Negotiation and Dispute Resolution Program

T.C. Smith (left), <p>Professor Karen Tokarz and Judge Thomas Frawley
T.C. Smith (left), JD '04, and Professor Tokarz (center),
director of the law school's Negotiation and Dispute Resolution
Program, discuss the Civil Rights, Community Justice &
Mediation Clinic  victim-offender  mediation program with
 Judge Thomas Frawley (right)of the St. Louis Circuit Court.

Washington University School of Law is a long-standing leader in negotiation and dispute resolution education. At Washington University, we believe that lawyers must be versed in negotiation, problem-solving, collaboration, and creative dispute resolution to practice successfully in today’s world. Our systematic progression of ADR courses, clinics, seminars, and competitions prepares our graduates to enter the legal profession as effective and skilled negotiators, mediators, arbitrators, diplomats, ombudspersons, practitioners, policymakers, and business leaders in local, national, and international arenas.

Washington University provides an introductory Negotiation course for all first-year law students—one of the few law schools in the country to provide this opportunity. This required intersession course, taught by full-time faculty, introduces first-year students to negotiation theory and practice while enhancing their understanding of professional identity, judgment, and ethics. Washington University’s robust upper-level ADR curriculum includes 20 courses, many of which are offered in multiple sections. Students can choose from a rich array of theory and practice courses, seminars, clinics, and internship opportunities in the United States and overseas. The law school also offers intramural Client Counseling and Negotiation Skills Competitions for first-year students to impress upon them from their first year the importance of these fundamental lawyering skills.

Our distinguished faculty includes several full-time faculty members with expertise in psychology, business, economics, and international human rights, who teach, write, and practice in the field of dispute resolution. Our distinguished faculty also includes top local practitioners with ADR expertise. The program frequently collaborates with the award-winning Clinical Education and Trial & Advocacy Programs to provide students with an outstanding legal education. Washington University’s innovative Negotiation and Dispute Resolution Program was founded and is directed by Karen Tokarz, Charles Nagel Professor of Public Interest Law and Public Service, an internationally recognized expert in dispute resolution and clinical education, and respected civil rights mediator.  

Innovative First-Year Negotiation Course and Robust Upper-Level ADR Curriculum

Washington University School of Law’s Negotiation and Dispute Resolution Program’s curriculum is among the strongest in the country. Washington University is one of the few schools in the nation to provide an introductory Negotiation course for all law students.
This first-year Negotiation course, offered during intersession, lays the foundation for learning in upper-level negotiation and dispute resolution courses and in doctrinal courses. Pretrial Practice & Settlement—which introduces students to interviewing, counseling, and negotiation in the context of pleadings, discovery, motion practice, and settlement—has been one of the most popular courses in the upper-class curriculum for more than three decades. The law school currently offers 14 sections per year. Among recent graduates, 90% took more than one upper-level ADR course, 60% took two or more upper-level ADR courses, 30% took three or more upper-level ADR courses, and 10% took four or more upper-level ADR courses. The current curriculum includes the following courses:

Introductory ADR Courses  

  • Negotiation—7-8 sections/year 
  • Introduction to U.S. & Comparative ADR Processes—2 sections/year

ADR Theory & Practice Courses  

  • Pretrial Practice & Settlement—14 sections/year 
  • Mediation Theory & Practice—7 sections/year 
  • Family Mediation Theory & Practice 
  • Negotiation Theory & Practice 
  • Business Negotiation Theory & Practice— 2 sections/year 
  • Business Planning & Drafting: The Deal 
  • Business Planning & Drafting: Fundamentals of M&A Transactions 
  • Arbitration Theory & Practice 
  • International Commercial Arbitration 
  • Securities Law: Litigation & Arbitration 
  • Sports Law: Planning, Drafting & Negotiation 
  • Entertainment Law: Planning, Drafting & Negotiation

Capstone ADR Courses  

  • Civil Rights, Community Justice & Mediation Clinic—2 sections/year 
  • Advanced Mediation & ADR Processes—2 sections/year 
  • International Justice & Conflict Resolution Practicum—2 sections/year 
  • Advanced Negotiation Theory Seminar 
  • Game Theory & the Law Seminar 
  • ABA Negotiation Competition 
  • ABA Representation in Mediation Competition  

Distinguished Negotiation, ADR, and Related Trial Practice Faculty

Our distinguished full-time faculty includes several faculty members who teach, write, and practice in the areas of Negotiation, ADR, Pretrial, and Trial Practice.

  • Karen Tokarz, director, Negotiation and Dispute Resolution Program, and Charles Nagel Professor of Public Interest Law & Public Service 
  • C.J. Larkin, administrative director, Negotiation and Dispute Resolution Program, and senior lecturer in law 
  • Kent Syverud, dean and Ethan A.H. Shepley University Professor 
  • Rebecca Hollander-Blumoff, associate professor of law 
  • Ann Shields, director, Pretrial Program; professor of practice; and Faculty Ombudsperson
  • Leila Nadya Sadat, director, Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute, and Henry H. Oberschelp Professor of Law 
  • Scott Baker, professor of law and professor of economics 
  • Peter Joy, vice dean and Henry Hitchcock Professor of Law 
  • Katherine Goldwasser, professor of law 
  • Michael Koby, director, Trial & Advocacy Program, and professor of practice.

Our distinguished faculty also includes top local practitioners with expertise in negotiation, mediation, and arbitration.
 

Negotiation and Dispute Resolution Program Hosts Scholarship Roundtables

The Negotiation and Dispute Resolution Program hosts national scholarship roundtables in conjunction with the Washington University Journal of Law & Policy, bringing academics to the law school at the forefront of negotiation and dispute resolution scholarship, teaching, and practice. The fall 2011 roundtable, which focused on “New Directions in Negotiation and Dispute Resolution,” drew academics from 16 law schools across the U.S. and from El Salvador.

The Journal will publish articles from the roundtable in its 39th volume later this year. The event was the second in a new series of Negotiation and Dispute Resolution Program scholarship roundtables, designed to generate cutting-edge scholarship in the field.

The first roundtable, held in fall 2009, focused on “New Directions in ADR and Clinical Legal Education. “ Articles from that conference were published in volume 34 of the Journal.  

Washington University Teams Garner Success in National ADR Skills Competitions

Washington University students have achieved remarkable success in negotiation and dispute resolution national skills competitions during the past 25 years. Washington University has won the national championships in the ABA Client Counseling and Negotiation Competitions, and Washington University teams have finished second, third, fifth, and seventh in the nation since first entering the highly competitive ABA Representation in Mediation Competition seven years ago.

ADR Domestic and International Experiential Learning Opportunities

Washington University upper-level students may participate in clinics and internships in which they engage in negotiation and dispute resolution in domestic and international venues, including:

  • Civil Rights, Community Justice & Mediation Clinic (housing court mediations, mortgage foreclosure negotiations, and consumer mediations at the Better Business Bureau) 
  • International Justice & Conflict Resolution Practicum (full-semester externships with agencies and courts such as the International Criminal Tribunals and the Permanent Court of Arbitration) 
  • Africa Public Interest Law & Conflict Resolution Initiative (10-week summer internships with agencies and courts such as the International Labour Organization and the Ghana Supreme Court ADR Programme) 

Post-Graduate International Stipends Open Doors into ADR Practice

The Negotiation and Dispute Resolution Program, in conjunction with U.S. Arbitration & Mediation Midwest Inc., provides an annual post-graduate stipend for a graduate with demonstrated interest in pursuing a career international ADR. Recent graduates are interning with a township school in South Africa and a law firm in China. 

Negotiation and Dispute Resolution Program Trainings, CLEs, and Speakers

 

The Negotiation and Dispute Resolution Program sponsors trainings, CLE programs, and lectures each year for students, faculty, and the community. The program co-sponsored the required Advanced Mediation Training for Court Certified ADR Neutrals with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri in 2006 and 2011.

Recent Negotiation and Dispute Resolution Program Speakers
Jennifer Robbennolt, professor of law, Illinois, Mea Culpa: The Role of Apologies in Legal Decision-Making [view video]
Wilma Liebman, chair, National Labor Relations Board, The Revival of American Labor Law [view video]
Jeff Giddings, professor of law, Griffith University, ADR in Australia: From Indigenous Culture to Modern Day Co-Option by the Courts [view video]
Betty Oyella Bigombe, fellow, Woodrow Wilson International Center, The Challenges of Mediation: Peace Negotiations with the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda [view video]
Marc Galanter, John and Rylla Bosshard Professor of Law & South Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin, Fewer Trials, More Law, More Jokes [view video]
Kenneth Feinberg, Fund Special Master, Negotiating the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund: Mass Tort Resolution Without Litigation [view video]

Contact Information:

Karen Tokarz, Director, Negotiation and Dispute Resolution Program, and Charles Nagel Professor of Public Interest Law & Public Service
Washington University School of Law
Campus Box 1120
One Brookings Drive
St. Louis, MO 63130-4899
phone: (314) 935-6414
email: tokarz@wulaw.wustl.edu