Access Resources

Access Resources is a New York-based firm providing mediation, group facilitation, training and consultation for a wide range of clients including government agencies, corporations, small businesses, non-profit organizations, labor unions and individuals.

Executive Director Judy Cohen follows her small business work environment  assessments with a range of services, developed in consultation with the employer, to enhance employee satisfaction, productivity and commitment to the success of the business.

Ms. Cohen helps groups and individuals define and meet goals, find new ways to work together, and develop the skills they need to move themselves and their organizations forward. 

Ms. Cohen mediates between people who want to repair their relationships or who just want to reach closure on a conflict and move on. Her workplace mediation practice includes discrimination cases, discipline and discharge, and interpersonal relations.

She is a widely published, nationally known expert in Americans with Disabilities Act conflict management, with disability-related mediation experience in employment and public accommodations.  She happily facilitates negotiations  for organizations who are not in conflict, but who would like assistance with their accommodation design. 

Judy Cohen's services include:

• Small business partnership mediation
• Workplace mediation
• Work environment assessments for small businesses
• Disability-related mediation
• Group facilitation
• Facilitated dialogues
• Conflict management training
• Mediator training
• Consultation, conflict management services and special projects

Judy Cohen was formerly an Organizational Development Program Manager at the Federal Aviation Administration, where she worked with field office managers and staff to address work environment and organizational challenges.  Her activities in the field included group facilitation, mediation, coaching and internal consultation.  Before that, she was an ADR Program Manager at the FAA, where she designed and implemented the internal Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) mediation program, training and supervising mediators and overseeing the program’s administration. 

In her mediation practice, Judy is attuned  to the underlying issues common in business, workplace, organizational and interpersonal conflicts, as well as to the unique issues of the particular situation and people. She works with the participants to help them consider the range of potential issues and options, so that they can develop solutions that are right for them. 

Neutral Roster Membership

• Online Resolution, Mediation Information & Resource Center
• CPR Employment Mediation Panel (Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution)
• U.S. Department of Justice ADA Mediation Program
• U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, Federal Mediation program, N.Y. Region
• FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority)
• American Arbitration Association, labor arbitration panel
• New York State Employment Relations Board, labor arbitration roster
• U.S. Department of Navy, mentor mediator
• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York.
• Cases mediated for: the U.S. Department of Labor, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Office of Comptroller of the Currency, U.S. Department of Treasury; Social Security Administration; U.S. Customs Department; U.S. Postal Service; New York State Division of Human Rights, and other organizations and private parties.

Professional Affiliations

• Section of Dispute Resolution, American Bar Association (ABA)
• ABA Joint Committee to Promote Quality in Administering Government Conflict Management, Appointed Member,
•  Employment Committee, International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR), Appointed Member
• National Task Force on Diversity in ADR, CPR, Appointed Member

Related Credentials  

• Adjunct Professor, Alternative Dispute Resolution, New York Institute of Technology, School of Management, Center for Labor and Industrial Relations, 1998-2001
• Committee on Alternative Dispute Resolution, Appointed Member, Association of the Bar of the City of New York, 1998-2003 
• ABA Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law; Appointed Member and Chair, Committee on Mediation and Dispute Resolution, 1999-2002
•  Workplace Conflict Management Training Program, CUNY Dispute Resolution Consortium, Founder and Coordinator,1999-2001
• Project Coordinator, ADA Mediation Guidelines
• Former Editor, ADA Mediation Page