TAPM Newsletter

January 2024

Dear Dispute Resolution Professionals,

Happy New Year! Personally, I’m not sad to see 2023 end. It was a challenging year. I’m not one to make New Year’s resolutions, mostly because I know I’m not disciplined enough to keep them, but I do intend to take the lessons of last year and apply them to this year. This I learned: Life is chalk full of hard stuff because it’s life. And for lots of the stuff, both good and bad, there is no explanation. I can’t control what does or doesn’t happen (though I sure would like to!). Much of the time it seems I can’t even control how I show up when things go sideways. This year I want to focus on becoming a better version of myself every day. I hope to wake up intentionally asking, “Who do I want to be in this experience? What experience am I committed to causing others, this day?”

I recently had a great conversation with one of our renowned upcoming speakers, Zena Zumata. We were talking about the conflicts in the world especially the seemingly intractable conflicts – both abroad, at home, and within ourselves. I asked her in her vast experience how we as humans and as mediators might impact the tragic conflicts, both here and afar.  She gave me my goal for this year. She said that we needed to strive to “be the light.” Certainly, mediation gives us tools to do that, and I can only hope that the light spreads, so the darkness brightens. It is, after all, up to each of us to be the change. Imagine what we can do joined together.

To all of you mediators, arbitrators, ombudsman, facilitators, and conflict resolution professionals, thank you for the light you bring. It’s an honor to partner to share this piece of life with each of you.

Gratefully,

Kim Best

TAPM President

“Do something wonderful. People may imitate it.” 

-Albert Schweitzer

Notes and Needs!

Nominations Open for the 2024 Grayfred Gray Award

Our annual workshop in April will feature the Grayfred Gray Award. This is awarded to stellar peacebuilders regionally, rotating each year among the regions of Tennessee. This year’s award is for an individual in the Western section of the state. We need your help in identifying our state’s leaders in peacebuilding. Please nominate members from western TN who you believe are suited for the 2024 Grayfred Gray Award. 

More details on the award can be found on our website.  Click below to submit your nominee:

Now Accepting Nominations for TAPM Board Members

We Need New Board Members.  Ours is a volunteer board, yet it’s a working board. We work hard to build TAPM, promote mediation, and to support our mediators. We need members of the board who are willing to step into that mission. We especially would like to see a younger and more diverse board, dedicated to making TAPM a model for mediation associations throughout the country. If you are interested or know someone who is an active member who you might recommend, please let us know, asap. Notify Jen Comiskey (jen.comiskey@2mediate.org) or Kimberly Best (kim@bestconflictsolutions.com). 

We vote on board members prior to the Annual Workshop, so we’d like to get moving on this nomination process! We look forward to hearing from you.

We Need Your Help - TAPM Membership Drive

Can You Help Promote Our Upcoming Speakers?

Our upcoming speaker, the Hon. Douglas Mintz (see below), will offer invaluable insights for mediators, as well as for attorneys who are not mediators! Our March mentoring workshop and our April Annual Seminar will feature expert speakers and topics that are thought-provoking and timely. Can you share these events with your colleagues and on your social media?

Here is the link to our events page:

Upcoming Events

TAPM Speaker Series Presents

The Hon. Douglas C. Mintz (Ret.): Views From The Bench

February 5, 2024 (11:00am-12:-00pmCT, 12:00-1:00pmET)

Online via Zoom

At 11amCT/12pmET: Join us for “Perspectives From the Bench,” an insightful and informative event designed to bridge the gap between mediators and the legal system. Led by a retired judge, this interactive event offers a unique opportunity for mediators to gain valuable knowledge about navigating the complex dynamics between judges, attorneys, and mediators. By sharing personal experiences and insights, the former judge will shed light on what approaches and strategies are effective, as well as those that may not yield favorable results. Attendees will come away from this event with a deeper understanding of the intricacies involved in working with judges and attorneys, enabling them to enhance their mediation skills and effectively navigate the legal landscape.

This event will be followed at 12pmCT/1pmET by our regular TAPM Member Meeting. We hope you can join us for networking and fellowship!

1 hour of general CME/CLE pending.

Speaker Bio:

Doug has acted as the mediator in numerous disputes ranging from complex business disputes to product liability. The disputes have included personal injury matters that resulted from motor vehicle accidents and slip and falls. One nine-hour mediation, conducted over Zoom, included 32 participants two of whom were self-represented. Due to all the participants’ patience and perseverance, the dispute came to a successful resolution.

Doug has developed and adapted his mediation practice in the age of COVID-19 and found that online dispute resolution is as effective, if not more effective, than in-person mediations.

Doug is a member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals and became a Panelist, as an Arbitrator and a Mediator, for the American Arbitration Association.

For most of his judicial career, Doug served as the Presiding Judge for Civil Matters in Stamford and Danbury, CT. He regularly encountered truly vexing conflicts in both the legal and emotional dimensions, and developed a unique approach to working those situations that he now brings to his clients.

Doug was appointed to the Superior Court in 1993 and served as the Civil Presiding Judge and the Assistant Administrative Judge for the Judicial District of Stamford/Norwalk, and as the Administrative Judge and the Civil Presiding Judge for the Judicial District of Danbury. Prior to his service on the bench, he was a State Representative from Norwalk (1987-1992) and served as the Vice-chair of the Judiciary Committee for most of that time.

As a Judge, in 2008, Doug worked collaboratively with the Legislature to craft legislation that created the Foreclosure Mediation Program (the first statewide mediation program in the nation). This Mediation Program was created in response to the mortgage foreclosure crisis of 2007-08 and helped thousands of families retain their homes.

From his many years on the Bench, Doug has learnt that deep dedication to the values of human dignity and creative thinking, combined with the rigorous and fair application of factual analysis, almost always clears the way for successful dispute resolution.

Doug served as Chair of the ABA Section for Dispute Resolution for 2 years. He speaks at legal community virtual events on various topics, including online dispute resolution.



To register for this event, click this button:

TAPM Presents: Zena Zumeta

Caucus or Joint Session

Monday, March 4, 2024

(11:00am-1:00pmCT, 12:00-2:00pmET)

Online via Zoom

Save the date for this mentorship and learning workshop. More info to come.

2 hours of CME/CLE pending.

Speaker Bio: Internationally known as both a mediator and trainer of mediators, Zena D. Zumeta is president of the Mediation Training & Consultation Institute, Zena Zumeta Mediation Services, and The Collaborative Workplace in Ann Arbor, Michigan.



She received her Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School. Ms. Zumeta is a former board member and president of the Academy of Family Mediators (now merged into the Association for Conflict Resolution), past president of the Michigan Council for Family and Divorce Mediation, and past Regional Vice President of the Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution. She is a past member of the Editorial Board of the American Bar Association's Dispute Resolution Magazine.

Ms. Zumeta has extensive experience as a trainer, mediator, facilitator and consultant. She has been providing mediation services since 1981. She is an approved civil and family mediator in Michigan, and an approved mediation trainer for Michigan and many other states. She has taught at Hamline University School of Law, and is an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University School of Law's Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, and Cooley Law School.

Ms. Zumeta is the recipient of the Family Mediation Council-Michigan Lifetime Achievement in Mediation Award; the National Education Association/Saturn Corporation Award for Union-Management Collaboration; the John Haynes Distinguished Mediator Award from the Association for Conflict Resolution; and the Kumba Award from the National Conference on Minorities in ADR.

To register for this event, click below:

TAPM Annual Seminar:

Current Trends and Emerging Pathways in Mediation

Friday, April 5th, 2024

(8:00am-3:30pmCT, 9:00am-4:30pmET)

Online via Zoom

Save the Date for our April 5th TAPM Annual Workshop - “Current Trends and Emerging Pathways in Mediation.” 

This all-day, virtual event will take place over Zoom. Speakers will include Susan Guthrie (Mediation and AI), Zena Zumata (Mediation Preparation and Mediating with Attorneys), Laurel Stevenson (The Ethics of Co-Mediation), Prof. David Larson (Early Dispute Resolution), and more.

Registration for this event will be open soon!

“Speak when you are angry and you will make

the best speech you will ever regret.”

–Ambrose Bierce