Advanced Commercial Mediation Training 2020

This two-day Advanced Commercial Mediation Training is approved under Part 146 of the Rules of the Chief Administrative Judge.

Section Chair: Laura Kaster, Esq.

Program Chairs:

Evan J. Spelfogel, Esq. | Alfreida B. Kenny, Esq.

Program Presenters:

Simeon H. Baum, Esq.

Mr. Baum is a 30+ year litigator and President of Resolve Mediation Services, Inc. (www.mediators.com); serving as mediator, arbitrator and neutral evaluator in over 1,000 disputes since 1992. His mediations include the highly publicized Studio Daniel Libeskind-Silverstein Properties dispute over architectural fees for redevelopment of the World Trade Center site and Trump’s $ 1 billion suit over the West Side Hudson River development. He served as founding Chair of NYSBA’s Dispute Resolution Section. He was Chair of the Federal Bar Association's ADR Section, past President of the FBA's SDNY Chapter, and on the

FBA's national Board of Directors. He has served on ADR Advisory Groups to the New York Court system and trained their Commercial Division mediators for the last 20 years. In 2011, 2014, and 2018, Best Lawyers selected Mr. Baum as New York’s ADR “Lawyer of the Year.” He teaches on the ADR faculty at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and is a frequent speaker and trainer on ADR.

Stephen A. Hochman, Esq.

Mr. Hochman, a founding partner in the firm now known as Kramer, Levin, Naftalis & Frankel, practiced law for over 40 years, specializing in corporate, commercial and securities law. He has successfully mediated over 400 commercial and other types of disputes, including class actions and financial, employment, insurance, real estate, partnership, and bankruptcy disputes, approximately 98% of which have settled. Mr. Hochman now practices exclusively as a mediator and arbitrator and writes, consults, and lectures frequently on ADR subjects. Over the last 20 years, Mr. Hochman, together with Mr. Baum, has trained the mediators in New York County and various other downstate counties. He also served on the boards and investment committees of various non-profit corporations, including several hospitals and a captive insurance company.

Co-sponsored by the Dispute Resolution Section of the New York State Bar Association, Fordham University School of Law, and the Fordham University ADR & Conflict Resolution Program. 

The Dispute Resolution Section of the New York State Bar Association is proud to offer a special program designed for mediators who have completed — or plan to complete — a minimum of three days of basic mediation training and who desire to enhance their commercial mediation skills. This program will focus on identifying the barriers to settlement and the ways to overcome them. In addition to refining and deepening facilitative skills and orientation, the program will address ways of facilitating evaluative analyses or offering evaluative feedback to help the parties reach a resolution. This can include refining the handling of risk and transaction cost analysis, including the use of decision trees, as well as utilizing a variety of impasse breakers. The program will offer approaches to problems that arise when there are multiple parties or when one or more of the defendants has, or may have, insurance coverage with one or more insurance companies as well as ways to overcome impasse. Finally, the program will discuss the ethical issues that arise under various scenarios and how to deal with them.

Program Topics

• Cultivating Ideal Mediator Orientation, Attitude & Awareness

• Effective Preparation

• Effective Communication

• Deep Listening Skills

• Effective Openings

• Maximizing Opportunities in Joint Session

• Wise Caucusing

• Power Risk Analysis – Art, Timing & Tact in Engaging in Evaluative Processes

• Impasse Breaking

• Coming to Closure

• Theoretical Tools to Grasp the Underlying Negotiation

• Mediation Ethics

Click here to view program brochure and full agenda

For additional information contact Catherine Carl, Section Liaison, at 518-487-5679 or by email at [email protected]