Mediated Settlement Conference (MSC) N.C. Superior Court Training, 40 hours

Join The Mediation Center's training team for a 40-hour, in-person Mediated Settlement Conference (MSC) Superior Court Mediator training. The training will fulfill the 40-hour training requirement for the NC Dispute Resolution Commission's Superior Court mediator certification process. The training will take place from Monday, October 26, through Friday, October 30, from 8:00 AM until 5:00 PM.

The weeklong training includes 24 hours of NC CLE credit. This is two full years of CLE: 4 hours of ethics/professional responsibility, one hour of technology, and one hour of professional well-being credit.

The first two days of the training – Monday and Tuesday - are approved by the NC Dispute Resolution Commission as the MSC 16-Hour Supplemental Training. You may qualify to meet the MSC training requirement with only the 16-hour supplement if one of the following applies to you:

• You are currently a certified North Carolina FFS mediator wanting to become an MSC mediator (no DRC pre-approval required)
• You are a lawyer who previously completed another state's 40-hour MSC training and would like approval in NC (DRC pre-approval letter required)
• You were previously certified as a North Carolina MSC mediator, and your certification has lapsed by more than three, but less than seven, years (no DRC pre-approval required)

Before registering, please review the threshold requirements for education and work experience here. You may register for the training right away if you are a licensed attorney with at least five years of legal practice experience. Non-attorneys must provide a provisional pre-training letter from the NC Dispute Resolution Commission to The Mediation Center before registering. Mediators certified in other states should contact the DRC to determine if the 16-hour supplement is adequate, or if the 40-hour course is required.

Contact the NC DRC to learn more about mediator certification requirements and approval processes.

Registration fees include lunches and light refreshments.

All proceeds benefit The Mediation Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit that provides community mediation and family visitation services in Buncombe, Henderson, Transylvania, and Polk counties.

Sharon Tracey Barrett is a retired Superior Court Judge and a former Buncombe County District Court Judge. She currently serves as a Temporary Associate Judge and Justice for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and as an Emergency Superior Court Judge. Through a practice called Barrett Resolutions, Sharon works as a mediator and arbitrator. She is a member of the North Carolina Chapter of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals. She graduated cum laude from Boston College in 1983 and received her J.D. degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1986. She practiced law in Asheville for nineteen years, focusing primarily on civil litigation, until she became a judge in 2005. She was President of the Buncombe County Bar from 2002-2003 and served for many years on the board of directors of The Mediation Center.

Fred Barbour has lived and practiced law in Asheville for more than 36 years. For the first two thirds of his practice, he spent most of his time in the courtroom in hearings and trials, or outside the courtroom investigating cases and preparing them for trial. Since then, he has focused on mediation. His experience gives him perspective in counseling clients to make choices likely to lead to favorable resolution of their conflicts and helps him serve more effectively as a mediator guiding discussions about settlement. While each case and each mediation is different, his extensive experience informs his interactions with clients and attorneys and increases the odds of successful settlements.

Sarah Corley is an attorney licensed in Georgia and California, and a mediator with more than 20 years of experience. She began her career as a lawyer specializing in litigation and employment law. In 1996, she started her own mediation practice, MediationWorks NC, and has worked as private mediator ever since. She is certified by the NC Dispute Resolution Commission in Superior Court, Family Financial and Clerk of Court mediation, and serves on the panel of mediators for federal district court and the United States Postal Service. She is a member of the NC Academy of Superior Court Mediators and the NC Association of Professional Family Mediators.

Frank Goldsmith operates a mediation and arbitration practice under the name Goldsmith Resolutions, based in Buncombe County. He is a graduate of Davidson College and received his Juris Doctor degree with honors from UNC-Chapel Hill, following which he served as an Army captain (JAGC) during the Vietnam Era before returning to civilian litigation practice in North Carolina. Frank was certified as a mediator in 1996 and has mediated hundreds of state and federal cases in the past 25+ years. He has consistently been listed in “Best Lawyers in America,” “Super Lawyers,” and “North Carolina Legal Elite” in the field of alternate dispute resolution. He has served on the Boards of Governors of both the North Carolina Bar Association (NCBA) and the North Carolina Advocates for Justice (NCAJ) and was inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers in 1994.

Tara Lynn Kozlowski is the Executive Director of the North Carolina Dispute Resolution Commission. She has been with the Commission since July of 2018. Prior to working with the DRC Mrs. Kozlowski was a family law litigator and mediator, practicing with a small firm in Wake County. Mrs. Kozlowski obtained a BS in Chemistry from Indiana University and her JD from The University of Toledo College of Law in 2006. She lives in Apex with her husband and two daughters. Please feel free to contact her at the DRC office anytime with questions or to introduce yourself.

Laura Jeffords, MPA, is the Executive Director of the Mediation Center. Laura has 20 years of experience as a professional mediator and mediation trainer. She has trained hundreds of community members to mediate criminal court, family, Pr*son re-entry, and neighborhood conflicts and works with district courts in Western North Carolina to ensure that people who access the criminal courts to address family, neighborhood, and community conflict have the opportunity to use mediation instead. Laura has a particular interest in mediating organizational conflicts, conflicts where violence has occurred, and conflicts rooted in issues of race and gender.. She is certified in the Inclusive Mediation model, which is a radically nonjudgmental approach to mediation that prioritizes self-determination, violence prevention, and party relationships. Laura is DRC-certified as a Mediated Settlement Conference (MSC) and District Criminal Court mediator, and is certified by the Mediation Network of North Carolina to conduct Mediation Appeals Mediation.

Clifford "Kip" Marshall is a founding shareholder and the President of Marshall, Roth & Gregory, PC and has practiced law for more than 40 years in Asheville and the western region of North Carolina. He is admitted before all the courts of the State of NC, the Cherokee Supreme Court, Eastern Band of Cherokee, the U.S. District Court for the Western, Middle and Eastern Districts of NC and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. He is a certified NC Superior Court mediator and has been called to mediate matters arising in the NC courts and federal district courts.

Do not request refunds from Eventbrite. E-mail [email protected] with refund requests.

You may transfer your registration to another person at no cost at any time.

If you realize after registering that you are unable to attend, you may transfer your registration to the next training one time at no cost. We typically offer the MSC training each fall and spring

If you would like to request a refund, note the following:

• At least 60 days prior – Refund of amount paid except for ticketing and processing fees
• At least 30 days but less than 60 days prior – 75% refund. Coupon code for 25% off one future training*
• At least 15 days but less than 30 days prior – 50% refund. Coupon code for 50% off one future training*
• Less than 15 days prior – 25% refund. Coupon code for 25% off one future training*

*Coupon codes expire 12 months from the last day of the scheduled training and have no cash value

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