Remembering Elayne Greenberg

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our dear colleague Elayne Greenberg on Friday, April 19.

Elayne became the first Director of The Hugh L. Carey Center for Dispute Resolution at St. John’s in 2009.  She offered an unmatched breadth and depth of experience in dispute resolution. She was a mediator and conflict management consultant who developed programs, educated, trained, written and lectured internationally on the subject of negotiations, mediation, hybrid dispute resolution processes, dispute resolution ethics and advocacy in dispute resolution.

Professor Greenberg’s deep involvement in the field is evidenced by the innovative dispute resolution programs that she developed and implemented including: ABI- St. John’s Bankruptcy Mediation Training, the first national bankruptcy mediation program; Ghana Mediation Training Program to help implement Ghana ADR Act (co-developer and trainer); OSHA’s Whistleblower Mediation Program (consultant); Court-connected mediation programs in Queens, Nassau and Manhattan; a divorce mediation program for Catholic Charities; a client-focused system for a network of shelters for the homeless designed to help transition those individuals living in shelters to independent living; and the first parenting coordination program in New York State.

Professor Greenberg’s scholarship focused on dispute resolution and its broad applicability in multiple contexts. Her scholarship is distinguished by her interdisciplinary approach to deepening our understanding of conflict etiology to help design more pragmatic interventions. Professor Greenberg incorporates this interdisciplinary approach in her recent works on the intersection of implicit bias and dispute resolution and her work on informed consent. Professor Greenberg’s emphasis on interdisciplinary understanding grows out of her deep involvement with the innovative interdisciplinary dispute resolution programs that she has helped develop and implement.

As a mediator, Professor Greenberg mediated cases for the Department of Justice, Occupational Safety & Health Administration, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, New York Unified Court System Surrogate’s Court. Professor Greenberg also mediated cases with disputes involving the following industries: real estate; entertainment; health care; food; transportation; social service; education and retail.

Professor Greenberg also influenced public policy, shaping the development of Alternative Dispute Resolution in a variety of positions, including:

• Chair-elect, AALS Section of Dispute Resolution
• Member of Chief Justice DiFiore’s ADR Advisory Committee, Chair of Subcommittee promoting and educating about ADR
• Member, Plea Bargaining Task Force
• Executive Committee Member, AALS Section of Dispute Resolution
• Executive Committee Member, NYS Bar Entertainment and Sports Law Section
• Co-chair, NYS Bar Entertainment and Sports Law Committee on ADR
• Task Force Member, ABA Section of Dispute Resolution Legal Education, ADT, and Problem-Solving (LEAPS) Task Force
• Member, ABA Section of Dispute Resolution Ethics Committee
• Subcommittee on Education: Integrating ADR on the New York Bar Exam
• Subcommittee on Education of  NYSBA Section of Dispute Resolution Chair, New York State Bar Association Committee on Alternative Dispute Resolution;
• Chair, Ethics Committee of the New York State Bar Section of Dispute Resolution;
• Board Member, Advisory Board, Manhattan Surrogate’s Court Pilot Mediation
• Board Member, Association of Conflict Resolution of Greater New York, Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC) Advisory Council;
• Editorial Board, Family Court Review;
• Board and Founding Member, New York Chapter of AFCC;
• Barrister,  New York Family Law American Inn of Court
• Founding Member and Co-chair, Parenting Coordinator’s Association of New York.

In recognition of her dispute resolution leadership, Professor Greenberg was been selected by Best Lawyers in America as among the top New York lawyers in the field of Alternative Dispute Resolution every year since 2005. In the spring of 2014, ABI presented Professor Greenberg with its Annual Service Award, the organization’s highest membership award for her extraordinary contributions in developing and conducting the first-ever nationally recognized bankruptcy mediation training program. In 2014, Professor Greenberg was recognized by the American Registry as among the top 5% of America’s Most Honored Professionals, a cross-industry and cross-profession award to successful professionals recognized for professional excellence.  In 2016, she was recognized as one of the top three women in Dispute Resolution in New York. In 2017, she was acknowledged as one of the top three Women of Influence in New York.

Prior to coming to St. John’s, Professor Greenberg taught at Hofstra Law School and Hofstra’s Graduate Program in Psychology; Yeshiva University REITs Fellow Program; and CUNY School of Law. 

                       

James (Jim) Melamed

Jim Melamed co-founded Mediate.com in 1996 along with John Helie and served as CEO of Mediate.com through June 2020 (25 years).  Jim is currently Board Chair and General Counsel for Resourceful Internet Solutions, Inc. (RIS), home to Mediate.com, Arbitrate.com, ODR.com and other leading dispute resolution sites. During Jim's 25-year tenure,… MORE >