Tulane Law School - Study Abroad

Courses

THE ACADEMIC COURSE: Intercultural Negotiation and Mediation

The centerpiece of the program is the three-credit course entitled Intercultural Negotiation and Mediation. There are no prerequisites. The academic course will be graded on a Pass/C-/Fail scale. A passing grade necessarily means that a student received a grade of C or better. There will be a brief final examination beginning at noon on Saturday, August 3. Arrangements will be made to administer the final examination on Friday, August 2, if a participant's travel arrangements conflict with the August 3 examination time and date.

The course focuses on negotiation during the first week of the program (July 22-26) and mediation in the second week (July 29-August 2). Classes are generally scheduled from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. with regular breaks during the day and a 90 minute break for lunch.

Substantive lectures on negotiation and mediation theory and practice are presented to all of the students in a large lecture room. However, most of the course is conducted in a workshop setting with role-play exercises done in small groups with a maximum of 24 students and two or three faculty members. Students are assigned to the small sections by nationality so that each exercise is conducted by participants from different countries. The lectures and small section sessions will provide the standard training in both the theory and basic skills of negotiation and mediation.

NOTE: Administration of the final examination will be on August 3. However, arrangements will be made to administer the final examination on Friday, August 2, if a participant's travel arrangements conflict with the August 3 examination time and date.

Most of the American and Canadian students are between their first and second years of law school and have not been exposed to skills-based courses like negotiation and mediation. The participants uniformly enjoy the role-play exercises and workshop format of the course. (Professors Eidenmüller, Nelle, Olbrisch, Pitts, and Schmidt).

Note: Tulane students who take this course may not take Dean Jackson's Mediation course or Professor Barron's Negotiation & Mediation Advocacy course.

The Berlin Program counts towards the completion of the Skills Training Requirement for Tulane JD students, as well as for the Sports Law Certificate.

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CLASS SCHEDULE, READING MATERIALS AND THE HUMBOLDT WEBSITE

The Humboldt website for the Berlin program includes a great deal of important and useful information.

The information on the Humboldt website includes the class schedule and syllabus, course reading materials, past and present faculty bios, photographs from past programs, Berlin maps, and general information about Berlin, including its public transportation system.

The 2013 class schedule, reading materials, and faculty bios have not yet been posted on the Humboldt website. Access to those materials is password protected. The participants in the 2013 program will be contacted when the materials are available on the website and provided with the username and password to access that information. The 2013 class schedule and course reading materials can then be downloaded. A hard copy of the reading materials may also be purchased in Berlin.

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SUPPLEMENTAL ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES

Optional lectures on arbitration and other ADR topics will be scheduled on a number of afternoons during the program after normal class hours. The afternoon lectures in the second week of the program are designed to provide a mini-course on arbitration. The optional supplemental lectures are presented by outstanding law professors and practitioners with substantial subject matter expertise (Professors Elsing, Foerster and Zeller).
Pastries and liquid refreshments are provided between the end of the negotiation/mediation class and the afternoon lectures.

CERTIFICATES

If students attend three of the non-compulsory ADR lectures during the first week and one video review session in the second week, they will be awarded two certificates attesting to their participation in 40 hours of mediation training and 40 hours of alternative dispute resolution training. The 40 hours of mediation training meets the requirement to become a certified mediator in Louisiana and a number of other states. Also, if students attend the non-compulsory arbitration lectures in the second week, they will receive an additional arbitration certificate.

Certification requirements vary by state, as there is no national certification to become a mediator. You must research the requirements of your specific state to find out what they require. From the Berlin program, you will receive two certificates of 40 hours, a “Certificate of Advanced Study and Training in Mediation” and a "Certificate of Advanced Study and Training in Dispute Resolution.” You can find more information on your state court's website or through your state's bar association or ADR or mediation society.

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