Expert: Timmy Chou - 5/3/2004

Question
Dear Mr. Chou,

Thank you for being available to answer questions. My question pertains to the careers of Arbitration and Mediation. I am very interested in pursuing ADR as a career, but am wondering if it is necessary to attend law school to be sufficiently educated? Is there another way to enter the field and gain a thorough education in ADR?
Also, what aptitudes or personal characteristics would you say are the most important in becoming an arbitrator or mediator?

Thank you very much,
Jennifer


Answer
Thank you for your question.

Mediators 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 use specific techniques to try to help the parties craft creative solutions.

The ADR profession is still really in its infancy and very little professional structure exists for practitioners in many states.  Virtually anyone may provide services as a mediator.  However, licensure is offered in many states.

Nearly every state requires some training in order to be licensed.  Interestingly, few states will forbid you to offer services if you are not state licensed.  For example, a sample of the Virginia licensure code is available here:

http://www.courts.state.va.us/tom/tom.htm

My experience is that effective mediators have taken advantage of some specific training because the role of a neutral facilitator is quite different.  Lawyers are trained to take a position and advocate for it, and many have to retool their natural professional approach and behave in some counter-intuitive ways.  Being a neutral is alot harder than it seems!

Quite a range of training is offered from Master's degrees in conflict resolution to specific certificate training (such as dispute resolution in health care settings, for example).

The best online resources are found here:

http://www.mediate.com/

here:

http://acr.com/

and here:

http://www.nova.edu/ssss/DR/resources.html

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/

Seminars on ADR are likely offered through your law school or through local court systems in your location.  Be sure to check out the ABA site.

The truth is that it is very difficult to "start out" as a mediator or arbitrator.  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.  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 mediation work relying on income from our primary expertise.

Some career paths are emerging in some states through local government and court systems.  These jobs are typically around court-ordered mediation for divorces, smaller business disputes, and often around victim-offender mediation.  They are usually staff level 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.

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.  You can also volunteer with local groups and learn mediation.  This would be a great experience for you and help you decide how interested you are in the field.

Good mediators have a wide variety of training and backgrounds, but classes in psychology, counseling, sociology and philosophy are all very good background.  Many universities now have specific classes in dispute resolution, negotiation, peace studies or diplomacy.  Having specific training in the law is not really a requirement to effective mediation, but many lawyers get sick of suing people and get into mediation because it is more personally satisfying.  To be good, people have to trust you and you have to be good at reading people.  You need effective people skills and to have developed a calming and reassuring demeanor and style.

Feel free to follow up with any other questions.

Good luck to you!