Stories Mediators Tell | Episode 12: Jim Coben
23 min
Professor Emeritus Jim Coben joins hosts Lela Love and Robyn Weinstein to share two mediation stories, each offering important lessons for practitioners. In the first, he describes a community-led effort to train Hmong elders in family mediation amid tensions between traditional cultural practices and American divorce law. A discussion about whether shamans should serve as mediators taught Coben that the community’s concern was not about religious neutrality, but the practical challenge of unpredictable schedules. He then talks about Vitakis v. Valchine, a Florida family law case in which a mediator allegedly pressured a party into accepting a settlement, ultimately prompting years of litigation over whether the agreement could be overturned. Although the settlement was upheld, the case illustrates how a mediator’s conduct can have lasting consequences for the parties. Coben and the hosts reflect on the responsibility mediators carry, emphasizing the need to respect party autonomy and understand the communities they serve. Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution at Cardozo School of Law
