KEYNOTE SPEAKERS                        hypothetical facilitator                       invited speakers

Prof Hilary Astor received her Bachelors and Doctoral degrees from Brunel University, London, England, where she was a lecturer for ten years. Professor Astor joined the Faculty of Law at Sydney in 1986. She is presently Professor of Dispute Resolution. Her areas of interest are dispute resolution, especially mediation, and family law. She is the co-author, with Professor Christine Chinkin, of Dispute Resolution in Australia (2nd edition, Butterworths, Sydney, 2002). She is well known for her work on the mediation of disputes involving violence against women, and her work on relationships of power in mediation and mediator neutrality. She is presently working on ARC funded projects on the relationships between family dispute resolution practitioners and family lawyers and the ways universities handle conflict and disputes. She was the inaugural Chairperson of the National Alternative Dispute Resolution Advisory Council, served for many years as a part-time Commissioner of the New South Wales Law Reform Commission and is presently a member of the Council of the Australian Institute of Judicial Administration.

Mr Bill Eddy is President and co-founder of High Conflict Institute. As an attorney, mediator and therapist, he has become an international author and speaker to professionals managing high conflict disputes, especially involving people with personality disorders.  His seminar participants have included lawyers, judges, mediators, managers, human resource professionals, businesspersons, healthcare administrators, college administrators, homeowners' association managers, ombudspersons, and others.  In the past three years, he has spoken in over 15 states, several Canadian provinces, and Paris, France.  "High conflict people are not just difficult. They are the most difficult people, because they become preoccupied with a Target of Blame - usually someone close to them (such as a spouse, relative, neighbor, co-worker) or someone in a position of authority (boss, doctor, administrator, government official). Managing high conflict people (HCPs) usually involves using skills which are the opposite of what one feels like doing. Learning these skills takes time and practice, but can make an amazing difference in resolving, managing, and containing high conflict disputes". As an attorney, Bill is a Certified Family Law Specialist in California and the Senior Family Mediator at the National Conflict Resolution Center in San Diego.  Prior to becoming an attorney in 1992, he was a Licensed Clinical Social worker with twelve years experience providing therapy to children, adults, couples and families in psychiatric hospitals and outpatient clinics. He has taught Negotiation and Mediation at the University of San Diego School of Law for six years and his articles have appeared in national law and counseling journals. (And…in the 1970's he was a Kindergarten teacher!)

Prof Michelle LeBaron currently serves as Professor of Law and Director of the Program on Dispute Resolution at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.  She has done seminal work in many areas of conflict resolution including intercultural, international, family and commercial.  Professor LeBaron's recent scholarship focuses on the creative arts as they facilitate intercultural conflict transformation.  She offers short courses internationally, and has given keynote speeches in Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland and across the US and Canada.   Professor LeBaron is the author of Bridging Troubled Waters:  Conflict Resolution from the Heart and Bridging Cultural Conflicts:  A New Approach for a Changing World, both from Jossey Bass, and Conflict Across Cultures: A Unique Experience of Bridging Differences with Venashri Pillay.  Previously, Michelle was a tenured professor of conflict analysis and resolution and women's studies at George Mason University in Virginia after practicing law and psychotherapy.

Dr Julie Macfarlane is Full Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Windsor (0.5). For the past 10 years she has researched and written extensively on dispute resolution and in particular on the changing role of lawyers. Her new book "The New Lawyer : How Settlement is Transforming the Practice of Law" is published by UBC Press in 2008. Her current funded research examines the use of Islamic family law principles and values in divorce processes conducted by third parties in North American mosques. Julie is an active mediator, and also consults regularly on conflict resolution interventions, training, program evaluation and systems design for a range of public and private sector clients. In 2005 she was the first Canadian recipient of the International Academy of Mediators' Award of Excellence, presented annually to an individual mediation practitioner. Julie has also been appointed a number of times to report to and advise the Canadian government on the development of ADR policies and programs.             Sponsored by

Prof John Wade is a professor in the law school at Bond University, Queensland, Australia. He is the current director of the Dispute Resolution Centre at Bond University. John is a practising lawyer and has had an active mediation practice on the east coast of Australia in organisational, family, and commercial conflicts since 1987. He was a faculty member at Sydney University Law School between 1974 and 1990 and has also taught at the law schools at the University of Calgary, Osgoode Hall and the University of Manitoba in Canada. Since 1993 John has taught yearly intensive mediation courses at Pepperdine University in Los Angeles, and more recently at Jones Law School, Alabama, Vermont Law School and Southern Methodist University in Texas. He has taught over 400 mediation and negotiation short courses in Hong Kong, New Zealand, Indonesia, USA and Australia.


HYPOTHETICAL FACILITATOR                    keynote speakers                  invited speakers

Professor Nadja Alexander is Professor and Co-Director of the Conflict Resolution Program at the Australian Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies. She has extensive experience as a mediation practitioner, trainer, researcher and consultant in Australia, Europe, the United States and Asia/Pacific region. In 2008 she received an appointment to advise the German government on its mediation law. She is the author of numerous books on mediation and negotiation and is editor of the book series Global Trends in Dispute Resolution. Prof Alexander sits on the editorial boards of three prominent conflict resolution journals in the US, Australia and Austria. She is a member of various ADR bodies including NADRAC, the Law Council of Australia’s ADR Committee and the Standards Commission of the International Mediation Institute. Her awards include best law teacher (University of Qld, 1994, 1995, 1996) and in Australia (1997). Prof Alexander was named in the top 5 female legal academics in Australia (1998) and was a finalist in the Telstra Business Woman of the Year (2000). In 2006 Professor Alexander was the recipient of a Humboldt Fellowship (Berlin) on International Mediation.


INVITED SPEAKERS                        hypothetical facilitator                             keynote speakers

The Hon Justice Murray Kellam AO is the Chair of NADRAC and a Justice of the Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of Victoria. Justice Kellam was formerly a Justice of the Trial Division of the Supreme Court of Victoria, President of the Australian Institute of Judicial Administration and President of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT). He has been a strong supporter of ADR within the court and tribunal system and led the development of a broad-ranging and innovative ADR program within VCAT. He has undertaken mediation training at Harvard University and has been involved in the delivery of mediation training to the judiciary in Papua-New Guinea and a number of Pacific Island Countries.  

Mr Francis Handy is a principal of The Trillium Group, the Australian division of ADR Chambers and the Stitt Feld Handy Group, a Canadian based international organization that provides a complete spectrum of Dispute Resolution services, from systems design and implementation to training to third party neutral services. Frank has significant experience in dispute resolution in administrative and regulatory matters, particularly agriculture, land use planning, and environmental disputes. He has acted as a mediator, arbitrator and facilitator working with industry associations, regulatory bodies, government appointed producer and processor negotiators on agricultural pricing and regulatory reform in Canada. He works primarily in Canada, Australia, and the UK, but has also facilitated workshops in the Caribbean, the US, and Ethiopia and other locations.

Mr Johan Scheffer is a Member of the Legislative Council for Eastern Victoria. Johan has been a member of the Legislative Council since 2002. He has chaired the Law Reform Committee since August 2007 and overseen a diverse range of inquiries including ADR, property investment advisers and marketeers, and vexatious litigants. Johan has also previously Chaired the Drugs and Crime Prevention Committee and the Family and Community Development Committee of the Victorian Parliament. Before entering the Victorian Parliament, Johan’s occupations included teacher, public servant and business management consultant.

Prof Tania Sourdin is Professor of Conflict Resolution and Co-Director of Conflict Resolution and Practice at the Australian Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, The University of Queensland, based in Melbourne and Sydney. Professor Sourdin has extensive experience in conflict resolution, negotiation, ADR, commercial litigation, trade practices and consumer issues. She is a solicitor of the Supreme Court of NSW, part-time Member of the Commonwealth Administrative Appeals Tribunal and a member of National Alternative Dispute Resolution Advisory Council. Tania is an experienced mediator, active in a range of commercial and workplace matters. Professor Sourdin has led national research projects and produced important recommendations for reform. She has extensive experience in training and education having worked across Australia, in New Zealand, Hong Kong, North America and Europe in mediation, communication, negotiation and ADR processes. As well, she has written books, articles and papers, and presented widely on a range of topics including mediation, conflict resolution, technology and organisational change.

Ms Irena Vanenkova is a practising international dispute resolver and communications specialist. Irena is an Accredited Mediator at the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) in London and a mediator member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) in London. Irena has completed the advanced mediator training course with MATA in London and is a member of the Russian Chamber of Commerce Mediation Panel.

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