The Hugh L. Carey Center for Dispute Resolution seeks ways to integrate conflict resolution as a value and as a practice throughout the School of Law’s curriculum, clinics, skills programs, co-curricular activities, and professional training. The Carey Center serves as an umbrella organization coordinating a range of programs in dispute resolution, including:
Scholarly Programs
The Carey Center provides resources and a forum for a range of scholarly activities that enrich the intellectual life of the School of Law and the University. Scholarly programs focus on the public policy, justice, and ethics issues surrounding dispute resolution. The Center brings top-flight scholars to St. John’s from other universities in the United States and around the world. Programs draw on the resources of the entire University, in recognition of the fact that the practice of law in general, and dispute resolution in particular, increasingly demand an interdisciplinary approach.
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The Securities Arbitration Clinic
The St. John’s Securities Arbitration Clinic represents low-income investors in disputes involving the securities industry. Many of these clients are elderly investors defrauded of savings by brokers. The Carey Center works with the Securities Arbitration Clinic to promote the development of negotiation, mediation, and arbitration skills and to study the increasing use of alternative dispute resolution both in securities disputes and in other contexts, including international commercial disputes.
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Experiential Learning
The Carey Center provides opportunities for St. John’s students to participate in a range of practical programs devoted to dispute resolution. For example, through the Matrimonial Dispute Resolution Externship, students work in the Matrimonial Part of the Nassau County Supreme Court, assisting judges with the integration of dispute resolution processes in family and divorce matters. Externships also place students in forums such as the EEOC, where they work directly with advocates and neutrals in the mediation of employment disputes.
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International Programs in Dispute Resolution
In our increasingly globalized world, dispute resolution professionals must navigate different legal systems and different cultures. As St. Johns expands globally with campuses in Rome, Paris, Dublin, and Spain, and with further programs in China, the Carey Center is positioned to be a leader in the study and practice of international dispute resolution. Conferences, study abroad programs, and professional trainings provide opportunities for faculty, students, and practitioners to study processes of dispute resolution in a variety of contexts. In 2009, students were offered International Dispute Resolution as part of the Law School’s Summer Rome Program, and in 2010, they will be offered that opportunity in a new program in Barcelona. In 2011, the Carey Center plans to host a conference on international dispute resolution in Paris.
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The Dispute Resolution Society
The Center provides funding and support to the St. John’s Dispute Resolution Society, a student-run organization that conducts annual intraschool competitions in negotiation, mediation advocacy, and/or arbitration and places competitors in external competitions where they compete against students from other law schools in the United States and around the world. Competitions include:
- ABA Interviewing and Counseling Competition
- ABA Negotiation Competition
- ABA Representing Clients in Mediation Competition
- Tulane Baseball Arbitration Competition
- Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Competition
- Robert R. Merhige, Jr. National Environmental Negotiation Competition
- St. John's University School of Law Intramural Negotiation Competitions
- St. John's University School of Law/FINRA Securities Dispute Resolution Triathlon
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Professional Training
The Carey Center provides continuing legal education programs to help professionals hone their skills in negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and other dispute resolution practices.
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