• Directory
• Login
• Contact
• Apply

James Coben

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 Coben directs the Dispute Resolution Institute (DRI) at Hamline University School of Law and teaches civil procedure, dispute resolution practices, mediation, and negotiation. He manages three Hamline ADR Summer Study Abroad 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. He is also directing the "Developing 'Second Generation' Global Negotiation Education Project." The multi-year initiative, in cooperation with the JAMS Foundation, ADR Center, Italy and the Negotiation Journal at Harvard Law School, will offer a unique opportunity for international conflict resolution scholars and teacher/trainers to critique contemporary negotiation pedagogy and contribute to development of second generation training design. In 2003, Professor Coben authored a successful proposal to the European Union and U.S. Department of Education to fund the EC-US ADR Fellows Program, which promoted transatlantic student mobility and development of transnational ADR curriculum; he served as project director for the four-year effort, which also involved two American and three European university partners. While the initial grant is now concluded, the project continues through a series of bi-lateral faculty and student exchange relationships.

During the last decade, Professor Coben has pioneered a variety of innovative ADR clinical opportunities for Hamline students, including mediation advocacy on behalf of clients in employment and family law cases. He has published numerous ADR related articles and currently is the domestic mediation editor for the World Arbitration & Mediation Review, and is co-authoring the third edition of Mediation: Law Policy & Practice (West Group, forthcoming 2008). He previously served on the editorial board and as ethics columnist for the Journal of Alternative Dispute Resolution in Employment. 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 100 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.

Selected Publications

• "Intentional Conversations about the Globalization of ADR" ", 27 Hamline Journal of Public Law and Policy 217 (2006)" PDF
• "Disputing Irony: A Systematic Look at Litigation about Mediation" ", 11 Harvard Negotiation Law Review 43 (2006) (with Peter Thompson)" PDF
• "Disputing Irony: A Systematic Look at Litigation About Mediation" ", 11 Harvard Negotiation Law Review 43 (2006) (with James M. Coben)" PDF
• "Gollum, Meet Sméagol: A Schizophrenic Rumination on Mediator Values Beyond Self Determination and Neutrality" ", 5 Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution 65 (2004) "
• "Intentional Conversations about Restorative Justice, Mediation and the Practice of Law" ", 25 Hamline Journal of Public Law and Policy 235 (2004) (with Penelope Harley)" PDF
• Building a Bridge: Lessons Learned from Family Mediation Training for the Hmong Community of Minnesota , 40 Family Court Review 336 (2002); reprinted in 16 Minnesota Family Law Journal 49 (May/June 2003)
• "The Haghighi Trilogy and the Minnesota Civil Mediation Act: Exposing a Phantom Menace Casting a Pall Over the Development of AD ", 20 Hamline Journal of Public Law and Policy 299 (1999) (with Peter Thompson)" PDF
• "The Haghighi Trilogy and the Minnesota Civil Mediation Act: Exposing a Phantom Menace Casting a Pall over the Development of AD ", 21 Hamline Journal of Public Law and Policy 299 (1999) (with James M. Coben) " PDF
• "Summer Musings on Curricular Innovations to Change the Lawyer's Standard Philosophical Map" ", 50 University of Florida Law Review 735 (1998)" PDF
• "Ethical/Professional Responsibility Concerns for Rule 114 Lawyer-Mediators: A Vacuum of Applicable Rules?" ", 16 Hamline Journal of Public Law and Policy 375 (1995)" PDF
• "Community-Based Dispute Resolution, 12 Hamline Journal of Law and Public Policy 13 (1991)" "\N" PDF