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About Lela Love

Lela Porter Love is a professor of law and director of the Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law (NYC). The Kukin Program has been ranked by U.S. News and World Report among the top ten law school programs in the US in dispute resolution since 2000.  She founded (in 1985) Cardozo's Mediation Clinic—one of the first clinical programs to train law students to serve as mediators.
Love has served as mediator, arbitrator and dispute resolution consultant in community, employment, family, human rights, school-based and commercial cases. An active educator and participant in dispute resolution activities, she regularly conducts mediation training programs and courses both domestic and international.      
Love is Past Chair of the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution.  In her chair year she initiated the first International Mediation Leadership Summit in the Hague. 
Her mediation of a public policy dispute in Glen Cove, NY, brought widespread publicity to the use of mediation in resolving complex litigation.
She has written widely on the topic of dispute resolution, including co-authoring three law school textbooks. Among her books are: The Middle Voice, co-authored with Joseph Stulberg, and two collections of stories about mediations—Stories Mediators Tell and Stories Mediators Tell—World Edition.
The International Academy of Mediators gave Lela a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012; the American College of Civil Trial Mediators gave her a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010; and she received the “Front Line Champion” Award at the Association of the Bar of NYC on Mediation Settlement Day (2009). 

Positions

2001 - Present Professor of Law, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
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1990 - Present Founding Director, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law ‐ Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution
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Present Director, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law ‐ Cardozo Mediation Clinic
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2018 Visiting Professor, Nantere University
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2018 Visiting Professor, Central European University
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2018 Visiting Professor, Tulane Law School & Humboldt University
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2018 Visiting Professor, Pepperdine University School of Law
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1985 - 2018 Director, Mediation Clinic, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
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2017 Visiting Professor, Pepperdine University School of Law
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2016 Visiting Professor, Bar Ilan University
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2016 Visiting Professor, University of Idaho School of Law
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2016 Visiting Professor, Tulane Law School & Humboldt University
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2014 - 2016 Visiting Professor, New York University
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2000 - 2016 Visiting Professor, Central European University
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2015 Visiting Professor, Pepperdine University School of Law
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2014 Visiting Professor, University of Idaho School of Law
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2014 Visiting Professor, Bar Ilan University
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2014 Visiting Professor, Hamline University School of Law
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2014 Visiting Professor, Pepperdine University School of Law
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2012 Visiting Professor, University of Idaho School of Law
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2012 Visiting Professor, University of Duesto
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2011 Visiting Professor, Tulane Law School & Humboldt University
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2011 Visiting Professor, Pepperdine University School of Law
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2010 Visiting Professor, University of Idaho School of Law
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2010 Visiting Professor, Hamline University School of Law
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2010 Visiting Professor, University of Duesto
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2010 Visiting Professor, Vermont Law School
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2009 Visiting Professor, Vermont Law School
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2008 Visiting Professor, University of Duesto
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2007 Faculty Member, University of Idaho School of Law
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2007 Visiting Professor, University of Duesto
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2006 Visiting Professor, Hamline University School of Law
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2006 Visiting Professor, University of Duesto
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2006 Visiting Professor, Vermont Law School
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2005 Visiting Professor, University of Idaho School of Law
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2005 Visiting Professor, Tulane Law School & Humboldt University
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2005 Visiting Professor, University of Nevada, Las Vegas -- William S. Boyd School of Law
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2004 Visiting Professor, Hamline University School of Law
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2004 Visiting Professor, University of Idaho School of Law
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2003 Visiting Professor, Pepperdine University School of Law
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2002 Visiting Professor, Hamline University School of Law
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2001 Visiting Professor, Hamline University School of Law
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2001 Visiting Professor, University of Idaho School of Law
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2001 Visiting Professor, Pepperdine University School of Law
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1994 - 2001 Clinical Professor of Law, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
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2000 Visiting Professor, Pepperdine University School of Law
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1999 Visiting Professor, Pepperdine University School of Law
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1998 Visiting Professor, Hamline University School of Law
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1998 Visiting Professor, Pepperdine University School of Law
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1997 Visiting Professor, Hamline University School of Law
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1997 Visiting Professor, Pepperdine University School of Law
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1996 Visiting Professor, Hamline University School of Law
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1993 - 1994 Clinical Associate Professor, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
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1990 - 1992 Adjunct Professor of Law, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
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1984 - 1990 Adjunct Assistant Professor, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
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1987 - 1989 Visiting Professor, New York University
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1983 - 1984 Arbitrator, Civil Court of the City of New York
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1980 - 1982 Assistant Director of Experimental Programs and Instructor of Clinical Law, George Washington University Law School
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1980 - 1982 Director and Supervising Attorney, Small Business Clinic, George Washington University
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1979 - 1980 Associate, Kass, Skalet & Frosh
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Disciplines

Law

Research Interests

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Professional Service and Affiliations

2011 - Present Member, International Board of Distinguished ADR Professionals, Center for Mediation and Law in Moscow
2010 - Present Member, Executive Advisory Committee, CPR International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution
2010 - Present Member, Mediation Committee, CPR International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution
2009 - Present Member, Mediation Pilot Project, Surrogate's Court
2008 - Present Judge, James B Boskey ADR Writing Competition, American Bar Association
2000 - Present Advisory Board, Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal, Pepperdine Law School
1996 - Present Member, Advisory Board, City University of New York Dispute Resolution Consortium
1993 - Present Trustee & Secretary, Archbold Biological Research Station
2010 - 2013 Co-Chair, Award Committee for Scholarship, ABA Section for Dispute Resolution
2012 Co-Chair, Advisory Committee to Restructure the Dispute Resolution Magazine, ABA Section for Dispute Resolution
2010 - 2011 Member, Education Committee, New York Bar Mediation Section
2008 - 2009 Chair, Section of Dispute Resolution, American Bar Association
2006 - 2009 Member, Committee on Mediator Ethical Guidance, ABA Section of Dispute Resolution
2006 - 2009 Member, Mediation Ethics Advisory Committee, Unified Court System of New York State
2008 Judge, Make Talk Work International Video Competition, City University of New York Dispute Resolution Consortium
2001 - 2006 Advisory Board, CLE and Meeting Planning Board, ABA Section of Dispute Resolution
2004 - 2005 Member, Task Force on Ethical Standards for Mediation, ABA Section of Litigation
2003 Chair, CLE Programming for ABA Annual Meeting, ABA Section of Dispute Resolution
2002 - 2003 Co-Chair, Annual Conference, ABA Section for Dispute Resolution
2000 - 2003 Chair, Advisory Committee to Oversee Grant from the Hewlett Foundation, ABA Section of Dispute Resolution
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Honors and Awards

  • ADR Achievement Award (Association of Conflict Resolution of Greater New York, 2012)
  • Lifetime Achievement Award (International Association of Mediators, 2012)
  • Lifetime Achievement Award (American College of Civil Trial Mediators, 2010)
  • Front Line Champion Award (Association of the Bar of NYC, 2009)
  • Certificate of Recognition for Public Service (Benjamin Cardozo School of Law, 2005)
  • Monrad G Paulsen Award (Benjamin Cardozo School of Law, 1998)
  • "Appreciation" Award (Victim Services Mediation Programs, 1997)
  • Certificate of Appreciation (Small Claims Part of the Civil Court of the City of New York, 1989)

Education

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BA, Harvard University
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M.Ed, Virginia Commonwealth University
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JD, Georgetown University
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Links

Articles & Essays (44)