Theory and Practice of Mediation

This mediation seminar offers students an opportunity to develop an understanding of the utility and impact of mediation within the context of dispute resolution in Canada. Students will gain an understanding of mediation through the weekly seminars, simulations, reflections, and, circumstances permitting, co-mediations at Small Claims Courts in Ontario. The seminar will examine the utility of mediation and alternative dispute resolution, ethical and professional responsibility issues that arise in practice, the role of emotion, gender and culture in the process, and analyze the issues that students encounter in their own mediations and simulations. The seminar includes i) mediation training, including weekly simulations, and introduction to mediation and mediation-advocacy theory; ii) weekly seminars, guest lectures, and discussions and critiques of the course readings; iii) mediations in small claims courts (circumstances permitting); and iv) a reflective research paper comprised of issues discussed in the seminar, raised in assigned readings and confronted in students’ mediations.