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Event Information
Family Court Mediation Certification & Advanced Negotiation Workshop
April 18, 2022 - April 22, 2022
Credits
N/A
MCLE: 40.00
Ethics: 2.00
Pricing
Dates
Monday, April 18, 2022 - Friday, April 22, 2022Time
8:30 AM - 6:00 PMRegistration Deadline
Monday, April 04, 2022Location
Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, P.A.1 North Main Street, 2nd Floor
Greenville, SC 29601
Please note this workshop is currently full.
If you would like to be placed on a waitlist (if there are cancellations), send an email to registrar@scbar.org.
If you are interested in becoming a South Carolina Supreme Court Certified Family Court Mediator, the first step is to complete the Family Court Mediator Training Program sponsored by the South Carolina Bar. This 40 hour program has been approved by the Commission on ADR and meets all the requirements of ADR Rule 20(b).
This course is not a classroom lecture but is a highly interactive program that will equip you with all the training and skills you will need to enter into the practice of mediation.
The two presenters, Bruce M. Poore and Joy D. Bennett, will provide you with an opportunity to learn new skills and to improve your existing skills to get you off to a great start.
The program materials have been designed to cover all the relevant areas you need to be familiar with and understand, including but not limited to: mediation process; the role of the mediator; how to successfully organize a mediation conference; mediation skills; the nature of conflict and its effect on litigants; court procedures; substantive law; ethics; Online Dispute Resolution; and agreement writing.
This is not your traditional sit and take notes type of program. There is extensive in-class participation in all parts of a mediation conference that will allow you to experience first hand what it is like to work as a mediator.
This is the best place to start your entry into Family Court mediation.
NOTE: TRAINING IS NOT THE SAME AS CERTIFICATION
Anyone may take these classes to become a well-trained mediator. However, training does not guarantee certification by the S.C. Board of Arbitrator & Mediator Certification; you must also be eligible for certification, of which training is only one requirement. For all Board certification requirements, please read closely court-annexed ADR Rule 19, available at www.scbar.org/adr, along with applications, roster, FAQs and much more.
Need Hotel Accommodations? We have a rate with the Aloft Greenville - click here.
About the Trainers
Bruce M. Poore graduated from the University of South Carolina with a B.A. in Philosophy in 1974 and from the University of South Carolina School of Law with a J.D. in 1977.
From 1977 to 1979 Mr. Poore served as a law clerk to Associate Justice George T. Gregory, Jr. and during those two years he received a priceless education from a wonderful mentor. After completing his clerkship with Judge Gregory, he returned home to York County. Mr. Poore enjoyed a brief stint as Municipal Judge for the Town of Clover; a couple of years as an Assistant Solicitor for the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit; and a lengthy tenure as a coach for the Northwestern High School Mock Trial team. He is a former certified Rider Coach for the Harley Davidson Motorcycle Rider's Edge New Riders Course and Skilled Riders Course. Mr. Poore is an Eagle Scout.
As with most small town attorneys, Mr. Poore began his practice by taking the legal work that walked in his door. Finding his primary interests to be working with the people and the issues involved in family disputes, he focused his practice in the area of Family Law. He is trained as a Collaborative Family Attorney and participates as a member of a team of collaborative divorce consultants in his home area. Mr. Poore currently serves as a volunteer Mediator for the York County Family Court Self Represented Litigant Mediation Program. Presently his practice is limited to Mediation and Collaborative Law.
In July 2012 Mr. Poore took his first Family Court Mediation Training Program with Ms. Bryan and Mr. Sarratt and also took the Circuit Court Civil Mediator Course in August 2013. Finding a calling in family mediation, he took the Family Court Mediation Training again in March 2016 and July 2017 and began to assist the trainers. Along with Joy Bennett, Mr. Poore worked with Ms. Bryan and Mr. Sarratt in presenting the March 2018 training program in Greenville.
Joy D. Bennett, LISW-CP is a non-attorney certified mediator who has successfully guided hundreds of families through the mediation process. She received her training in 1998 from Mary Lowndes Bryan and Cotton Harness.
After earning her BA in 1981 from the University of Illinois, Ms. Bennett served as Executive Director for the Rape Crisis Council of Greenville for four years. She then earned her Masters in Social Work from the University of South Carolina in 1992. Among other positions, she has served as program Director for the "Families in Transition" program of Compass of Carolina, conducting parent trainings and support groups for children of divorcing families.
Ms. Bennett is a Licensed Independent Social Worker licensed at the highest level of practice for Clinical Social Workers in South Carolina. She has been in private practice since 1999. She specializes in therapy with children and family therapy for divorcing and blended families. She has special training in the treatment of trauma for both children and adults.
Ms. Bennett has been especially successful mediating divorces and other family matters with only the parties present, facilitating their communication with each other directly. She has special knowledge in the area of children's developmental needs in divorce, and has presented training workshops around the state, including for groups such as the Upstate Mediation Network, the South Carolina Society for Clinical Social Work, American Mental Health Counselors Association, the National Association of Social Work-South Carolina Chapter, the South Carolina Council for Conflict Resolution, and the South Carolina Bar's Supreme Court-Approved Training for Family Mediators.
Ms. Bennett was a Founding Member of the Upstate Mediation Network and is a past Board member and current volunteer for the Upstate Mediation Center.
The South Carolina Bar is an accredited CLE provider in South Carolina only. Attorneys are responsible for seeking their own credit in other jurisdictions.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in CLE programs and publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the South Carolina Bar, its sections, or committees. The South Carolina Bar believes that all Bar members have the right to both meaningful learning and to the exchange of ideas in a civil environment. The Bar reserves the right to remove or exclude any person from a Bar event if that person is causing inappropriate disturbance, behaving in a manner inconsistent with accepted standards of decorum, or in any way preventing fellow Bar members from meaningful participation and learning.
Registration Fees
| Price Description | Amount |
|---|
Agenda
Speakers
| Name | Organization | Speaking At |
|---|---|---|
| Bruce Poore | - | |
| Joy Bennett | Joy D. Bennett, LISW | - |
Policy
Refunds, less $250 processing fee, will be made for cancellations received in writing to the Registrar at registrar@scbar.org or by fax to (803) 252-8427 by 5 p.m., ten days prior to date of program. One-time transfers to seminars of like value will be accepted for a $100 administrative fee in lieu of cancellations within one week of seminar. If you register but do not cancel or attend, you will receive the written handout materials in consideration of payment. Designated substitutes may take the place of registrants unable to attend.
Continuing Education
Agenda
FAMILY MEDIATION TRAINING - AGENDA (scheduled to change)
8:30 a.m.-6:00 p.m. each day, one hour for lunch, 15-minute breaks morning and afternoon
DAY 1
8:00 Registration
8:30 Welcome; Housekeeping; Schedule; Materials
8:45 Brief Introduction to Mediation: How does it Differ from other forms of Conflict Resolution?
Rule 1—Self-Determination
9:00 Introductions of Each Other (in pairs, then to group)
9:45 Conflict: Introduction to and discussion of Conflict Paradigm. If we are going to deal with conflict resolution, it might help to know a bit about conflict itself
10:15 Break
10:30 Role Play—Ray and Barbara—Conflict Resolution in a Fishbowl
1. They try to work it out themselves
2. Temporary Hearing—conflict continues to increase, the parties feel Disconnected, Disempowered, Disabled, and eventually Demonized
3. Mediation Demo
11:30 Debrief the Role Play
12:00 – 1:00 Lunch
1:00 Intake and Preparation: Stage 1
2:00 Listening Skills—Listening, Asking Questions, Reframing, Summarizing
3:00 Break
3:15 Opening Statement—Discussion, Demonstration
4:00 Interactive—Write & Practice Opening Statements
5:00 Debrief Opening Statements
6:00 Adjourn
8:30 Ethics/Standards
9:00 Separation and Divorce—Emotional Impact--How parties are feeling
9:30 Mediation—Early Stages
1. Preparation
2. Mediator Opening Statement
3. Party Opening Statement
10:15 Break
10:30 Discussion of substantive South Carolina law and procedure that is applicable to the Role play
11:00 Role Play—Who Moves Out?
Reference Role Play Guide, Observation Forms.
Focus on Listening Skills, Opening Statements, What worked well, Challenges
12:00 – 1:00 Lunch
1:00 Debrief the Role Play
1:30 Children’s Issues
3:00 Break
Parenting Plan; Sole custody, joint custody, split custody; Visitation; Best interest standard; Decision-making; Children in Court; Child Support Guidelines (Parent cannot contract away support); Criteria for determining Support; Duration of Support; Educational Expenses; Medical Insurance and child care, Dependency Exemptions
4:00 Role Play –School Daze
5:00 Debrief the Role Play
6:00 Adjourn
DAY 3
8:30 Ethics/Standards
9:00 Middle Stages--
Stage 4--- Organizing the Mediation Topics List
Stage 5--- Gathering Information—Preparing for the Mediation
Stage 6--- Identifying and Clarifying Interests
Positional Bargaining vs. Interests/Values
10:15 Discussion of substantive South Carolina law and procedure that is applicable to the role play.
Alimony (Fifteen factors to consider, types of Alimony), Dates of valuation, Allocation of Debt; Equitable Apportionment, Capital Gains and Losses, Depreciation of rental and business property, Marital and non-Marital Property defined
11:15 Role Play—Show me the Money
12:00 – 1:00 Lunch
1:00 Debrief the Role Play
Focus on Opening Statements, Organization, Identifying Interests, What worked well, Challenges
1:30 People Issues
Balance of Power Temporary Orders
High Emotions Guardians ad litem
Personality Types Gender Differences
2:30 Use of Caucus—slow down the process, attend to the people
3:00 Dealing with Impasses—What is Impasse?
3:15 Break
3:30 Discussion of substantive South Carolina law and procedure that is applicable to the role play.
4:30 Role Play—Busted and Angry
5:30 Debrief the Role Play-- Focus on Opening Statements, People Skills, Use of Caucus, What worked well, Challenges
6:00 Adjourn
DAY 4
8:30 Ethics/Standards
9:00 Financial Information/Resources; Retirement;Technological Resources
9:30 Working with Attorneys in the Mediation
9:45 Stage 7—Generating Options
Brainstorming Reality Testing
Making Offers Analyzing Options
10:00 Break
10:15 Discussion of substantive South Carolina law and procedure that is applicable to the role play—how cases arrive in mediation; pro se parties; Wills, Life Insurance, Social Security; Retirement and Pensions, QDRO's; Family and closely held businesses
11:00 Role Play—Alimony & Property—Blanche and Marvin
12:00 – 1:00 Lunch
1:00 Debrief the Role Play
Focus on Opening Statement, What’s different with Attorneys Present, Organizing, Skills Used, Challenges
2:00 Outside Influences: Help or Hindrance?—Stakeholders, Professionals, GAL’s, Step-parents, grandparents
2:30 Young, Unmarried Parents; Retirement Age; Various Demographics
3:00 Break
3:15 Discussion of substantive South Carolina law and procedure that is applicable to the role play
4:00 Role Play—Parents as Partners
Focus on Opening Statement, Challenges with Teen Parents, Use of Attorneys and Caucus, Organizing
5:00 Debrief the Role Play
6:00 Adjourn
DAY 5
8:30 Ethics/Standards
9:00 Domestic Violence Screening—guest speaker
10:00 Break
Finalizing, Writing, using Attachments
BATNA
11:00 Discussion of Mediator Certification
11:30 Discussion of Volunteer and Networking Opportunities—Making Change Happen
12:00 – 1:00 Lunch
1:00 Role Play—Daddy’s Girls—(Fishbowl)
2:00 Debrief the Role Play
3:00 Collaborative Law
4:00 Debrief the Class
What helped turn the corner?
What was most useful?
Suggestions
5:00 Evaluation Forms
Present Certificates
Take Class Picture
6:00 Adjourn