Zeytoonian Lectures on Collaborative Law at Clark University

Lawyer, mediator and ombudsman Michael Zeytoonian recently delivered a session on  “Utilizing the Spectrum of Dispute Resolution and Collaborative Law” to a class of non-profit directors, executives and employees enrolled in Clark University’s College of Professional and Continuing Education (COPACE) program in Worcester, Massachusetts.  The topic is the focus of a series of lectures on  Collaborative Law, mediation and other alternative dispute resolution processes Zeytoonian is providing to law schools and colleges in New England this spring. 

Prof. Daniel Tremblay teaches the class, entitled “Legal Issues in Human Services” as part of the COPACE program at Clark University.  Tremblay is also a lawyer and practitioner of Collaborative Law, using it and other approaches in his Elder Law practice. He, along with Zeytoonian, is a member of the Massachusetts Collaborative Law Council (MCLC), a statewide organization dedicated to promoting the use of Collaborative Law to resolve disputes without going to court and training lawyers and other professionals in the process.

“This is an opportunity for our students to be exposed to some of the different approaches that are being used in dispute resolution today,” Prof. Tremblay noted.  “It gives them a chance to hear from someone using these ADR processes in practice and think about the practical and real applications of alternative dispute resolution methods like Collaborative Law, ombuds work and mediation,” he pointed out.

Zeytoonian, whose interest-based, settlement-oriented dispute resolution work has grown out of years of experience as a litigator, is the director of the Zeytoonian Center for Dispute Resolution, LLC in Wellesley Hills, and Westborough, Mass.  The Center offers many non-adversarial dispute resolution processes to parties who want to avoid litigation and its high costs, time inefficiency and collateral damage.  Zeytoonian was recently named Chair of the MCLC’s Public Education Committee.

“Approaches like Collaborative Law, mediation and Integrated Dispute Resolution are designed to help the parties work with their legal counsel to resolve matters from the outset, by intention and design,” Zeytoonian explained to students. “In the non-profit arena, there are many reasons to avoid the expensive, time-consuming, damaging and public path of litigation if possible. Most of the time, their needs and interests can be better met by utilizing a non-adversarial approach that keeps the control of both the process and the decision-making in their hands, and gives them the flexibility to come up with creative options for more productive resolution of their disputes,” he stressed.