The Instructor

Lee Jay Berman is the founder and President of The Mediation Alliance, Inc. and The American Institute of Mediation. As a mediator, he has successfully mediated 1,400 matters and is a Distinguished Fellow with the International Academy of Mediators, a Diplomat with the California Academy of Distinguished Neutrals and a Dispute Resolution Expert with the United Nations Development Programme. He was Mediator of the Year for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court's California Central District, and was named by the Daily Journal as a Top Neutral in 2008 and 2009. Also a distinguished trainer, he was Director of the Mediating the Litigated Case program for the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at the Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu from 2002-2009, before leaving to found the American Institute of Mediation. He teaches Mediating the Complex Case at The Institute for Conflict Management at Lipscomb University in Nashville. He Chaired the national Training Committee of the American Bar Association's Section on Dispute Resolution from 2003-2007. He has taught mediation skills to judges in India, judges from The Kingdom of Jordan, mediators from post-war Croatia, business leaders in Amsterdam and Dubai, as well as domestically with corporations, insurance companies, bar associations, mediation associations, law firms and courts. Mr. Berman was the inaugural Director of the Court Administered Dispute Resolution (CADRe) Program for the Superior Courts of Santa Barbara County. He served on the State Bar of California's Standing Committee on ADR from 2006-2009, served for 6 years on the Board of the California Dispute Resolution Council (CDRC), and 7 years Chairing CDRC's Qualifications & Standards Committee which published CDRC's Standards of Practice for California Mediators in 1998. Today, Mr. Berman enjoys a thriving commercial mediation practice and teaches mediation, conflict resolution, negotiation and mediation advocacy skills through the American Institute of Mediation and in private engagements all over the world.