News from Madge Thorsen

As Chair of the Peer Mediation subcommittee of the Minnesota State Bar Association Civic Education Committee, Madge has assisted in launching a peer mediation pilot program at Patrick Henry High School in North Minneapolis. Patrick Henry is listed as one of the country's top public high schools in the 2009 US News and World Report rankings. Seventeen peer mediators in grades 9 through 12 have been trained and a pilot program in peer mediation has begun. Madge authored parts of the training curriculum and has led several training sessions.

As a consequence of her work with peer mediation, Madge has been invited to serve as a panelist at an upcoming program at the University of St. Thomas Law School entitled "Restorative Justice in Public Schools—Using Restorative Justice for Conflict Resolution and Leadership Development." This panel is part of a symposium titled “How are the Children? Part II: A Symposium Exploring the Role of Restorative Justice in Addressing the Needs of Youth,” which is sponsored by the Community Justice Project and the Thomas E. Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions of the University of St. Thomas School of Law. It will be held on April 1, 2009.

Madge recently presented to the Bench and Bar Conference in Rochester, Minnesota as a Panelist on "What do Arbitrators Want, What do Advocates Want?" The program was sponsored by Minnesota CLE.

Madge also recently moderated a CLE panel for the Minnesota State Bar Association Alternative Dispute Resolution Section entitled "Tips for Selecting an Arbitrator."

Madge and Rick will be teaching a Certified Civil Arbitration course for the St. Cloud State Institute for Alternative Dispute Resolution on May 21, 2009.

Madge and Kathi Livolsi-Schultz completed their first major joint project working with faculty at a local college, providing communication and conflict resolution skills training and meeting facilitation. Kathi is a Rule 114 mediator with a background in business, communication and human resources. Together, they offer strong supportive services through facilitated meetings, workshops, communication exercises, accountability work, self-evaluations, and survey techniques, which enable workers and managers to put conflicts in perspective, improve working relationships and stay focused on their organization's purpose while boosting its productivity, especially important in these times.

News from Rick:

Rick recently became a co-owner and operator of a company that manufactures industrial air and water filtration products. He brings this hands-on business ownership and operation experience, along with his Harvard MBA and prior business experience, to his continuing commercial litigation and arbitration practice.

Rick continues to serve as an arbitrator and is on the American Arbitration Association Panel of Commercial Arbitrators. He has been selected to arbitrate disputes ranging from employment issues to business ownership questions. He is also a trained mediator for commercial disputes. Owning and running his own small business means that he brings to arbitration and to mediation a unique combination of legal expertise and highly practical understanding of the concerns that owners, customers, vendors, employers and employees may have.