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Associate Professor and Director of Mediation Clinic David Dowling teaches a group of Ukranian law students via Skype.



Chapman University Dale E. Fowler School of Law Associate Professor and Director of
Mediation Clinic
David Dowling added a new group of students to his roster last month. The clinical professor joined 15 undergraduate law students from the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine for a two-hour class session via Skype on April 30.

The class covered an introduction to mediation and dispute resolution, which is not currently taught in Ukrainian universities. Participants were part of the university’s student-run Mediation and Negotiations Club, co-founded by student Kvitka Krotiuk as a response to a lack of educational resources in this area. The class was the first in a proposed series by the club that would provide lectures by practicing and well-known foreign mediators.

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Students from the Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv, Ukraine had the chance to ask Fowler Law Professor David Dowling questions and engage in conversation throughout the lecture.



Krotiuk approached Professor Dowling about providing a lecture after meeting him at a 2013 mediation tournament. She said that Dowling’s lecture was met with enthusiasm by students.

“David is a very talented mediator, teacher and coach,” Krotiuk said. “He is able to keep students interested, so we were sure the class would turn out well. And it did: a lot of students asked if there is going to be a next class with him.”

The class came on the heels of a recent trip to Poland for the
Warsaw Negotiation Rounds
, a law school competition for which Dowling served as an expert and jury member. Professor Dowling said he enjoys working with international students because it not only directly benefits the students involved but also helps build a stronger international community and inspires him to make his own students at Fowler Law more globally aware.

“It’s great to use my skills to help a group of international students and to teach them about mediation, a skill not taught in their country,” he said. “Working with international students motivates me to inspire our own students to realize they can take what they’ve learned and use it around the world. We can get so insulated here in Orange County, but there’s so much more out there for our students to get involved in.”

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Students from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine with Professor David Dowling (center)



This is not the first time that a Fowler Law faculty member has worked with international students. Last summer Professor Dowling spoke at the World Mediation Summit in Madrid, Spain and
visited Riyadh, Saudi Arabia with two Fowler LL.M. alumni
to speak on mediation and dispute resolution at law schools in the area. Also last summer Professor Michael J. Bazyler taught in the study abroad program “
From Nuremberg to the Hague
” and in 2005 helped organize a conference in Nuremburg to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Nuremburg trials. In Dean Tom Campbell’s time at Fowler School of Law, he has taught
six courses in three different universities in Africa
. Students also have an opportunity to participate in
international internships
through the International Law Program, directed by Professor John Hall.

Learn more about the
Fowler School of Law Mediation Clinic
and the
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Board
.