CHRISTINE COATES
Christine Coates is an experienced attorney mediator in Boulder, Colorado whose solo practice emphasizes alternative dispute resolution. With a B.A. in psychology and sociology and a M.Ed. in adult counseling, Christie brought a rich and varied background in management and education to her "change of career" law practice which she began in 1983. She has been training mediators for over 15 years and is a popular and frequent national speaker and trainer in family law, alternative dispute resolution, and professionalism.
She is a past president of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, an international interdisciplinary organization. Christie also served on the American Bar Association's Task Force on Standards of Practice for Divorce Mediation and served on the steering committee of an inter-organizational effort that finalized these Standards. She chairs the AFCC Task Force on Parenting Coordination which is developing standards for Parenting Coordinators. She has co-chaired the ABA’s Dispute Resolution Section’s ADR and Family Functions Committee and the Family Law Section’s Mediation Committee. Christie has been an adjunct professor of domestic relations and of mediation at the University Of Colorado School Of Law and of family alternative dispute resolution at the University of Denver. Trained in arbitration by the American Arbitration Association, she has an active arbitration practice and has also expanded the process of mediation-arbitration to its use in post-dissolution families, training nationally on the use of med-arb and parenting coordination in family conflict. She is a co-author of Working with High-Conflict Families of Divorce: A Guide for Practitioners (Jason Aronson Publishers, 2001) and Learning from Divorce (Jossey-Bass, 2003).
ROBIN AMADEI
Robin has been the director and a practicing mediator at Common Ground Mediation Center for the last 14 years where she mediated employment, commercial, real estate, environmental, and family cases. Robin is an experienced organizational team-builder, facilitator, trainer and coach. She is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Denver, University College, the Department of Applied Communication and for the USDA. She is one of four mediators on contract with the Colorado Department of Education as a special education mediator and facilitator. She is a past mediator for the EEOC, a training coach for CDR Associates, and a certified administrator of the Meyers Briggs Training. She is a frequent speaker at national and local conferences, chambers of commerce and professional organizations on various alternative dispute resolution topics. Robin is an active member of the Colorado Council of Mediators and Mediation Organizations (CCMO) and a founding member and former President (1995-1997) of CCMO-Boulder. Robin is a member of the Colorado Bar Association, Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee, Membership Chair; former co-chair of the Boulder Bar Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee, Boulder Real Estate Law Committee, Family Law Committee, and member of the Colorado and Boulder Women's Bar Association. She is an Advanced Practitioner member of the Association for Conflict Resolution and has published numerous articles on mediation.
CLAIRE RILEY
Claire Riley is a registered nurse with an advanced degree in psychiatric nursing and completed her mediation training in 1990 at CDR Associates. For over 14 years, Claire had been active in her role as patient representative and hospital mediator at Boulder Community Hospital (BCH). In her role at BCH, she has been part of the movement to create a mediation option for patients who have grievances with their care.
Claire was also involved with the creation of a mediation process for hospital staff who they find themselves in conflict with one another. To date, the BCH mediation process has celebrated 10 years of excellence in conflict resolution. Claire is also a veteran member of the Clinical Ethics Committee which reviews and consults on cases of ethical dilemmas.
Earlier in her career, Claire served as Director of the Behavioral Health Unit at BCH and as Nursing Director at Boulder County Hospice. Claire has volunteered as a CASA and has sat on the Board of Directors at the Boulder College of Massage Therapy. She is currently a Trustee at Fraser Meadows Retirement Community. Claire lives in Boulder with her husband, artist John Matlack. They enjoy cooking, hiking, and reading. But the light of all lights in their lives is Jordan, their three year old granddaughter. She provides the contemplative balance-when she is around, and that is often-and a reminder that there is nothing but the present.
PATRICK HALTER
Patrick has been a professional arbitrator for over 30 years. He was accepted into a federal government internship program coming out of graduate school at the University of Indiana and placed in a small agency in Washington, D.C., that handled mediation, fact-finding, and arbitration of disputes between federal employees and agencies. At the same time that occurred ADR was being promoted in the local court system and Patrick was a mediator and mentor in the District of Columbia Superior Court handling civil disputes. Later he served six years as executive director and chief administrative law judge for a state labor and employee relations board. During this time Patrick had opportunities through ADR-forums to arbitrate employment and commercial disputes as a solo arbitrator and as an arbitrator on panels with three or five arbitrators.
MICHAEL CAPLAN, J.D., L.L.M
Mark is a partner in M. Caplan Co., combines his knowledge of the legal system with his mediation, facilitation, and training skills. His ability to articulate complicated concepts in a straightforward manner and to assist people with discussing difficult subjects in a productive and collaborative problem solving way helps them make decisions which meet their needs.
Mr. Caplan is on the executive board of the Boulder Healthy Communities Initiative, a member of the ADR section of the Boulder County Bar Association, The International Association of Facilitators, the Society for Professionals in Dispute Resolution and the Colorado Council of Mediators and Mediator Organizations and is certified as an NLP Practitioner. He has taught at University of Denver, University of North Carolina (Ashville) and Massey University, New Zealand. He is on the faculty of Naropa University and teaches programs in communication, conflict resolution, collaborative decision making and facilitation.
SAT TARA KAUR KHALSA, M.S., L.P.C.
Sat Tara is a licensed psychotherapist, divorce mediator and consultant, court-appointed special child advocate, and board member of the Boulder Interdisciplinary Committee on Child Custody Issues. Sat Tara has extensive experience in custody evaluations and investigations in the context of child abuse and neglect and sexual abuse. She is certified in Neuro-Linguistic Programming and trained in Eriksonian Hypnotherapy. She received training in Collaborative Family Law and is a member of the Rocky Mountain Collaborative Law Professionals. Sat Tara has been in the mental health field for approximately 30 years, since her graduation from Smith College as a First Group Scholar. Her volunteer work has included: running a residential holistic psychotherapeutic center for 10 years, organizing a woman’s project which resulted in action by the World Health Organization, acting as program coordinator and president of Women Caring for Women for three years, serving as a steering committee member and presenter of the Interface Council of Boulder, working at the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless, and performing community service in France. Sat Tara is a certified instructor of Kundalini Yoga and has taught yoga and spiritual development classes extensively for 31 years. Sat Tara developed the Personal Wellness Program and helped develop an Aikido-based model of handling high-conflict encounters.
Mediation and Dispute Resolution
GES 407 -- 180 hours
Instructor Bio
CHRISTINE COATES
Christine Coates is an experienced attorney mediator in Boulder, Colorado whose solo practice emphasizes alternative dispute resolution. With a B.A. in psychology and sociology and a M.Ed. in adult counseling, Christie brought a rich and varied background in management and education to her "change of career" law practice which she began in 1983. She has been training mediators for over 15 years and is a popular and frequent national speaker and trainer in family law, alternative dispute resolution, and professionalism.
She is a past president of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, an international interdisciplinary organization. Christie also served on the American Bar Association's Task Force on Standards of Practice for Divorce Mediation and served on the steering committee of an inter-organizational effort that finalized these Standards. She chairs the AFCC Task Force on Parenting Coordination which is developing standards for Parenting Coordinators. She has co-chaired the ABA’s Dispute Resolution Section’s ADR and Family Functions Committee and the Family Law Section’s Mediation Committee. Christie has been an adjunct professor of domestic relations and of mediation at the University Of Colorado School Of Law and of family alternative dispute resolution at the University of Denver. Trained in arbitration by the American Arbitration Association, she has an active arbitration practice and has also expanded the process of mediation-arbitration to its use in post-dissolution families, training nationally on the use of med-arb and parenting coordination in family conflict. She is a co-author of Working with High-Conflict Families of Divorce: A Guide for Practitioners (Jason Aronson Publishers, 2001) and Learning from Divorce (Jossey-Bass, 2003).
ROBIN AMADEI
Robin has been the director and a practicing mediator at Common Ground Mediation Center for the last 14 years where she mediated employment, commercial, real estate, environmental, and family cases. Robin is an experienced organizational team-builder, facilitator, trainer and coach. She is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Denver, University College, the Department of Applied Communication and for the USDA. She is one of four mediators on contract with the Colorado Department of Education as a special education mediator and facilitator. She is a past mediator for the EEOC, a training coach for CDR Associates, and a certified administrator of the Meyers Briggs Training. She is a frequent speaker at national and local conferences, chambers of commerce and professional organizations on various alternative dispute resolution topics. Robin is an active member of the Colorado Council of Mediators and Mediation Organizations (CCMO) and a founding member and former President (1995-1997) of CCMO-Boulder. Robin is a member of the Colorado Bar Association, Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee, Membership Chair; former co-chair of the Boulder Bar Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee, Boulder Real Estate Law Committee, Family Law Committee, and member of the Colorado and Boulder Women's Bar Association. She is an Advanced Practitioner member of the Association for Conflict Resolution and has published numerous articles on mediation.
CLAIRE RILEY
Claire Riley is a registered nurse with an advanced degree in psychiatric nursing and completed her mediation training in 1990 at CDR Associates. For over 14 years, Claire had been active in her role as patient representative and hospital mediator at Boulder Community Hospital (BCH). In her role at BCH, she has been part of the movement to create a mediation option for patients who have grievances with their care.
Claire was also involved with the creation of a mediation process for hospital staff who they find themselves in conflict with one another. To date, the BCH mediation process has celebrated 10 years of excellence in conflict resolution. Claire is also a veteran member of the Clinical Ethics Committee which reviews and consults on cases of ethical dilemmas.
Earlier in her career, Claire served as Director of the Behavioral Health Unit at BCH and as Nursing Director at Boulder County Hospice. Claire has volunteered as a CASA and has sat on the Board of Directors at the Boulder College of Massage Therapy. She is currently a Trustee at Fraser Meadows Retirement Community. Claire lives in Boulder with her husband, artist John Matlack. They enjoy cooking, hiking, and reading. But the light of all lights in their lives is Jordan, their three year old granddaughter. She provides the contemplative balance-when she is around, and that is often-and a reminder that there is nothing but the present.
PATRICK HALTER
Patrick has been a professional arbitrator for over 30 years. He was accepted into a federal government internship program coming out of graduate school at the University of Indiana and placed in a small agency in Washington, D.C., that handled mediation, fact-finding, and arbitration of disputes between federal employees and agencies. At the same time that occurred ADR was being promoted in the local court system and Patrick was a mediator and mentor in the District of Columbia Superior Court handling civil disputes. Later he served six years as executive director and chief administrative law judge for a state labor and employee relations board. During this time Patrick had opportunities through ADR-forums to arbitrate employment and commercial disputes as a solo arbitrator and as an arbitrator on panels with three or five arbitrators.
MICHAEL CAPLAN, J.D., L.L.M
Mark is a partner in M. Caplan Co., combines his knowledge of the legal system with his mediation, facilitation, and training skills. His ability to articulate complicated concepts in a straightforward manner and to assist people with discussing difficult subjects in a productive and collaborative problem solving way helps them make decisions which meet their needs.
Mr. Caplan is on the executive board of the Boulder Healthy Communities Initiative, a member of the ADR section of the Boulder County Bar Association, The International Association of Facilitators, the Society for Professionals in Dispute Resolution and the Colorado Council of Mediators and Mediator Organizations and is certified as an NLP Practitioner. He has taught at University of Denver, University of North Carolina (Ashville) and Massey University, New Zealand. He is on the faculty of Naropa University and teaches programs in communication, conflict resolution, collaborative decision making and facilitation.
SAT TARA KAUR KHALSA, M.S., L.P.C.
Sat Tara is a licensed psychotherapist, divorce mediator and consultant, court-appointed special child advocate, and board member of the Boulder Interdisciplinary Committee on Child Custody Issues. Sat Tara has extensive experience in custody evaluations and investigations in the context of child abuse and neglect and sexual abuse. She is certified in Neuro-Linguistic Programming and trained in Eriksonian Hypnotherapy. She received training in Collaborative Family Law and is a member of the Rocky Mountain Collaborative Law Professionals. Sat Tara has been in the mental health field for approximately 30 years, since her graduation from Smith College as a First Group Scholar. Her volunteer work has included: running a residential holistic psychotherapeutic center for 10 years, organizing a woman’s project which resulted in action by the World Health Organization, acting as program coordinator and president of Women Caring for Women for three years, serving as a steering committee member and presenter of the Interface Council of Boulder, working at the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless, and performing community service in France. Sat Tara is a certified instructor of Kundalini Yoga and has taught yoga and spiritual development classes extensively for 31 years. Sat Tara developed the Personal Wellness Program and helped develop an Aikido-based model of handling high-conflict encounters.
