Family Mediation and Family Arbitration for the Self-Represented: Perspectives of a Practitioner and Trainer is about reviewing the nature and stages of the family mediation and arbitration processes from the perspective of legal and other professionals who seek to offer these services to self-represented parties. It provides professionals with a helpful user guide on how to manage family mediation or family arbitration cases for self-represented participants. It is also useful to self-represented parties who seek guidance in how to participate in dispute resolution processes. This book focuses on the practical and procedural aspects of practice, with some reference to the literature and scholarship in this area. Family mediation cases in the court system increasingly involve self-represented parties, and more now seek family mediation-arbitration services in the private sector. With the growing popularity of mediation and arbitration in family practice as well as the phenomenon of litigants representing themselves in court, this book meets the needs of lawyers and other professionals involved in working with self-represented parties. This book includes the following information: An introduction to the nature of family conflicts and disputes.
An overview of the relevant resolution and adjudication processes in family disputes.
A deeper dive into the family mediation and arbitration processes.
Guidance for resolving family disputes.
Professional development and continuous learning in the areas of family mediation and arbitration.
Case studies, sample reports and other useful tools and templates. About the Author:
Richard W. Shields, B.A., LL.B., M.A., LL.M., Ph.D., is a retired lawyer, mediator, arbitrator, educator and instructor with an extensive background in family dispute resolution (FDR). Together with Judith Ryan and Victoria Smith, he co-developed the first Collaborative Law training workshop for Ontario practitioners; all three co-authored Collaborative Family Law: Another Way to Resolve Family Disputes, published by Thomson Reuters in 2003. Richard participated in the pilot project team that developed the Family Mediation Canada certification program and was their first Certifying Administrator. He is a past president of the ADR Institute of Ontario and the Ontario Association for Family Mediation and was a co-founder of the Family Dispute Resolution Institute of Ontario. Richard assisted in creating the Hamilton-Halton Collaborative Family Practice Group; he also participated in the establishment of the Ontario Collaborative Law Federation (now the Ontario Association of Collaborative Professionals). He taught Family Law in the Bar Admission Course of the Law Society of Ontario. Richard served as an adjunct faculty member and instructor in the ADR programs at McMaster University, the University of Guelph, and York University where he taught negotiation and mediation in their Certificate in Dispute Resolution program and family mediation in the Certificate in Family Mediation that he developed. He continued to provide private training workshops in family mediation and arbitration until his retirement from practice. In addition to his B.A. and LL.B., Richard has an M.A. in Conflict Resolution from Antioch University, an LL.M. in ADR from Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, and a Ph.D. in Adult Education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto. In 2012, Richard received the James C. MacDonald Award from the Ontario Collaborative Law Federation for his contributions to the practice of Collaborative Law in Ontario and, in 2017, the Long-Term Achievement Award from Family Mediation Canada for his contributions to the practice of family mediation in Canada. |
