We’re The New Generation
You’ve seen us at the conferences, heard us on the calls and felt the buzz of our enthusiasm. We are the new generation of law grads and we figured out early that mediation was the way to go and litigation was best left to the fighters.
I personally felt the pull towards mediation during my 1L year. The who-gets-to-sue-who exams were fun brain puzzles but as I analyzed the problems I saw dimensions of constructive solutions far beyond what was called for in the standard answer. If the widgets weren’t delivered on time, how could A make it up to B to enhance the relationship rather than destroy it? If neighbor X’s new fence encroached one extra foot onto Y’s farm, why couldn’t they just sit down and talk about an arrangement that could work for them both rather than destroy a decades-old friendship?
As expanding the pie has always been my personal life philosophy, it became clear quite early on that I was destined for a career in mediation. There are simply those of us who feel an instinctive inclination for peacemaking and peacebuilding—our guts tell us this without much conscious consideration. We seek the positive, and our hearts and minds wrap much more easily around thoughtful dialogue and problem solving than adversarial zero-sum games.
Historically, the mediation profession has been dominated by lawyers who came to this realization much later in life—after years of litigation practice. We, of the new generation, are quickly changing the landscape.
After we graduate from law school, we are already equipped—as never before—to join the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) world. We have clinics and courses to teach us the ins and outs of mediation and negotiation—how to do it, how to use our legal skills (honing in on relevant information and heavy duty analysis) to make us great, and most importantly, why to do it. Law schools have increased their emphasis and training in this arena and are graduating more students with the finely tuned skills and clinical experience to jump right in to this line of work.
As we witness the profession evolve from one dominated by past litigators to new younger, but highly skilled, lawyers, we have to figure out how to identify ourselves and validate our space here in the profession. We are lawyers—but we’re really branding ourselves as professional mediators. We don’t fit the old litigator-turned-mediator mold—the recent ABA Section of Dispute Resolution in San Francisco made that perfectly clear to me. We are young—but we are smart, well-trained and more than adequately prepared. We are changing the face of what it looks like to be a lawyer-mediator and we are ready for a warm welcome from the mediation community.
Biography
Alexis Sclamberg is a lawyer, mediator, teacher and writer. She graduated Order of the Coif from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and focuses her mediation practice on workplace conflict, family disputes and real estate matters. Alexis has written extensively on topics in law, alternative dispute resolution and women and law. She is currently working as a correspondent and commentator for Women’s eNews and Women’s Media Center while she works on her first book on mediation. She teaches Legal Studies for Kaplan University and develops legal course material for preeminent online education companies. Her professional profile includes work for the United Nations, court mediation programs and major news and entertainment media.
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Comments
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| Margaret ,
Chillicothe Oh |
05/19/10 |
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"Mediation participants" demands should not control the process they are offered by professional dispute resolvers. We have the expertise to assess the process they need based on the nature/dynamics of the dispute.
We prefer that our mediators use facilitative/transformative/narrative approaches in their pre-litigation mediation efforts, NOT evaluative techniques. If you understand why, then you are the kind of mediator/ADR professional we want to work with.
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| Margaret ,
Chillicothe Oh |
mediation@mail2world.com
05/19/10 |
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I entered a fulltime practice as a court mediator directly out of lawschool and have been involved now for 18 years doing all kinds of court-connected mediation in the common pleas courts of Ohio (domestic relations, general civil, probate, juvenile).
Recently got the go ahead from my supervising judges to expand our services into the community, offering pre-litigation services in commercial negotiation, workplace, elder-care & medical ethics, wherever we can market it in south central Ohio (Columbus and southward). We're thrilled about the possibilities and would welcome young energy and entrepreneurial talent --legally trained minds who are innovators committed to the mediation/preventive negotiation field. |
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| Bryan Hanson,
Omaha NE |
05/18/10 |
| great discussion starter |
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I met this young woman at the recent ABADR conference in San Francisco and had this same conversation with her. She was one of many young, aspiring mediators that shared the same concern about opportunities to develop themselves as competent mediators prior to obtaining the gray hair that is often the prerequisite before gaining clients.
With the creation of many graduate level programs focusing on the dynamics of conflict resolution beyond what you will learn in law school, we have many other young people well trained and ready to help individuals resolve disputes in an effective manner. Therefore, I see the need for a societal shift when conflicts emerge from lawyers as the initial contact to those that are trained in all conflict engagement processes. If we want our field to expand, we need to make the mediation process clear and accessible to potential clients while promoting the next generation of practitioners.
So Alexis presents the issue, I am interested in discussing ideas for embracing this next generation. Any thoughts?
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| Rodney ,
West Palm Beach FL |
05/18/10 |
| Apply Now! No exprience needed |
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I was very impressed with your article and enthusiasm. Clearly it is time for ADR to transition to a recognized specialty and not a second career or avocation. In our firm, we have found that mediation participants demand mediators with trial experience who can help evaluate various tactical issues. We have been trying to create a separate track for younger mediators and will be eager to see if your model creates meiators who can earn a full time living without having to supplement their income with other activities. |
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| Jeffrey Krivis,
Encino CA |
05/17/10 |
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