Students in the Mediation Clinic become self-aware, responsive, creative and non-coercive facilitators who can evaluate whether mediation is appropriate in any given case and with any particular participant. The Clinic works on a range of projects that directly assist ongoing work in the field or that helps build the Mediation Clinic. Students learn collaborative theory and skills in conducting all aspects of their assigned clinical duties. Students are able to identify a range of legal and non-normative issues in each case and formulate their individual theoretical framework for incorporating different models of mediation practice, the law, and professional standards. During their time in the Clinic, students learn how to evaluate whether a particular case should be litigated or mediated and also develop a thorough understanding of the lawyering tasks in legal representation of parties in mediation.
Class time is devoted to integrating the law, theory and skills in the different substantive areas of our mediation practice. During class time, legal interns also participate in structured group feedback discussions of the cases they have mediated during that week. Legal interns also participate in smaller group meetings and individual meetings with the faculty supervisors. Legal interns leave the Mediation Clinic experience with developed lawyering skills and knowledge of areas of law that are valuable in any aspect of future law practice.
Our graduates are engaged in a variety of mediation practices and law practice. Most graduates continue to offer their mediation services to courts and community programs. Graduates have also successfully incorporated their mediation skills into other areas of law practice including personal injury representation, elder law, welfare representation, legal services, judicial clerkships, and small firm practice.
The Mediation Clinic provides a forum to those who are under-represented in our society where their grievances can be heard and settled to their satisfaction. The Mediation Clinic is committed to empowering historically disadvantaged or marginalized parties to decide their own disputes.
Mediation Clinic Highlights
- Observing mediations in the courts, administrative agencies and community centers.
- Mediating cases in the courts, administrative agencies and community centers.
- Mediating with attorneys who represent plaintiffs/complainants and/or defendants/respondents.
- Mediating in multicultural and cross-lingual settings, often with interpreters/translators.