Should States Regulate The Mediation Profession?

From the Disputing Blog of Karl Bayer, Victoria VanBuren, and Holly Hayes.

Philip J. Loree Jr., a partner in the Manhasset, New York based firm of Loree & Loree and contributor to this blog, recently published an interesting article entitled Should States Regulate the Mediation Profession? The article was published in the Winter 2010-2011 edition of NE-ACR News, the newsletter of the New England Chapter of the Association for Conflict Resolution.

In the article, Mr. Loree argues “proponents of state licensure [of mediators] should be careful what they wish for,” and that state licensure of mediators would likely target non-lawyer members of the profession. Mr. Loree also discusses three reasons why he believes state licensure would harm both the public and the mediation profession. Additionally, his article expands upon and refines some of the arguments Mr. Loree made in a July 30, 2009 post on his firm’s blog, the Loree Reinsurance and Arbitration Law Forum, entitled Should the States Certify and Regulate Mediators?

The article is available here. What are your thoughts? Should states regulate the mediation profession?

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Victoria VanBuren

Victoria VanBuren holds a B.B.A. in Finance from Southern Methodist University and a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law.  She focuses on intellectual property law and arbitration. Known as a "worker bee," she is an active legal blogger and is currently pursuing a degree in computer science.… MORE >