Mediators
Jackie Goodrich, Fred Hanson, Caroline Holley
Jackie Goodrich is cofounder of Arts Mediation Group and a mediator for the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board. Her mediation practice began in 1999 at Safe Horizon’s Community Dispute Resolution Program, which included cases in Family Court, Civil Court, and Small Claims Court. She also facilitated Community Impact Panels at the Midtown Community Court, in Manhattan. For several years, she was a training coach in mediation clinics conducted by Safe Horizon (now New York Peace Institute) in partnership with Columbia Law School, Cardozo School of Law, and Brooklyn Law School. In 2004, Safe Horizon named her “Mentor of the Year.”
Jackie served as a member of the Dancers Forum work group to develop The Dancers Forum Compact; as a group facilitator at events, sponsored by Dance Theater Workshop, to strengthen communication skills among dancers, choreographers, and company managers; and as a member of a panel discussion, sponsored by The Juilliard School, on building trust and effective communication as dance professionals.
Jackie’s mediation training has been primarily with The Center for Understanding in Conflict (formerly The Center for Mediation in Law), whose understanding-based approach to mediation she practices. Her work with the Center includes participation in a mediation training video, “Saving the Last Dance: Mediation Through Understanding,” produced in collaboration with Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation.
Jackie’s work in dispute resolution was preceded by a 20-year career in modern dance and theater.
Fred Hanson has practiced mediation in New York City since 2000, while continuing a decades-long career in theatre as a stage manager, production supervisor, executive producer, and associate director of many Broadway shows.
He received mediation training and certification from New York Peace Institute, where he handles general community cases, co-parenting mediation, youth-involved mediation, Criminal Court cases referred by the District Attorney, and conflict coaching. He completed divorce mediation training at the Ackerman Institute for the Family.
As a teacher and trainer, Fred has coached and mentored new mediators at New York Peace Institute’s training and certification program and coached students in the mediation clinic at Columbia Law School.
Caroline Holley has been mediating community, commercial, victim/offender, and family conflicts since 2000. She worked as a mediator, program coordinator, and trainer for the Safe Horizon Mediation Program (now New York Peace Institute), New York Law School Coop Mediation Program, and Community Mediation Services. Caroline has been an arbitrator for Manhattan Supreme Court’s Matrimonial Fee Dispute program and a small group facilitator.
Caroline did her foundational training in Safe Horizon’s collaborative program with Columbia Law School. Subsequently, she completed the Mediation Intensive Training program of The Center for Mediation in Law (now The Center for Understanding in Mediation), conducted by the Center’s directors, Jack Himmelstein and Gary Friedman. The Center approaches conflict resolution through deepening the parties’ understanding of themselves, each other, and the conflict in which they are ensnared.
“Mediation is democracy in action,” says Caroline. “When we understand our own needs and those of others we reach a more profound level of clarity and wisdom. This new vantage point enables us to find solutions that ease tension and dispel conflict and allows us to move in a more positive direction with our lives.”
Caroline is also an adjunct professor of political science for the State University of New York (SUNY). She earned a BA from Bard College, an MA in International Affairs from Columbia University, and is in pursuit of a PhD at SUNY Buffalo.
Carol was gifted with exceptional intelligence and integrity and possessed common sense to an uncommon degree. She was a brilliant legal counselor and litigation strategist, and a generous source of advice and support for her family, friends, and colleagues.
Before she co-founded Arts Mediation Group, in 2002, Carol built a distinguished career as a leading lawyer in the copyright and trademark fields, in which she broke new ground for women. Her practice included cutting-edge counseling, arts-related commercial transactions, and the conduct of litigation pertaining to famous fictional characters, such as Superman, Batman, the Muppets, Garfield the Cat, and Tarzan. Over several decades, she represented a wide variety of creators and entertainment companies, including DC Comics, Warner Brothers, Children’s Television Workshop, the Jim Henson Company, PBS, American Greetings, Edgar Rice Burroughs, MTV, David Letterman, and Simon & Schuster. Carol was also a frequent speaker on matters of copyright and trademark law. She began her career at the Cowan Liebowitz & Latman law firm, in New York City, and in 1990 joined Fross Zelnick Lehrman & Zissu, PC, as a partner.
Carol and I met one another through our connections with the Center for Understanding in Conflict. Though we came from very different backgrounds—she was a prominent attorney, I was a dancer—we shared a keen appreciation for arts of all kinds, and a desire to help artists navigate conflict in ways that aimed to safeguard relationships while working toward resolution. And so we created Arts Mediation Group, becoming friends as well as colleagues. I loved Carol’s keen mind and compassionate heart (and her exquisite sense of color), and I miss her very much.