TEACHING ASPECTS OF ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION TO CANDIDATE ATTORNEYS IN SOUTH AFRICA

Abstract

When teaching alternative dispute resolution skills, such as negotiation and mediation, it is necessary to engage the students in an active learning process. This article describes the content of a two‐day course run for the Law Society of South Africa School for Legal Practice, Durban, in which students are taught negotiation and mediation skills. A variety of interactive learning methods are used in which students experience non‐adversarial methods of dispute resolution. By the end of the course each student would have participated in several negotiation and mediation exercises and would have conducted one mediation. The course is highly rated in the student evaluations for the amount of ‘learning through doing’ that occurs. Its success lies in that it is a practical, not academic, course.