Harvard Mediation Intensive

The most trusted mediators help parties resolve disputes effectively, discreetly, and, pro-actively. Increasingly, people are turning to mediation to achieve sustainable resolutions, settle disputes more rapidly and control legal costs. By building up their mediation expertise, lawyers, judges, leaders and managers from a range of industries are well positioned to advance better ways of dealing with conflict. Add this essential skillset to your practice when you attend the Harvard Mediation Intensive at Charles Hotel in Harvard Square.

For forty years now, the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School has trained thousands of mediators, negotiators, and other professionals, including participants from the United States, Canada, and over 50 other countries. Led by mediation experts Audrey Lee and Alain Lempereur, the Harvard Mediation Intensive delves into mediation principles and processes through interactive presentations and experiential learning with multiple case simulations. From employment and business disagreements to public and international conflicts, you will discover effective ways to mediate parties, helping them to settle their differences across a variety of contexts.

Held at The Charles Hotel in the heart of Harvard Square this fall from November 17–21, 2025, the Harvard Mediation Intensive offers insight into ethical dilemmas, identity-based conflicts, bias and stereotyping, and working with strong emotions throughout the mediation process. By engaging in realistic role-play simulations, you’ll sharpen your core mediator skills including active listening, asking probing questions, developing creative options, reframing, brainstorming, and building sustainable agreements.

Learning Objectives

During this intensive five-day program, you will:

• Gain knowledge of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) processes and their application in real-world situations
• Examine mediation principles in theory and practice
• Review and experience the various stages of the mediation process
• Explore caucus theories and the role of attorneys
• Learn how to build value and relationships through the mediation process
• Enhance parties’ ability to work toward an agreement by helping them identify their underlying interests and move from positions to interest-based negotiating
• Acquire improved problem-solving negotiation techniques
• Discover best-practice solutions for the multi-faceted challenges facing mediation practitioners
• Learn how to overcome obstacles to achieve mutually satisfactory settlements and become more comfortable with the various roles of a mediator

Eligibility Requirements: Due to the interactive and simulation-rich nature of the training, participants must demonstrate proficiency in English, as this program is conducted solely in English. Participants should be able to converse fluently in dialogue with the instructor and other students. While a certification of fluency in English is not required, we suggest a TOEFL written exam score of 570 as the minimum proficiency standard. PON may call applicants to assess English proficiency.

Format

This in-person program will run November 17-21, 2025 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET (Friday the program closes at 4 p.m.) with an hour-long lunch and short breaks throughout the day. Given the highly interactive nature of this program, participant attendance at all sessions is required. There will be assigned reading and preparation in the weeks leading up to the program and throughout the course so participants should plan accordingly.

Networking receptions will be held on Monday and Thursday.

To actively engage you in the mediation process, each day features lectures, interactive discussions, small group work, one-on-one exercises, and mediation simulations, in addition to mediation coaching. Key to the program is the opportunity to explore your own mediation technique and skills by receiving and applying feedback from fellow participants and the instructors’ team.

Course Materials

The Harvard Mediation Intensive uses CANVAS, a cloud-based learning platform, to share materials and relevant course information. Participants will be given access to CANVAS several weeks before the start of the class.

Our Faculty

Our team is comprised of world-renowned faculty from across Harvard, MIT, and Tufts.

Educational Videos Feature Expert Faculty:

Audrey Lee

Lecturer, Mediation and Diversity & Dispute Resolution, Harvard Law School
Senior Mediator, Boston Law Collaborative, LLC

A specialist in workplace mediations, Audrey Lee is a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School where she teaches courses on Mediation and Diversity & Dispute Resolution. She is a Senior Mediator at Boston Law Collaborative, LLC, and has served as a mediator for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. Audrey has served as affiliate faculty at PON since 2016, currently as a lead faculty for the Harvard Mediation Intensive.

In her consulting practice, Audrey works with clients to increase their effectiveness in difficult workplace conversations and negotiations. In recognition of her professional development work with lawyers, Audrey was invited in 2018 to become a Trusted Advisor for the Professional Development Consortium, the national association for individuals responsible for the professional development of lawyers at law firms, law schools, government agencies, and corporations.

Drawing on her experience as a mediator and conflict management consultant, Audrey has worked with clients ranging from lawyers at Am Law 100 firms, to mediators at the Australian Fair Work Commission, and musicians at the League of American Orchestras. Audrey has been featured in Harvard Business Review’s “Insights” series on Leadership and Managing People and in the BBC Capital’s Work Ethic column, and her writing on mediation and dispute resolution has appeared in the Harvard Negotiation Law Review and Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal, among other publications.

Alain Lempereur

Brandeis University Alan B. Slifka Professor at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management
Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School Affiliate Faculty and Executive Committee Member
Harvard Humanitarian Initiative Core Faculty and Negotiation Lead for the UN Global Executive Leadership Initiative

Alain Lempereur promotes his “responsible negotiation” framework worldwide and applies it to leadership, mediation, and humanitarian challenges. He has published a dozen books, including The First Move: A Negotiator’s Companion and Mediation: Negotiation by other Moves. And contributed to more than 100 articles and book chapters.

After getting a research doctorate in law from Harvard Law School and degrees at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Lempereur spent 25 years consulting and providing executive training for international organizations, national governments, global consulting firms, and corporations in 70 countries. He founded negotiation and leadership initiatives in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe and was the founding director of IRENÉ – a European negotiation institute he led for 15 years at ESSEC Business School.