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Creighton Law Students Seek to Apply Mediation Both Globally and Locally [by Erica Winter] Anything can bring someone to law school. Often, law school looks like a path to a steady job. Or becoming a lawyer seems like a good way to make some money. Some want to add legal knowledge to a career already in progress. Others just really like to argue. Then there are those who want to change the world—or just the life of one person—by learning a new way to settle disputes.
Jeri Hunter, now in her third year of Creigh-
receive free legal aid. “It’s a group I really
a commitment to pay. Eventually, Hunter
ton Law School, was at her home in Abilene,
want to reach out to,” she says.
would like to help small business owners and individuals work out disputes through ADR.
TX, on the morning of September 11, 2001, she says, when her husband called to tell
Kaufman-McNamara will embark on her sec-
her to turn on the television. While she did
ond career after graduation, having worked
To expand their ADR horizons further, both
not know anyone who died or was injured on
for 20 years with the Air Force as a Russian
Hunter and Kaufman-McNamara participated
that day, as she watched the events unfold,
linguist. She is working toward her dispute
last week in a conference on collabora-
she knew it would affect her family. Hunter’s
resolution certificate. She took a mediation
tive law, held at Creighton Law during the
husband is an Air Force officer, and she was
class this past fall, and, she says, “I’m sold
school’s spring break. The two were selected
sure he would be involved in whatever fol-
on it.”
by their mediation professor, Ron Volkmer,
lowed.
to fill slots at the conference offered to a few After getting accepted to Creighton Law,
For Hunter, seeing children overseas danc-
Hunter says she was surprised that the
students by the planners.
ing in the streets to celebrate the attack
school had “such limited classes in ADR.”
Collaborative law is not the same thing as
changed her life. “It was like a switch when I
This limitation will soon change with the
mediation. There is no mediator, just the
saw that,” she says. The sight pushed her to
launch of the Werner Institute for Dispute
representatives of each side and the parties
go to law school, to show her own children
Resolution at the school next year.
themselves. Collaborative law can involve teams comprised of a lawyer, the client, and
that education is important, and to teach others “how to solve their differences without
While too late for Hunter as a law student,
a mental-heath professional on each side.
flying planes into buildings.” That television
she will be able to take advantage of the
Then there is a financial advisor who gives
image made her think. “I can do something,”
institute’s seminars for practicing lawyers,
advice to both parties.
she says. “I want to make the world a better
which are planned to be a large part of the
place.”
offerings. “I’d really like to be a part of it,”
In collaborative law, all involved agree to find
says Hunter. ADR “should be part of every
a solution and agree not to take the case to
law school curriculum,” she says.
court. If one side does so, then that person
Hunter came to law school seeking legal
cannot use the same team in court. This
training in alternative dispute resolution (ADR) focusing on mediation. She sees
Especially in family law, Hunter says,
provision is to maintain the motivation of all
mediation as essential to certain types of dis-
“courtrooms just make it worse.” Mediation
involved to reach a settlement and because
putes, such as those in family law, and she
is a “saner way to do business,” she says.
information shared during the process can-
hopes “if we use mediation now, then more
“There’s nothing like being able to come up
not be used in court.
people will accept it, and the more expected
with your own solution.”
it will be down the road.”
For both parties in a divorce, for example, There is even room for ADR in tax law, says
knowing financial information and getting ad-
Suzanne Kaufman-McNamara, also a third-
Hunter, who is interning with the IRS right
vice from both a lawyer and a mental-heath
year law student at Creighton, sees media-
now. For example, if someone owes taxes
professional ensure “no power imbalance,”
tion and ADR as useful tools in her ideal
and does not realize it, instead of dragging
says Hunter. This allows the sides to work
legal practice: helping families with legal
the person to court, the IRS often will negoti-
out an agreement on equal footing.
issues when they are neither rich enough
ate with the person and drop some penalties
for personal attorneys, nor poor enough to
or draw up a payment plan in exchange for
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“Some disputes belong in court,” Kaufman-
continued on back
SKILL SHARPENER
McNamara says. If a person’s rights are being violated (a sexual harassment case), then mediation may not be the best option. In divorce cases, however, especially if there are children involved, mediation is a good way to go. Mediation can “empower people on an individual level,” says Kaufman-McNamara.
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