This full-year, 9 credit hour program, bridges mediation theory and practice.  Students participate in a weekly three-hour seminar that focuses on class discussion of the recent dispute resolution literature, including the utility of mediation in civil and criminal disputes as well as cultural, power, ethical and professional responsibility issues in alternative dispute resolution and principles of dispute system design. The seminar includes a major research paper (20-25 pages) addressing one or more theoretical issues with observations based on the students’ practice experience. Students also participate in an intensive 40-hour mediation skills training program, including significant interactions among faculty, coaches and students, small group discussions, observing and discussing videotaped mediations, role plays in mock mediations with fellow students, coaching in preparation for the mediations and debriefs of simulations with coaches and with fellow students following the mediations.  Students are encouraged to reflect on their experiences and articulate their emotional and intellectual responses to the situations they encounter. Under the guidance and direction of the Mediation Clinic Director, students also engage in a combination of court-related and community mediation services, including community outreach (e.g., ADR training and education of community groups and elementary/secondary school students); developing and applying dispute resolution design and implementation skills in the community; promoting mediation and the services of the Mediation Clinic to potential community user groups; conducting several community and/or Small Claims Court mediations. During the Mediation Intensive, students are responsible for completing a community engagement project, usually carried out by a team of 2-3, designed by the students and approved by the Clinic Director. Students keep a reflective journal on their mediation practice activities throughout the course. Students also participate in two simulated co-mediations as both the mediator and as a mediation advocate or client. The two mediations will be observed and critiqued by current or past members of the teaching/coaching team and another experienced mediator.  Students will be evaluated on the development of both their mediation and mediation advocacy skills.  As well, students will be asked to reflect on their roles as mediators and advocates and to participate in a self-critique that reflects the student’s ability to analyze what happened and their role in it, as well as what alternatives, if any, they considered or could have tried.

Evaluation - Students will receive a letter grade for their major research paper, a simulated mediation, and a practicum in the fall term, for a total of 4 credit hours. The remaining 5 credit hours will be allocated on a pass/fail basis for the student’s fulfillment of the clinical components of the program, including a skills workshop, mediations, a reflective journal and a community engagement project.  The Mediation Clinic Director will also prepare a detailed evaluation report for each student with respect to their performance in the clinical component of the program, which will then be attached to the student’s transcript