Rutgers School of Law–Camden Introduces Mediation Center to Promote Dispute Resolution

For Immediate Release

CAMDEN --  A new resource at the Rutgers School of Law–Camden has been launched to provide focused training in the growing field of dispute resolution for current and future attorneys and other interested parties.

The Rutgers–Camden Mediation Center offers a comprehensive overview of dispute resolution, a pathway increasingly preferred by judges seeking to minimize the cost and volume of courtroom trials for the benefit of the litigants and their families.  “Time often is essential to families and businesses who find themselves in court,” explains Nancy Hawn, co-director of the new Rutgers–Camden law school initiative.  “If it takes a year for a case to work its way through the court system, how money is expended and emotional damage incurred during that time?”

Rutgers School of Law–Camden students will be able to enroll in two courses offered through the Rutgers–Camden Mediation Center:  “Alternative Dispute Resolution” and “Family Mediation.”  Additional courses will be taught in the Rutgers School of Business–Camden.

The Rutgers–Camden Mediation Center also will provide practitioners with 40-hour basic trainings in family mediation; 12-hour advanced family mediation trainings; 18-hour civil mediation trainings; and four-hour continuing education courses on mediation, conflict management and prevention, negotiation, and related subjects.  The center also will provide dispute resolution services to the public and regional businesses.

“Mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution increasingly are embraced by people engaged in economic or personal disputes as a cost-effective means for resolving challenging issues,” says Rayman Solomon, dean of the Rutgers School of Law–Camden.  “Through our Mediation Center, Rutgers will provide the Delaware Valley with a strong and meaningful emphasis on this growing movement.”

Hawn and Carl Viniar will co-direct the new Rutgers–Camden center, which will offer programs that may provide continuing legal education credits for legal practitioners.  Viniar and Hawn run the South Jersey Mediation Center in Cherry Hill which specializes in family mediation services.

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