Description:

We have struggled successfully over the past few decades to bring about a paradigm shift in the legal profession. During that time mediation has achieved both commercial success and found its institutional foothold in our multidoor approach to dispute resolution. What can we learn from these past experiences about the imperative of advancing mediation skills beyond the marketplace of commercial disputes and what opportunities does mediation afford for a broad range of issues impacting our communities.

Bruce Edwards was an industry pioneer in the field of alternative dispute resolution. Since 1986 he has mediated over 7,000 disputes throughout the United States involving complex, multiparty lawsuits and specializing in matters of high emotion.

Throughout his career, Bruce has been actively involved in growing the business of ADR. He was a co-founder of JAMS, this country’s largest commercial provider of mediation services and recently served as its board chairman.

Since 1993 Mr. Edwards has served as an Adjunct Professor at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University School of Law where he teaches courses in advanced mediation. In addition to his teaching in the United States, Mr. Edwards has personally taught mediation skills to hundreds of attorneys, judges, business leaders and aspiring mediators throughout Europe, Africa, India and Asia. Most recently, Mr. Edwards has cofounded the Edwards Mediation Academy, an online education platform for teaching practical mediation skills to a global audience.