jobs that do not pay tremendous salaries.  Some states and private foundations sponsor and fund quasi-governmental mediation "centers" in a non-profit model.  These are few and far between.

In international settings, one must also have credibility and experience in two (or more) legal systems and business cultures.  Often, international leverage is nearly absent due to the costs of actually litigating international disputes and there are few external motivators driving parties to the mediation table.  

Remember that the primary skill sets of excellent mediators are not primarily the same skill sets of attorneys per se, but are the skill sets of reading, interpreting and facilitating interpersonal dynamics since the mediator is not solving disputes but only facilitating the parties to solve disputes--a critical difference.  These skill sets are more easily acquired in training as a counselor or therapist.  

If you are committed to this career path, I would encourage you to spend alot of time up-front in as many training venues as possible.  Numerous groups sponsor seminars and certificate programs in everything from health care to military mediation.  If you put a serious oar in the water and jump out there full-speed, you can make things happen, but it will take time and you will have to spend considerable time in volunteer mediation sessions as you develop credibility with your local peers.  

Feel free to follow up with any other questions.

Good luck to you!