This course has been built on 22 years of day-by-day mediation experience of ADR Center full-time mediators

- a diverse faculty from all over the world with the ability to understand and work with the cultural parameters of training participants.

The course is divided in 13 three-hour live sessions organized online distributed over a period of three months with time built in between sessions to enable learning and allow full-time professionals to attend the course in their spare time.


Further, participants will have one-year access to the ever growing virtual library of ADR Center Academy. 

You’ll learn how to help others manage and resolve civil and commercial disputes as independent mediators so that you can add value and grow your practice.

By the end of this program, you’ll be able to identify barriers to negotiation, manage resolution of conflicts, design custom-made and facilitate most effective mediation processes for the parties and the dispute in place.

This course will teach you how to learn to apply the ADR Center’s 4x4 matrix so that you can design and deliver the four procedural phases of mediation - preparation, opening joint session, private sessions and closing session. Please email us for further details.

Course curriculum

  • 1

    Welcome to the course

    • How to use this course

    • Agenda for the mediation skills program
  • 2

    Course library

    • Italian model explained by Leonardo D'Urso

    • ADR Center recommended reading

    • Facilitating apologies in mediation

    • ADR Center training manual for mediators

    • FORM ADR Center 5x5 matrix MEDIATION CANVAS v230225 BLANK

    • ADR CENTER 5X5 MATRIX Jan 18b 2023 ShortTitles

    • ADR CENTER 5X5 MATRIX Jan 28 2023 LongTitles
  • 3

    Pre-training individual work [OFFLINE]

    • Pre-assessment questionnaire

    • Personal Learning Style Inventory

    • The Rare Table Exercise
  • 4

    Course 1 [Welcome and introductions]

    • Training slides Day 1 [MEDIATION FUNDAMENTALS #1]
  • 5

    Training Day 2 [Mediation fundamentals]

    • Demonstration of mediation principles and stages (video of a simulated mediation process)

    • Training slides [MEDIATION FUNDAMENTALS #2 AND VIDEO DEMONSTRATION]
  • 6

    Training Day 3 [Distributive negotiation]

    • Training slides Day 3 [DISTRIBUTIVE NEGOTIATION]
  • 7

    Individual work before training day 4 [OFFLINE]

    • Mediation fundamentals quiz
  • 8

    Training Day 4 [Interest based negotiation]

    • Training slides Day 4 [INTEGRATIVE NEGOTIATION]
  • 9

    Individual work before training day 5 [OFFLINE]

    • Negotiation quiz

    • RP1 Neighbours in action - General information
  • 10

    Training Day 5 [Stage 1 - PREPARATION (Bilateral meetings)]

    • [ADR Center Global Template] Request-for-Preliminay-Mediation-Session

    • Training slides Day 5 [PREPARATION]
  • 11

    Individual work before training day 6 [OFFLINE]

    • RP2 Flying High - General Information
  • 12

    Training Day 6 [Stage 2 - FACT-FINDING (First joint session)]

    • Training slides Day 6 [Mediation stage 2 FACT-FINDING (OPENING JOINT SESSION)]
  • 13

    Individual work before training day 7 [OFFLINE]

    • Mediator's opening statement

    • RP3 Monis-Construction - General Information
  • 14

    Training Day 7 [Stage 3 - EXPLORATION (Initial private sessions)]

    • Training slides Day 7 [Mediation stage 3 EXPLORATION (Initial private sessions)]
  • 15

    Individual work before training day 8 [OFFLINE]

    • RP4 Family inheritance - General Information
  • 16

    Training Day 8 [Stage 4 - NEGOTIATION (Later private sessions)]

    • Training slides Day 8 (Stage 4 - NEGOTIATION (Later private sessions)]
  • 17

    Individual work before training day 9 [OFFLINE]

    • Mediation process stages quiz

    • RP5 Workplace harassment - General Information
  • 18

    Training Day 9 [Stage 5 - Closing phase (Final joint session)]

    • Training slides Stage 5 - Closing phase (Final joint session)
  • 19

    Individual work before training day 10 [OFFLINE]

    • RP6 Family - Facts for the mediator
  • 20

    Training Day 10 [Advanced mediation techniques]

    • Training slides Day 10
  • 21

    Individual work before training day 11 [OFFLINE]

    • RP7 International commercial - Facts for the mediator and both parties
  • 22

    Training Day 11 [Advanced mediation techniques]

    • JAMS Claudia training video

    • Training slides Mediation Skill Day 11
  • 23

    Individual work before training day 12 [OFFLINE]

    • RP8 Entertainment - General information
  • 24

    Training Day 12 [Mediation ethics]

    • Training slides Day 12
  • 25

    Individual work before training day 13 [OFFLINE]

    • Mediation ethics quiz

    • ADR Center Global CaseStudy MOUNTANIA (Needed for the Final Assignment: Mediation Intervention Plan)

    • FINAL ASSIGNMENT: MEDIATION INTERVENTION PLAN

    • Exercise - Mediator’s encouragement ADR
  • 26

    Training Day 13 [Jan 11th, 2023, 14:30 - 17:30 CAT] Training wrap up

    • Training slides Mediation Skill Day 13
  • 27

    Video library

    • Jeremy Lack - The neurobiology of Dispute Resolution and Conflict Escalation 220419

    • Blazo Nedic - Negotiation Masterclass with FSPAC students 221220

    • Juan Dumas - Company - community mediation in the development space 230411

Lead trainers

CEO and Senior Trainer

Leonardo D'Urso

Leonardo D’Urso is a full-time mediator, co-founder and CEO of ADR Center, Adjunct Professor at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at the School of Law of Pepperdine University (CA, USA) a mediation expert at CEPEJ - Council of Europe and Board Member of the Weinstein International Foundation. With more than 20 years’ experience in the field of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), he has mediated more than 1.200 national and international complex civil and commercial mediations.

He is an ADR policy advisor for Governments and has been a team leader and senior expert in several international projects in countries like Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Barbados, Jamaica, Jordan, India, Moldova, Oman, Tunisia, Turkey, Pakistan, Serbia and most of Europen Union Member States.

Author of several publications on negotiation and mediation, he is the co-organizer of the Italian editions of the workshop “Negotiation for Executives” of the Program on Negotiation (PON Global) at Harvard Law School.

Senior Trainer

Constantin-Adi Gavrila

Adi is a full-time professional mediator with extensive experience since 2002 in supporting individuals, groups, companies, governments and international organizations to resolve a wide variety of disputes, both domestic and international. Adi has trained more than 1000 mediators and has provided consultancy services to beneficiaries and governments from more than 20 countries to design and develop mediation programs.

He is also an active mediator in the development space, working with the Office of the Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman (CAO) and Independent Project Accountability Mechanism, the IFC/MIGA (World Bank) and EBRD accountability mechanisms, to facilitate dialogue processes between the bank clients and communities concerned about the environmental and social impacts of bank financed projects.

Adi is the first president of the Romanian Mediation Centers Union and served as Co-Chair of the Independent Standards Commission convened by the International Mediation Institute (IMI). He is a Ph.D in constitutional law with emphasis on "Mediation and Access to Justice".