Raphael Lapin brings an extensive and unique background to his practice as a mediator. He has not only mediated more than 1,000 litigated disputes, but he has also mediated across a variety of sectors, including commercial, transactional, family, employment, partnership dissolutions, construction, healthcare, intellectual property, and international matters. Raphael has also taught conflict resolution at Southwestern Law School and Whittier Law School and has obtained Advanced Mediation and Negotiation Certifications from the Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation.

In this episode, Raphael talks about a multi-party dispute involving a school district, three teenage girls, and their parents, arising from a bullying incident in which two of the girls physically attacked another girl as they participated in a school sports event, inflicting physical and emotional injuries. Resolution of the dispute resulted from the atypical approach employed by Mr. Lapin. What was that approach, and how was it implemented? Listen to this fascinating story told by a master mediator.

Raphael Lapin was awarded both a Bachelor’s and Master’s of Talmudic Law and has a rabbinic ordination in theological and divinity studies. In 1996 and 1997, after receiving training from Prof. Roger Fisher, he was awarded Advanced Mediation Certifications and Advanced Negotiation Certifications. From 1998 through 2009, he mediated sensitive family law disputes of all types, and in 2010 began his current practice, which includes mediation of pre-litigation and litigated complex disputes in civil, commercial, real estate, wills & trusts, and homeowners’ association matters, utilizing innovative techniques and creative solutions.

He has also taught as a Professor of Talmudic Law for a decade, delivering post-graduate instruction on classical texts and traditional jurisprudence, fostering a profound understanding of and a sharp analytical approach to Talmudic law among students. Raphael Lapin also taught negotiation and mediation at the Whittier School of Law in Costa Mesa, California, and international conflict resolution at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles, California.

Raphael Lapin is the author of Working With Difficult People (DK Publishing, 2009) and has been a regular contributor and featured expert for USA Today, The Jerusalem Post, Foreign Policy News, Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal, and Research Magazine on matters of dispute resolution, and has provided expert commentary on negotiation and mediation featured in media outlets including Al Jazeera and on various podcasts.

Raphael Lapin may be contacted through his website www.lapinnegotiationservices.com, or by telephone at (310) 984-6953