Return to EMI Homepage

Employment Mediation Institute 2023 Workshops

Re-thinking the Mediator’s role: from Dealmaker to Witness Bearer featuring Jan Frankel Schau

Speaker: Jan Frankel Schau, Esq. 

Workshop Description: 

Jan Schau will advance a new paradigm for mediators:  from the more conventional "deal maker" to a modern day "witness bearer".  She will consider whether mediators can serve in a new capacity--one that is aimed at true understanding and one that engages the therapeutic model of healing through storytelling.  Jan will also confront the most pressing ethical issues facing modern mediation practice and the legislative efforts to erode confidentiality for the sake of ensuring that lawyers adhere to their own ethical principles.  Finally, Jan will forecast the future by looking at AI and the ways it may affect the practice of mediation.

Jan Frankel Schau, Esq. 

Workshop 1: A Review of the Most Recent, Cutting-Edge Developments in California Employment Law

Speakers: Phyllis Cheng, Esq., Andrew H. Friedman, Esq., and Anthony J. Oncidi, Esq. 

Workshop Description:

An exciting and thought provoking discussion on the most recent legal developments in Arbitration, Attorneys' Fees, Breaks, CAFA, Class Certification, Discrimination, Forced Labor, Harassment,  Health & Safety, Hours Worked, Independent Contractors, Joint Liability, Minimum Wage, Misclassification, Non-competition & non-solicitation, Occasional CA Employees, PAGA, Procedural Issues, Punitive Damages Regular Rate, Rounding, Settlement, Suitable Seating, Wage & Hour, Waiting Time Penalties, Wrongful Termination, Retaliation, Whistleblower & 1102.5 Claims.

            .           

  Phyllis Cheng, Esq.         Andrew H. Friedman, Esq.       Anthony J. Oncidi, Esq. 

Workshop 2: Why Aren't They Listening? Redirecting the Disputant''s Mindset

Speaker: Dr. Debra Dupree

Workshop Description:

Past negotiation and mediation approaches emphasized a focus on strategies and tactics for working out the transactional nature of a deal, and the degree of parties’ satisfaction with the process.

Today, and in the pandemic evolution, we’ve shifted to a heightened awareness of how much our parties in dispute resolution have been impacted and how much more important it is that we listen to what’s going on for them, supporting them as they navigate through to resolution of the conflict, not just settlement of the legal issues.

With the advance of neuroscience coupled with the pain of what’s transpired during the COVID years, our clients demand a different kind of service (and attention) from the advocate/mediator professional.

We know that feelings influence outcomes. We know that emotions convey information that can be used strategically if we know what to look for. And we know there are readily available techniques to reduce emotional intensity (without being a psychologist). What are they?

This program presents to the advocate/mediator professional the strategic elements to bring this Together.

What You Will Learn:

• Reframing conflict...reframing emotions

• Gain a ‘brief’ on the brain: rational, emotional and behavioral aspects of conflict

•  Understand the nature of conflict and how it influences and impacts our cognitive process

  Dr. Debra Dupree