Original article posted at Mediate.com

---

You’ve seen us at the conferences, heard us on the calls and felt the buzz of our enthusiasm. We are the new generation of law grads and we figured out early that mediation was the way to go and litigation was
best left to the fighters... (Read entire article at: http://www.mediate.com/articles/sclambergA1.cfm)

---

I met this young woman at the recent ABADR conference in San Francisco and had this same conversation with her. She was one of many young, aspiring mediators that shared the same concern about opportunities to develop
themselves as competent mediators prior to obtaining the gray hair that is
often the prerequisite before gaining clients.

With the creation of many graduate level programs focusing on the dynamics of
conflict resolution beyond what you will learn in law school, we have many
other young people well trained and ready to help individuals resolve disputes
in an effective manner. Therefore, I see the need for a societal shift when
conflicts emerge from lawyers as the initial contact to those that are trained
in all conflict engagement processes. If we want our field to expand, we need
to make the mediation process clear and accessible to potential clients while
promoting the next generation of practitioners.
 
So Alexis presents the issue, I am interested in discussing ideas for embracing
this next generation. Any thoughts?