Dispute resolution services

Alternative dispute resolution, or ADR, is a suite of methodologies for resolving conflicts without recourse to the legal system. Equally important, ADR methodologies are powerful tools that can help resolve the kinds of problems that legal processes cannot touch (and may in fact inflame) - like generational issues, cultural differences, and good old interpersonal conflict. ADR modalities can sometimes offer a path around the need for an expensive, potentially divisive investigation. Other times, they provide an opportunity to help restore workplace relationships after the turbulence of an investigation.

Mediation is one form of ADR that I practice. In this modality, my clients hire me to act as a neutral facilitator to support co-workers who are willing to work together to address workplace conflicts and improve their workplace relationships. I enjoy helping parties to express their needs and interests, enabling them to hear each other, and encouraging them to design a solution that they can believe in. Mediation usually isn’t a complete “fix,” but it can be quite transformative. When parties in conflict have gone years without being able to communicate effectively, and when trust is at a low ebb, workplace mediation gives them a precious opportunity to clear away their false assumptions and attributions, to plant the seeds of trust, and to come away more empowered and optimistic.

I also offer my clients conflict coaching, which is especially useful when workplace leaders or other key employees are engaged in an intractable conflict that they want to move past. In this modality, my clients hire me to work individually and confidentially with one or more of their employees to try and mitigate the conflict. It is my practice to first work with the affected employee to explore and fully understand their own perspective on the conflict, and then to provide them with customized training on the skills, frameworks, and knowledge that will assist them in handling their conflict professionally and effectively. Conflict coaching can be a highly effective and valuable form of professional development when employees engage in it willingly.

I have extensive ADR training and experience and am currently working toward my LL.M. in Alternative Dispute Resolution at Osgoode Hall. I currently volunteer with CMCS providing no-cost mediation services to organizations and individuals in my community.