CNDR Holds Advanced Mediation Training on Managing Emotions

The Center for Negotiation and Dispute Resolution (CNDR) is in the midst of an Advanced Practitioner Mediation Training Certificate which runs through 2022. In February’s session, Handling Emotions Productively, we explored the impact of emotions.

Human emotions are vital in mediation: They let us know what matters, they help us connect with others, and they propel us to action. At the same time, people in conflict often experience intense negative emotions that can derail a mediation. The session provided a basis for understanding the neurobiology of emotion, as well as tools for enhancing the positive emotions – and managing the negative emotions – of participants, attorneys, and mediators themselves.

Learn more and register for future sessions

February 2021 Instructors: Claudia Bernard and Howard Herman

Claudia Bernard is an independent trainer, mediator and consultant in the San Francisco Bay Area. She designs and leads trainings for judges, court staff, court leaders, mediators and lawyers on such topics as dealing with righteously indignant litigants, emotional competence, implicit bias, effective communication, conflict resolution, team building, and mindful leadership. Until 2018, she served as the Chief Circuit Mediator for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. There she led a staff of eight professional mediators, mediated cases on appeal, and served as chair of the Federal Judicial Center’s Advisory Committee on Executive Education. Prior to her appointment as Chief Circuit Mediator, she served as a Ninth Circuit Mediator for eighteen years. She has mediated over 3,000 cases. Ms. Bernard has developed and led mediation and mediation advocacy training courses to judges, mediators and lawyers nationally and internationally.

Howard Herman is a full time mediator with JAMS in San Francisco. He has worked as a mediator and as a developer of ADR programs since 1985. He has mediated several thousand disputes covering a wide range of case types, specializing in matters involving high emotion and complex power dynamics. For more than 23 years, until March 2020, Mr. Herman led the highly regarded ADR program of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco. He began his ADR career in the earliest experiments with appellate mediation at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He then served as the first director of ADR programs at the Superior Court in Contra Costa County before moving to the Northern District. A recognized leader in the development of the ADR field, Mr. Herman has taught basic and advanced mediation skills to thousands of mediators, lawyers, law students and judges throughout the United States and around the world. He served as chair of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution from 2015 to 2016. He was the inaugural recipient of the Robert F. Peckham Award for Excellence in ADR presented by the Ninth Judicial Circuit in 2002 and  2019. In 2011, he was co-recipient of the Mediation Society of San Francisco’s annual Award for Outstanding Contribution in the Field of Mediation. In 2013, he was the inaugural recipient of the Exceptional Service Award presented by UC Law SF College of the Law’s Center for Negotiation and Dispute Resolution, where he has taught ADR courses since 1996.

The Center for Negotiation and Dispute Resolution (CNDR) offers high-quality dispute resolution training on in-depth topics for practitioners. This Certificate is designed to engage participants in advanced discussion and practice on specific topics that are essential in any mediator’s toolkit. A specially selected team of our adjunct professors and experienced professionals will be teaching and coaching this series for a variety of perspectives and expertise. Registration will be limited to keep class size small, so register now!