Just wrapped up the 7th annual Weinstein Fellowship training in San Francisco, CA. For those that aren’t familiar, this program was started by a generous grant by JAMS panelist Dan Weinstein to find individuals in distant parts of the world that are motivated to change their community’s approach to conflict and dispute resolution. It is hoped that with formal & information instruction, they will return to their local communities ready to impart the lessons of dispute resolution. Whether they take those lessons to develop court annexed programs, community based mediation centers, establish commercial mediation practices, or resolve to use those skills to mediate disputes in refugee camps, each fellow returns home inspired and motivated to pursue change in their community.
During their stay they gain formal instruction in mediation through educational institutions such as Pepperdine’s Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, Hastings College of the Law, Fordham University or Stanford. They also shadow JAMS mediators, observing real commercial disputes, while participating in a variety of less structured cultural exchanges and social events.
This year’s class included students from Vietnam, Poland, Japan, Rwanda, Greece, Lebanon, Nigeria, Bangladesh, China, Austria and Japan. Through the Weinstein JAMS International Fellowship program, approximately 70 alumni have successfully completed the training and are now participating members of a supportive network of mediators throughout the world.
For more information on this one-of-a-kind program, visit Weinstein JAMS Fellowship.
Bruce A. Edwards is an ADR industry pioneer and recent chairman of the board of directors of JAMS, this country’s largest private provider of ADR services. Along with his wife, Susan Franson Edwards, Mr. Edwards recently cofounded Edwards Mediation Academy, an online education platform dedicated to improving the skills of mediators around the world.
