Trainings

“I'm a proud graduate of Ron Kelly's mediation training.”
- Hon. James McBride, Former Presiding Judge, S.F. Superior Court

“When I took Ron's training, I was impressed he could give us such a broad range of skills in so little time. If you're interested in mediation, take this training.”
- Hon. Russell Roeca, S.F. Superior Court and Past President, Bar Association of San Francisco

“I really consider it the gold standard.”
- Theresa Jones, Former ADR Panel Administrator, Alameda County Superior Court

(Affiliations listed for ID purposes only)

DO YOU WANT TO SUCCESSFULLY
RESOLVE DISPUTES WITH CONFIDENCE?

• In Ron’s widely-acclaimed trainings you'll learn proven step-by-step ways to resolve nearly every kind of dispute. Ron brings you the very best techniques from hundreds of trainings, tested and refined over decades of mediating the toughest cases.
   
• His in-depth trainings provide demonstrations, practice sessions, and discussions of real life case studies. Ideal for lawyers, judges, business professionals, managers, and anyone who handles disputes or wants to.
   
• He has trained thousands of lawyers, judges, government officials and business professionals on four continents. His training materials are licensed and used around the world in several languages. Judges in every Bay Area Superior Court have chosen to enroll in his trainings.
   
• In the mid-1980s, Ron designed and initiated UC Berkeley’s regular mediation training for judges, lawyers, and business professionals. He conducted Berkeley's trainings for the next quarter century, and was named Honored Instructor, the award given to the top 1% of academic staff. Ron now regularly trains arbitrators and mediators through the Bar Association of San Francisco with the co-sponsorship of several other county bar associations. 

“One of the most positive educational experiences of my life. Not only did the class meet the promise of offering me new tools and skills to approach mediation, but it also gave me the courage and practice to address mediation with confidence. If you are an aspiring peacemaker, or simply want to become more effective as one, I can't recommend this class highly enough.”
- Reverend Michael Callahan, Woodacre CA

"Thanks to the skills I learned in your training, I was able to turn around several failing multi-million-dollar businesses in a very short period of time."
- Company President, San Francisco, CA

“Please consider this outstanding opportunity from Ron Kelly, one of the most respected pioneers and scholars in the developing field of mediation. His commercial training is the gold standard among veteran practitioners.”
- Susan Joan Davidson, Mediator, Oakland CA

SCHEDULE OF 2025 TRAININGS

** Arbitrator Certificate Training - 20 Hours (click here for description)

• None currently scheduled. Contact Ron directly if interested.

** Mediator Certificate Training - 40 hours (click here for description) 

• October 4, 11, 18, 25, and November 1, 2025 - Live Online Participatory Training - not a webinar - through the Bar Association of San Francisco
  Normally co-sponsored by the San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Mateo, Solano, and Sonoma County Bar Associations. Co-sponsorships pending.
  Discounts for Co-Sponsor Members. **Contact BASF to register.**
  Satisfies training requirement for most court and state agency panels.
   

** Want a Thriving Practice as Mediator or Arbitrator? - 3 hours (click here for description) 

• Not yet scheduled. Normally offered in November. - Live Online Participatory Training - not a webinar - through the Bar Association of San Francisco
  Contact BASF to register.

** Half-Day Advanced Trainings, Other Trainings (please see descriptions below)

TRAINING DESCRIPTIONS 

Ron has conducted hundreds of dispute resolution trainings for a wide variety of organizations. A partial list of sponsoring organizations is here. Below are descriptions of some of these trainings.

Note - 

Ron’s regular 40-hour mediation certificate training is open to everyone, and has been offered for more than twenty-five years through the Bar Association of San Francisco and formerly through the University of California Berkeley’s Continuing Education in Law Program.

His regular 20-hour arbitration certificate training is also open to everyone, and is offered every year through the Bar Association of San Francisco and many co-sponsoring Bay Area bar associations.

The trainings below on advanced topics have generally been offered through bar associations, courts, and mediation programs.

Contact Ron for trainings to enhance in-house skills, and/or as a fund-raiser for your organization.

Mediation Certificate Training 

In this widely acclaimed intensive 40-hour training, attorneys and business professionals will gain the ability and confidence to resolve almost any dispute, as a mediator, negotiator, or representative. Certificate of completion satisfies training requirements for most court and agency panels. Training includes: 

• Demonstrations and hands-on practice mediations
• Small class size and guest lectures from leading practitioners
• High-emotion conflict management skills
• Mediation confidentiality and ethics 
• Drafting binding settlements
• Complete set of model forms
• (See more detailed outline here)

Arbitration Certificate Training

Do you want the skill and confidence to settle complex cases in a way that's more final than most court decisions? Do you want to enhance your own credibility as counsel, mediator, or dispute resolver?

Well-represented and sophisticated parties like Fortune 500 companies and professional athletes voluntarily choose arbitration. Why? They know they can choose an arbitrator who really understands their issues. They can shape their own process. Perhaps most importantly, they can actually get a prompt hearing and a final and binding decision. With this training, you can be that arbitrator!

You will learn:

• The solid legal basis for your broad arbitral powers
• How to handle and rule on procedural and pre-hearing issues, including unwilling parties, disputed discovery, and issuing subpoenas
• How to manage the formal hearing, including how to effectively handle belligerent participants and evidentiary challenges
• The essential elements of writing binding awards settling all issues, including different award formats
• How to maintain ongoing jurisdiction where necessary 
• The many opportunities to gain real world experience as an arbitrator
• Certificate issued on completion
   

Half-Day Advanced Mediation Trainings

Want a Thriving Practice as Mediator or Arbitrator?
Ron Kelly has helped hundreds of aspiring neutrals become successful mediators and arbitrators. Come learn the proven system you too can use to become a successful neutral, even if you're not sure where to start. Learn Ron's effective formula for shaping your image and outreach, converting contacts into real paying cases, and building your long-term referral network. Sample marketing materials provided.

Is Your Mediation Model Setting You Up for Impasse?
Join us for an advanced training that will give you new tools for successful resolution of your toughest cases. Over the past twenty years, Ron Kelly has attended over two hundred different mediation trainings and workshops. He’s taken the best tools and techniques from numerous different mediation models and tested and refined them in the most challenging cases. Come participate in discussion about how several “impossible” cases were actually resolved through use of advanced techniques from very different models. Share your own best techniques with your colleagues.  Learn new approaches to avoid impasse and achieve resolution in your toughest cases.

Top Five Reasons Your Mediation Will Fail - and How to Avoid Them
What's most likely to kill your success in mediation? How can you equip yourself to handle each of the most common traps? You'll learn key insights from a dozen of the most successful mediators in the Bay Area. Come get the benefit of their combined centuries of experience. 

Turning Failure Into Success: Pulling The Rabbit Out of The Hat
"We got 90% of the way there, but the mediator couldn't bring it home." We all know the way it so often gets really hard at the end. Everyone is tired and has gone as far as they're going to go. They expect you to wave your mediator's magic wand, make the other side be reasonable, and close the final gap. In this session, we'll equip you with that magic wand. 

Getting Them Ready to Settle Before You Meet
Why make your work any harder? If you just accept mediation participants as they arrive, you face a raft of problems all at once. In this session we'll take an in-depth look at all the ways you can ensure they're ready to settle when they walk in the door. We'll also cover advanced methods for your own preparation as mediator. 

Drafting Effective Settlement Agreements
Everyone knows "the Devil's in the details" when it comes to actually nailing down that binding and enforceable written settlement. Participants may seem to agree, only to have it unravel when it comes to hammering out the final deal, especially in more complex disputes.  We'll identify a number of advanced approaches in dealing successfully with this, including using technology. We'll discuss the potential for the mediator's full (paid) involvement in all details of the written settlement, from the very beginning to the very end of the mediation. 

Facing Your Toughest Mediation Challenge
What's the toughest challenge you encounter in your mediations? Come join us to identify new ways to handle your specific challenge. Compare yours with the results of Ron's survey of a hundred experienced Bay Area mediators identifying their toughest challenges. We'll also review highlights of Ron's extensive interviews with five top Bay Area mediators on their toughest challenges and what they do to face them. The wisdom of centuries of experience and tens of thousands of cases are distilled for you in this workshop. 

Distance Mediation - You Don't Have to Travel, and No One Else Does Either
Would you like to mediate from anywhere you are? Would you like to mediate with parties and counsel spread around the country or the planet, and never have anyone need to travel? You can. There can even be a lot of major benefits to this approach. We'll analyze several case studies of successful mediations where no one ever got together physically or even spoke directly with each other. We'll also explore using online meeting technologies in your mediations. 

How Are You With Mental Health Problems in Your Mediation Practice?
If one of your mediation participants could not see, or could not hear, you'd likely explore what changes in your normal process might be needed. More often than we realize, there are hidden mental health challenges in those we work with that can block resolution. Ever had clients who suddenly explode in rage, or really could not see any point of view but their own, or could not make a decision, or showed other significant impairments? In this program, we'll identify and discuss candidly how you can be more effective in handling the hidden mental health problems we so often encounter in our mediations.