Masterclasses by top mediator sell out

A series of mediation masterclasses by Professor Laurence Boulle of Bond University were so popular that discussions are already underway to invite the academic back to New Zealand.

Professor Boulle, an expert mediator and teacher with an international reputation, was brought to New Zealand by Massey University and the New Zealand Law Society to run two masterclasses for the Society’s Continuing Legal Education Programme.

The masterclasses represented the next phase of a long-standing partnership between the two organisations to offer mediation training for lawyers. This included the jointly-offered workshops Undertaking Mediation, and Mediation for Family Lawyers.

Professor Boulle is well known in New Zealand mediation circles and recently returned to Australia after two years as the Issy Wolfson Professor of Law at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, where he was also the director of the Mandela Institute. 

He recently co-authored Mediation Skills and Techniques, and his masterclasses involved teaching and reflecting on some of the key skills outlined in his book. This included the handling of emotion, dealing with impasse, addressing power imbalances, and the vital skill of reframing.

Professor Boulle also drew on other professional disciplines to show how they can enhance the skills of the mediator and extend the horizons of the reflective practitioner.

Participants in the two masterclasses included some of New Zealand’s most senior lawyer mediators, and the most experienced practitioners in the room provided a valuable resource and created a stimulating workshop environment. Learning and teaching went hand in hand, as did theory and application.

Virginia Goldblatt, the director Massey University’s Dispute Resolution Centre, was instrumental in organising Professor Boulle’s visit. She was also one of Professor Boulle’s co-authors (with Wellington barrister Phillip Green) of the companion book on mediation in New Zealand, Mediation: Principles. Process and Practice.

Ms Goldblatt described Professor Boulle’s visit as making an important contribution to the international profile of the profession of mediation.

“Professor Boulle’s visit reinforces the strong commitment of both the Law Society and Massey University to the development and delivery of mediation education for lawyers, and its role in dispute resolution in New Zealand,” she said.