After ten months with no mediations for families, the Edmund D. Edelman Children’s Court in January, 2021 announced that it was once again allowing remote mediations for Dependency Court Cases. The LLS Dependency Court Mediation Assistance Clinic (DC-MAC), part of the Loyola Center for Conflict Resolution, with the assistance of student Lisethmarie Lopez '21, immediately started remote mediations. Lisethemarie had been with DC-MAC in Spring 2020 and worked alongside our professional staff mediator to provide family reunification mediation services for dependency court cases. Since then, our student and professional staff mediators have remotely mediated 57 cases an average of four cases per week, spending at least 5 hours with each family, sometimes even doing two sessions to make sure that they are “walking out” with a plan that will work for their family. Thus far, the DC-MAC team has a 96% remote mediation success rate. We are looking forward to returning to live face-to-face mediations in the near future.
Meanwhile this summer DC-MAC student, Amal Sardesai '23 found her true passion for mediation. Of her experience with DC-MAC, Amal says that “Being formally trained in mediation through the LCCR, I gained the skills to work one-on-one with clients, adapting my communication skills to fit each unique situation and client’s specific needs. Through the mediation process, it is our task to assist the parties in a neutral setting to identify the issues that are most significant and help the parties to effectively reach an agreement. The invaluable training and experience I gained through the Center will not only aid me through Law School but also in my professional legal career. My time spent at the Center was incredibly rewarding and solidified my desire to pursue mediation as a career path.” Amal continues to hone her mediation skills and just last week, she took the lead on a difficult case involving sensitive issues. She was able to help the parties resolve many of the issues presented, resulting in many heartfelt compliments from the parties and their attorneys.