In October 2006, BLC Affiliate Dina Beach Lynch began her term as Tri-Chair of the Workplace Section of the Association of Conflict Resolution, a professional organization dedicated to enhancing the practice of and public awareness of mediation.
On October 7, 2006 BLC Affiliate Dina Beach Lynch was the guest speaker for the Graduate Program in Dispute Resolution at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, where she discussed the evolving role of an Ombudsman in the workplace.
BLC Member David Hoffman was named one of the county's best mediators and arbitrators in the 2005 and 2006 editions of "The Best Lawyers in America." David is listed in the book under the headings for Alternative Dispute Resolution and a new category, Family Mediation. In 2005 David completed his term as chair of the American Bar Association's Section of Dispute Resolution.
BLC Member David Hoffman and BLC Affiliate Susan Miller were presenters at MCLC's conference, "Expanding Professional Skills to Resolve Conflict" in September 2006.
On October 13, 2006 BLC Affiliate Dina Beach Lynch spoke on The Life and Perils of an Ombudsman at the New Hampshire Conflict Resolution Association's annual conference.
Doug Reynolds, from The New Law Center in Cambridge, and BLC Member David Hoffman presented a talk on "Civil Collaborative Practice Triage: Informing Clients About Process Options While Encouraging Them to Make a Collaborative Commitment" at the annual Forum of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals in San Diego in October 2006.
BLC Member Olive Larson has joined the Board of Directors of Theater in the Open, a theater group on the North Shore. The organization provides opportunities for people from all backgrounds to participate in sophisticated theater productions.
BLC Member David Hoffman has been selected as one of five Boston arbitrators for the new website Best of United States (www.BestOfUS.com). The website lists individuals in 120 professions and specialties, based on queries addressed to more than 1,000,000 service professionals in the U.S.
In September 2006, Mary LaCivita presented a talk on custody issues for the Women's Bar Foundation's pro bono Family Law Project for Battered Women, which provides counsel without cost for women who have been subjected to domestic violence. In past years, BLC Members Olive Larson and David Hoffman have provided training for the Project.
In July 2005, January 2006, and July 2006, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education offered a divorce mediation training, chaired by retired Probate and Family Court Judge Edward Ginsburg. BLC Member David Hoffman led the third day of the four-day training, with help from BLC Affiliate Richard Wolman, BLC's ADR Case Manager Israela Brill-Cass, and BLC Attorney Vicki Shemin.
In August 2006, BLC Executive Director Israela Brill-Cass and BLC Affiliate Dina Beach Lynch were featured in an Entrepreneur Magazine article regarding the use of Ombuds in small firms. Click here for a copy of the article.
Approximately 100 mediators in the United States and Canada have been selected for inclusion in the recently released series of video interviews from Mediate.com. The interviewees include Profs. Roger Fisher and Frank Sander and BLC Member David Hoffman. The recorded interviews are entitled "The Mediators: Family Mediation Edition."
BLC Paralegal Nicole DiPentima and BLC Member David Hoffman presented workshops on the subject of caucusing in mediation at two conferences in 2006: the annual conference of the Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution in Maryland (June 23, 2006) and the annual conference of the Family Mediation Section of the Association for Conflict Resolution in Falmouth, Massachusetts (July 14, 2006). At the Maryland conference, Nicole and David were joined by fellow presenter Prof. Homer LaRue from Howard University School of Law. Nicole is writing her Master's thesis on the subject of caucusing for the Graduate Program in Dispute Resolution at UMass/Boston.
On June 21, 2006, the American Bar Association held a national teleconference entitled "Practicing Law the Collaborative Way," with Pauline Tesler, Chris Fairman, Prof. Julie Macfarlane, and BLC Member David Hoffman as the presenters. Approximately 600 lawyers dialed into this Continuing Legal Education event.
On June 1, 2006, David Hoffman served as a panelist in the opening plenary session of the annual conference of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts in Tampa, Florida. David's presentation focused on the role of mediators and collaborative law attorneys in disputes involving custody issues in divorce.
On May 18, 2006, BLC Member David Hoffman gave a talk in New York City on the subject of "Bringing Peace into the Room" for the New York Collaborative Law Group and the Center for Mediation in Law.
On May 7, 2006, a team of BLC attorneys and staff participated in the annual Walk for Hunger, and raised more than $2,000 for the Walk's sponsor, Project Bread.
Aspatore Books has published a video seminar on DVD featuring BLC Member David Hoffman presenting strategies on the negotiation of severance agreements. Click here for a link to information about the DVD. (BLC's royalties from this project are all being donated to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.)
BLC Attorney Mary LaCivita and BLC Case Manager Lenore Pellani led a training for paralegals at Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education on April 26, 2006. The program was entitled "Family Law for Paralegals." The other presenters were Laura Cervizzi and Catherine Thornton.
In April 2006, Harvard Law School honored Prof. Frank E. A. Sander, one of the founders of the Alternative Dispute Resolution movement, with a conference in which BLC Member David Hoffman was one of six speakers. David's talk, entitled "The Future of ADR Practice: Three Hopes, Three Fears, and Three Predictions," was published in the Fall 2006 issue of the Negotiation Journal, published by the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.
In April 2006, David Hoffman was elected to be a Fellow of the International Academy of Mediators, an organization of approximately 120 commercial mediators.
On March 26, 2006, David Hoffman gave a lecture on mediation, collaborative law, and the ethical dimensions of dispute resolution for the Ethical Culture Society of Boston.
In January 2006, Doug Reynolds of The New Law Center in Cambridge, and BLC Member David Hoffman gave a talk on the use of Collaborative Law in business cases at the annual meeting of the International Institute on Conflict Prevention and Resolution in New York City.
In December 2005, BLC Affiliate Richard Wolman presented a workshop on the spiritual dimensions of negotiation at the Fall/Winter Working Group of the Harvard Negotiation Insight Initiative, a project of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.
On November 3, 2005, BLC Affiliates Richard Wolman and Dina Beach Lynch and BLC Member David Hoffman presented a workshop entitled "Mediation and the Meaning of Life" at the annual conference of the New England chapter of the Association for Conflict Resolution.
On October 29, 2005, at the Annual Forum of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals in Atlanta, David Hoffman presented a workshop on "Expanding the Horizons of Collaborative Law in the World of Business: From Conflict Resolution to Deal-Making."
On October 24, 2005, BLC hosted a fund-raising reception for Deval Patrick at BLC. Patrick recently won the Democratic Party primary election with 50% of the vote. Deval was elected Governor on November 7, 2006, and was sworn in on January 4, 2007 as Massachusetts' first African-American Governor.
BLC Member Olive Larson recently concluded a ten-day trial in the Probate and Family Court, in a case that involved complicated custody and mental health issues. Olive comments: "Although a number of our clients' cases need to go to court -- such as this bitterly contested custody battle -- we still achieve a negotiated resolution in far more cases than we try.
BLC Of Counsel Attorney Vicki Shemin was recently elected to the Board of the Massachusetts Council on Family Mediation, and she currently serves on the Board of the Massachusetts Association of Guardian ad Litem. In July 2005, Vicki and David Hoffman published an article, "The Uniform Mediation Act: Upgrading Confidentiality in Mediation," in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly.
BLC Attorney Mary LaCivita was recently selected for inclusion in the "Rising Stars" edition of the 2005 Massachusetts Super Lawyers publication, which lists the "top young lawyers in Massachusetts." She was one of only 18 family law attorneys in Massachusetts to receive that honor.
BLC Affliate Susan Miller has been appointed to the Civil Collaborative Law Task Force of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals. She will be meeting with other Task Force members from the United States and Canada this month in Chicago. Susan and her colleagues at Aurora Financial Advisors, LLC have recently moved their offices from Newton to a larger suite in Wellesley.
BLC Affiliate Dina Beach Lynch's article "Five Habits to be a Highly Effective Conflict Resolver" is featured as a cover story in a recent issue of Insights Magazine, published by the Northeast Human Resources Association, a 4,000-member professional organization for the human resources field in New England. Dina will be the keynote speaker at the Corning Glass 25th Anniversary Diversity Conference in September 2005.
BLC Affiliate Richard Wolman, along with David Hoffman, recently completed an article, "Up Close and Personal: How Mediator Self-Disclosure Impacts the Process of Conflict Resolution," which will be published this fall. Richard is currently teaching a psychology course at Harvard Medical School, and will be leading a workshop this fall at the Harvard Negotiation Insight Initiative at Harvard Law School on the use of spirituality in negotiation.
BLC Member David Hoffman gave a series of talks this spring: (a) a keynote address on "Bringing Peace into the Room" at the annual conference of the Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution in Maryland on June 24; (b) a keynote speech on recent developments at the ADR conference of the Massachusetts Trial Court on June 28; (c) a workshop on collaborative law at the annual conference of the Association for Family and Conciliation Courts on May 18 in Seattle; (d) workshops on collaborative law at the annual Northwest ADR conference on April 29 in Seattle; (e) a one-day training on negotiation skills at MCLE on April 26, with co-trainers Chuck Doran and Melissa Manwaring; (f) a workshop on mediator qualification and credentialing at the annual conference of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution on April 15 in Los Angeles; and (g) a panel discussion on mediator certification for the Connecticut Bar Foundation on April 1 at Quinnipiac University School of Law.
BLC Member David Hoffman was named one of the "Top 100" lawyers in Massachusetts in Boston Magazine's 2004 annual "SuperLawyers" list, and one of the top Mediators/Arbitrators. He and three other Mediators/Arbitrators in Massachusetts were also listed this year in the book, The Best Lawyers in America. He was the only Mediator/Arbitrator to be named on both lists. David is chair of the American Bar Association's Section of Dispute Resolution.
In August 2003, BLC Affiliate Dina Beach Lynch's firm, Kisima Enterprises, Inc. launched its new web site: www.WorkWellTogether.com. The site provides an e-learning resource where HR professionals and others can feel safe to discuss ideas and strategies, explore differences, and gather meaningful wisdom regarding workplace issues.
In July 2003, BLC Affiliate Richard Wolman presented his research paper, "Last Night I had the Strangest Dream: Rational Thought in Dreaming" (co-authored with R. Kozmova) at an international conference in Prague, Czech Republic.
In August 2003, BLC Member David Hoffman became chair-elect of the American Bar Association's Section of Dispute Resolution. With 9,500 members (mostly mediators and arbitrators), the Section is one of the fastest growing entities in the ABA.
On September 19, 2003, publisher Jossey-Bass Publishers will release the book Bringing Peace into the Room: How the Personal Qualities of the Mediator Impact the Process of Dispute Resolution, co-edited by Daniel Bowling and BLC Member David Hoffman.
On August 10, 2003, BLC Member David Hoffman gave a presentation at the American Bar Association annual meeting in San Francisco on the subject of apology and dispute resolution, along with four other panelists from around the country. The program was designated by the ABA as a presidential showcase event.
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