James Coben

Professor
Email: jcoben@gw.hamline.edu
Phone: 651 523-2137

B.A., Williams College
J.D., Northeastern University School of Law

"Commitment to the interests of clients is not only about zealous advocacy on their behalf. Sometimes the best advocacy is not fighting at all. Successful lawyers of the 21st century will be leaders in creative dispute resolution."

Professor James Coben, a senior fellow in Hamline's Dispute Resolution Institute ("DRI") which he directed from 2000-2009, teaches civil procedure, dispute resolution practices, mediation, and negotiation. He also pioneered a variety of innovative ADR clinical opportunities for law students, including mediation advocacy on behalf of clients in family law and employment cases. More recently, he has focused his energies on development of international ADR educational opportunities.

During his tenure as DRI director, he created three Hamline ADR foreign programs - an international commercial arbitration program in London, an international business transactions negotiation program in Rome, and a program in democratic dialogue and mediation in Budapest. Professor Coben is coordinator of the "Developing 'Second Generation" Global Negotiation Education Project," a joint effort of the law school, the JAMS Foundation, and ADR Center, Italy to critically examine what is taught in negotiation and how we teach it, with special emphasis on how best to "translate" teaching methodology to succeed with diverse, global audiences. The project opened with an international conference in Rome, Italy in May 2008, moves on to Istanbul, Turkey in October 2009 and closes with a conference in Beijing, China in May 2011. From 2003-2007, Professor Coben served as project director for a European Union/U.S. Department of Education funded project to develop transnational ADR curriculum and promote transatlantic student mobility.

Professor Coben has published numerous ADR related articles and is co-editor of Rethinking Negotiation Teaching: Innovations for Context and Culture (DRI Press 2009) and co-author of the third edition of Mediation:  Law Policy & Practice (West Group, forthcoming late 2009). Together with Professor Peter N. Thompson, he has created the Mediation Case Law Project - a systematic attempt to catalogue litigation trends about mediation, as well as produce and distribute innovative teaching videos, and other resources to ADR academics, practitioners, and trainers. 

Professor Coben has made over 130 presentations on ADR topics at conferences and continuing education events in the U.S. and abroad. Between 1999 and 2005, Professor Coben was a member of the Minnesota Supreme Court's ADR Review Board, charged with regulating the performance of court‑appointed neutrals. He also is a past chair of the ADR Section of the Association of American Law Schools ("AALS"), and has twice co-chaired the annual Legal Educator's Colloquium sponsored by AALS and the American Bar Association (ABA) Dispute Resolution Section. He also served as chair of the section's Lawyer as Problem-Solver Committee and as a member of the section's Ethics Committee. Prior to joining the Hamline faculty, Professor Coben served as law clerk to U.S. District Court Judge Robert Renner, Jr. in St. Paul.

Publications