Once More Into The Breach: A CME/CLE for DRC-Certified Mediators/On-Demand

• 3 hours general North Carolina Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credit
• 2 hours Continuing Mediator Education (CME) credit

Every active MSC and FFS mediator certified by the North Carolina Dispute Resolution Commission (DRC) must annually complete 2 hours of continuing mediator education (CME) certified by the DRC. As this credit is not permitted to roll over to subsequent years, this course is approved by the DRC for only two hours of CME. Review the DRC rules here.

The Mediation Center is an approved CLE sponsor under the regulations promulgated by the North Carolina State Bar Board of Continuing Legal Education.

SCHEDULE

9:00am – 9:05am – Welcome

9:05am – 10:05am - How Now, What News? with Tara Kozlowski

The opening session will provide a bird’s eye view of mediator resources offered by the Dispute Resolution Commission. The session will outline the daily resources available to mediators to help them mediate successfully. Specifically, the session will provide guidance around: when to use different forms that have been created for the MSC and FFS programs, where to find the most recent codification of the program rules with past tracked amendments, and how to get the advice you need to stay out of sticky situations.

10:05–10:10 a.m. - Break

10:10–11:10 a.m. -Nothing Good or Bad, but Thinking Makes It So, Sharon Tracey Barrett

Helping people make thoughtful and informed decisions about settlement is an important skill for all DRC-certified mediators. In addition to the general skill supporting others make decisions requires, this session outlines common causes of faulty or irrational decision-making by participants. For example, stress, anxiety, lack of objectivity, and hostility toward others can impact participants’ abilities to make decisions. The session will explore ways that mediators can help mitigate the harmful impact of such factors on the decision-making process and assist parties in reaching an agreement

11:10–11:15 a.m. - Break

11:15 a.m.–12:15 p.m. -To Mediate or Not to Mediate, That Is the Question, Frank Goldsmith

When can you serve as the mediator? Mediators cannot allow personal interests to interfere with their obligation to impartially serve the parties to a dispute. What does this mean when a mediator is acquainted with a party, even a former client, a former law partner as counsel, a company in which the mediator has an interest, and other circumstances where impartiality could be called into question? When can disclosure and informed consent resolve these concerns? This session will also cover the mediator’s opening statement. What must be covered? What are the consequences of omitting something? Are there differences between the mediator’s opening in state and federal courts? Among the federal districts? Can counsel consent to waive the opening session?

PRESENTERS

Tara Lynn Kozlowski is the Executive Director of the North Carolina Dispute Resolution Commission. She has been with the Commission since July of 2018. Prior to working with the DRC Mrs. Kozlowski was a family law litigator and mediator, practicing with a small firm in Wake County. Mrs. Kozlowski obtained a BS in Chemistry from Indiana University, and her JD from The University of Toledo College of Law in 2006. She lives in Apex with her husband, two daughters, and yellow lab. Please feel free to contact her at the DRC office anytime with questions or to introduce yourself.

Frank Goldsmith operates a mediation and arbitration practice under the name Goldsmith Resolutions, based in Buncombe County. He is a graduate of Davidson College and received his Juris Doctor degree with honors from UNC-Chapel Hill, following which he served as an Army captain(JAGC) during the Vietnam Era before returning to civilian litigation practice in North Carolina. Frank was certified as a mediator in 1996 and has mediated hundreds of state and federal cases in the past 25+ years. He has consistently been listed in “Best Lawyers in America,” “Super Lawyers,” and “North Carolina Legal Elite” in the field of alternate dispute resolution. He has served on the Boards of Governors of both the North Carolina Bar Association (NCBA) and the North Carolina Advocates for Justice (NCAJ) and was inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers in 1994.

Sharon Tracey Barrett is a retired Superior Court Judge and a former Buncombe County District Court Judge. She currently serves as an Associate Judge and Justice for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and as an Emergency Superior Court Judge. Through a practice called Barrett Resolutions, Sharon works as a mediator and arbitrator. She is a member of the North Carolina Chapter of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals. She graduated cum laude from Boston College in 1983 and received her J.D. degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1986. She practiced law in Asheville for nineteen years, focusing primarily on civil litigation, until she became a judge in 2005. She was President of the Buncombe County Bar from 2002-2003 and served for many years on the board of directors of The Mediation Center.

All registration fees benefit The Mediation Center.