“Fourth Thursday” Lecture Series: ADR In Practice: Diverse Choices/Diverse Perspectives
Close your eyes and imagine a lawyer. What sort of picture appears in your mind? Is it a balding white man in his fifties, with a leather briefcase and a thousand-dollar suit? Shut your eyes a little tighter, and see what else comes into focus—do you see a Latina woman standing before a crowd of new immigrants, explaining, in Spanish, their rights in this new and unfamiliar country? Or a young woman from New Jersey, voicing the complaints of the 600,000 active members of the Steelworkers Union in their struggle to obtain job security, health insurance coverage, and other benefits?
Women like these two—Marilin Martinez-Walker and Amanda Green—and their fellow panelists, Chaton Turner, and Audrey Kwak, belong to a new wave of attorneys, who are able “to look beyond the basic actions giving rise to the lawsuit, to the motives behind the actions,” says Kwak. These extraordinary women of color, armed with law degrees and a strong dose of courage, work in diverse practice areas, ranging from construction law to medical malpractice. Even so, they share a common bond—they are each dedicated to resolving conflicts between cultures and communities not only in the courtroom, but in neighborhoods, schools, and even family homes.
Mediation, one type of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), is a growing practice area in the legal field. In mediation, legal battles are not settled through long, embattled trials, but through an older, simpler method, in which both parties simply talk about their problems. Often, there is no need for further action, and the parties settle their dispute immediately; Ms. Green recounts an experience mediating a dispute in which a man was suing a former friend over nine dollars’ worth of Girl Scout Cookies. Immediately, Green realized that “he wasn’t there about the cookies or the other stuff. His former friend had stopped talking to him for some reason that was no longer important when we resolved the mediation with a handshake and an agreement that his friend would pay him what he owed.” If the two parties had proceeded with a trial, the allegations against each other could have ended the friendship forever—instead, through mediation, the dispute was soon forgotten. Mediation is one of society’s most important tools—it is a way to bring peace to those in conflict. Used wisely, it can bring ethnic groups together, resolve long-standing grievances, and even end wars.
At 4:30 p.m., February 22nd, in the Eddy Theatre at Chatham College, Martinez-Walker, Green, and Turner will share their views and experiences as women of color in the field of alternative dispute resolution, serving as panelists on the topic, “ADR in Practice: Diverse Choices/Diverse Perspectives.” This is a free event; refreshments will be served at the following reception.
About the Speakers:
Amanda Green provides representation for the United Steelworkers Union in Pittsburgh, where she is “not only a lawyer, but an advisor, counselor, teacher, student, political activist, investigator and ambassador.” She has served as a mediator for various cases, both in Pittsburgh and in her home state, New Jersey, and provides pro bono legal counsel to abused women through Pittsburgh’s Neighborhood Legal Services. In her free time, she enjoys horseback riding. “The horses I’ve encountered have been very gentle and extremely easy to guide because I go with the ‘no experience necessary’ crowd,” says Green. “Imagine if mediation was that easy!”
Audrey Kwak is the only female in the construction litigation practice group at Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC, a major law firm in Pittsburgh. She became interested in law because of an undergraduate psychology course in which she was required to interview patients with Alzheimer’s disease and their families, where, Kwak says, “I saw on a daily basis the frustration—mixed with sadness and love—that the caregivers inevitably displayed, whether they were children or spouses of the patient. I knew that I could do little as a student and later as a researcher to advocate for the change I perceived was necessary, and sought out law as a means of effecting the policy change that ultimately works practical changes.”
Marilin Martinez-Walker worked as a television reporter and producer for a news station in Syracuse, New York before earning her law degree. She now works in the field of complex civil litigation at the Pittsburgh law firm, Thorp Reed & Armstrong, LLP. As one of the few Latinas in the firm, she says, “I bring different ideas to the table because of my heritage and the way I was raised. Latinos are the largest minority population in this country right now. I believe being a Latina lawyer will help me in the future with business development and with helping clients in their legal needs.” Martinez-Walker also works with the New Hispanic Attorney's Committee, where she provides workshops in Spanish to the Latino community, and helps to mentor young Latino law students.
Chatón Turner provides legal representation and assists in medical malpractice cases at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where she is also involved with Intermediation, a mediation practice within the hospital system that “gives answers to the patients,” she says. Although Turner is one of only a few African-American lawyers at her practice, she welcomes the challenge to make her voice heard within the system. Because health care “touches all people,” says Turner, “the health care system needs diverse representations.” Besides her legal work, Turner has many interests, including singing, voice-over acting, and writing children’s books.
Internship Applications due January 22nd, 2007
Internships with Mesites Foundation’s sister program, Mediators without Borders, are available for college credit. For students interested in applying for the spring internship session (February 1st – April 22nd), a resume and cover letter are due on January 22nd.
For more details on the internship program and how to apply, please see our Internships page.
“Fourth Thursday” Lecture Series:
Lynn H. Cole, Esq.
4:30 PM, January 25th, 2007 at the Eddy Theatre at Chatham College
Cole is a mediation specialist based in Florida, where she works to resolve disputes between parties outside of a courtroom environment. Though her practice was thriving, Cole wanted to do meaningful work; something that could make a difference to an entire community of people. She sought out a volunteer opportunity that could accomplish this goal, and decided on the American Bar Association’s Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative (ABA/CEELI) program in Bulgaria.
Bulgaria, an Eastern European country slated to join the European Union this year, was at a crossroads when Cole arrived in 2005. Cole assisted the country with its transition by collaborating with talented Bulgarian lawyers to establish a national mediation program, the Bulgarian Mediation Act. During her time in Sofia, she also worked to establish mediation centers in Bulgaria, and conducted advanced training in mediation for local attorneys.
Last year, Cole helped to establish another mediation program, this time in Jordan – the first such program to exist in the Middle East. Cole also helped to establish mediation centers throughout the country, worked to train arbitrators and judges in conflict resolution practices, and established a mediation program for Arab women. Cole claims that mediation is valuable not only to the legal community, but to society at large. “Ultimately,” she says, “mediation empowers a nation.”
Lynn Cole will share stories of her international peacekeeping experiences at 4:30 PM, January 25th, in the Eddy Theatre at Chatham College. Attendance is free to Chatham students and others with identification from a PA Council of Higher Education school; for the general public, the admission fee is $20.