September 22, 2009
On
Thursday, September 17, 2009, St. John’s University School of Law
celebrated the launch of the
Hugh L. Carey Center for Dispute Resolution with a reception at
the University’s Manhattan Campus.
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Made possible through the generosity of
Governor Hugh L. Carey, ’42, ‘51L, the Carey Center seeks to
promote both the value and the practice of conflict resolution on a
local, national, and global level.
The new Center reflects St. John’s’ commitment to develop a
nationally recognized program in the growing area of alternative
dispute resolution. In fields as varied as international
trade, commercial transactions, securities law, family law,
landlord-tenant, employment relations, and many others, new
paradigms of dispute resolution are emerging. Both by choice
and by necessity, disputants and their lawyers now navigate a wide
range of dispute resolution options.
The Carey Center will make St. John’s a leader in this vital
field. Through clinics, externships, and other programs, the
Carey Center will train a new generation of lawyers in the skills
of dispute resolution to ensure that individuals engaged in
conflict have access to fair, just, and expeditious dispute
resolution processes.
In the words of School of Law
Dean Michael A. Simons, “The Carey Center will be a way for us
to bring together students, faculty, and lawyers, to develop, to
share, and think about the skills involved in dispute
resolution.”
Drawing on the resources of the entire University, the
Carey Center will also serve as a forum for the academic
investigation of dispute resolution processes. It will
coordinate the efforts of the many outstanding faculty members at
St. John’s doing work in the field of dispute
resolution.
“I see tonight a tremendous gathering [of faculty] who are in the
Law School and have chosen this particular effort to show that St.
John’s is moving forward, leading, and is one great institution,”
said Governor Carey.
By emphasizing the value of conflict resolution in addition to
teaching the practice, the Carey Center represents a unique
approach to alternative dispute resolution. Elayne Greenberg,
Director of the Carey Center, praised Governor Carey for his
recognition of the value of conflict resolution and stressed that
the Carey Center will embody that commitment. “It’s very easy
to teach students and practitioners the skills of dispute
resolution,” she said, “but it’s so much harder to help them
understand conflict resolution as a value.”
The Carey Center has a full schedule of upcoming programs,
including the Securities Dispute Resolution Triathlon, a
competition co-hosted with the Financial Industry Regulatory
Authority that will be the first in the nation to bring together
negotiation, mediation, and arbitration in a single event. A
conference on the burgeoning role of alternative dispute resolution
in bankruptcy, co-hosted with the American Bankruptcy Institute Law
Review and the Bankruptcy Policy Institute at St. John’s, is also
being planned.
Future initiatives will bring together other University departments
and use the University’s overseas campuses in Rome and Paris, such
as a planned joint program with The Peter J. Tobin College of
Business to bring business and law students together to study
negotiation and dispute resolution at the Rome Campus.
“Given the resources St. John’s offers and the dedication of our
faculty involved in dispute resolution, we see no limit to where
the Carey Center can go,” said Professor Paul F. Kirgis, Faculty
Chair of the Carey Center.