'kon gres 2011 - LEADR's 11th international ADR conference

The Way of ADR – and the five golden rules of dealing with complaints about lawyers

Podcasts, powerpoints and/or papers from the presentations are available to LEADR members and
'kon gres 2011 participants via a password protected area. Click here >>

Discover five golden rules that will help you be more effective as an ADR practitioner as you become more aware of your own mind and how to take care of it.

In this workshop, Nathaniel shares five essential approaches, his ‘golden rules’, for successful dispute resolution that can be applied to a range of ADR situations. These golden rules stem from both his five years of practicing ADR with the Legal Services Commissioner (Victoria) as well as his almost 20 years as a ‘Japanese yoga’ teacher. With a focus on turning self-reflection into mindful action, these approaches are not a prescriptive guide but aim to provoke greater personal insight into the mind of the ADR practitioner as they go about practicing their craft.

In this engaging and interactive workshop, ADR practitioners will explore the five golden rules and learn how to identify and focus on these essential elements of successful dispute resolution.

Participants will:

Learn the ‘five golden rules’ and how they facilitate successful ADR.
Explore the unique challenges facing the ADR practitioner when one of the parties is a lawyer
Develop and clarify their own ‘golden rules’
Discuss how the ‘five golden rules’ apply to other ADR situations.

At the end of the workshop participants will have fine-tuned and re-invigorated their own personal approach to good dispute resolution, and leave with a set of practical and useful strategies that embed self-reflection and mindfulness into their ADR practice!

The workshop will involve:

Elaboration of the distinctive golden rules – these rules are thought-provoking in their own right
Group discussions to explore and share personal experiences and thoughts on the effectiveness of mindfulness and how it applies to ADR
Time for personal reflection to clarify ones’ own mindful approach to ADR
Practical exercises to embed the relationship between self-reflection and specific ADR principles. Exercises will deepen ones’ feeling for, and understanding of, reflective listening, reframing and perspective-taking. These exercises are easy to learn and help to expand ADR practice because they are based on experiential learning techniques.

Podcast: Listen to Nathaniel talk about this session pre-kon gres (8 mins) >>

Other than yoga and family, I love playing soccer, going snow skiing and discussions that delve into the finer details of life, love and happiness.

Nathaniel Muller

Nathaniel Muller works for the Legal Services Commissioner in Victoria, at the coalface of using ADR to resolve disputes between lawyers and their clients.

Nathaniel sees the unique challenges facing the ADR practitioner when one of the parties to a dispute is a practicing lawyer, and has developed highly successful ways of helping lawyers resolve their differences with their clients and vice versa.

He also has a long-abiding love of Oki-Do Yoga, a yoga based on Buddhist and Taoist approaches to life and has been teaching this for 17 years.

He completed an advanced Course in Mediation and Negotiation with the Trillium Group in 2005 and first practiced ADR within the EPA. He has now worked with the Legal Services Commissioner for five years. In 2010, he completed a Conflict Coaching Course with LEADR and is now integrating Conflict Coaching within his work.

He has many stories to share that help bridge the practice of ADR with the mind of self-reflection.