Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks: Can Lawyers be Effective At Mediation?

Abstract

This study focuses on the question of whether mediation training can equip lawyers with the necessary guidance and skills for effective dispute resolution. It has been suggested that the traditional law school curriculum inappropriately privileges an adversarial approach to disputes and pays undue attention to the case-based method at the expense of more holistic or contextualized understanding of grievances.1 This study argues that with the proper training, lawyers can be effective at mediation.