Providing hands-on experience while helping the community
Santa Clara Law's Bates Mediation Clinic enables students to develop their practical skills as mediators through mediating real world cases at the Santa Clara Superior Court. Students mediate small claims cases under supervision, and assist unrepresented litigants in creating opportunities to resolve their disputes.
Alternative Dispute Resolution ("ADR") is prevalent across every field in law. The skills developed through participating as neutral mediators will be very beneficial no matter which career path law students are pursuing: from transactional law to litigation. Through working to resolve real-world disputes, our students develop skills in empathy, communication, process management and creative problem solving. In addition, working on small claims cases gives students the chance to help unrepresented litigants and bridge the justice gap in the Santa Clara community.
I was so impressed by the very creative, outside of the box thinking on behalf of the mediator. Her excellent and clear communication helped us reach a settlement with very effective results!
Information for Students
The Mediation Clinic is a 2-unit experiential course involving both classroom time and fieldwork.
Classroom discussions include lectures, simulated mediations, and debriefing prior mediations.
For the Fieldwork component, students mediate small claims cases under supervision, and receive detailed feedback to continue developing their skills as a neutral. Tasks include:
- Researching upcoming cases at Santa Clara small claims court and identify potential candidates for mediation
- Client outreach and guidance about alternative dispute resolution and the mediation process
- Leading mediation sessions for pro se clients at the small claims court
The Clinic’s intentionally small size allows for valuable one-on-one mentoring from Judge Peter Kirwan (retired) J.D. ‘86, and other prominent mediation and arbitration experts like Judge Patricia M. Lucas (retired), ensuring students learn from an array of seasoned practitioners.
Co-Requisite: Mediation Theory and Practice (alternatively, students are also eligible if they already completed Mediation Theory and Practice or Alternative Dispute Resolution in a previous semester)
How to apply: Register via Workday.
Information for Clients
The Mediation Clinic has volunteer mediators available to host a remote mediation session over Zoom. Small claims mediation is a confidential meeting between the parties in a small claims dispute. The mediator will assist you in creating opportunities to resolve your dispute and avoid the need to go to court.
- It is private and confidential. There is no public record of a judgment.
- You have the opportunity to control the terms of the settlement rather than the risk of proceeding before a judge / commissioner.
- If you come to an agreement, there will be no need to attend a court hearing.
- People are more likely to follow-through when they all agree to the resolution.
- You do not lose your right to go to trial - if your case does not settle, you still have the right to go to trial and have a judge / commissioner decide the case.