Deborah Laufer
Washington D.C., USA

deborahlaufermbb@gmail.com

Deborah Schick Laufer was Manager of Mediation Services at the World Bank Group (February 2005 - March 2008). Her areas of expertise include how organizations apply dispute resolution and negotiated rulemaking techniques to workplace, contract, enforcement, international, and environmental disputes.

While working at the World Bank, Ms. Laufer concentrated on workplace issues including mediating in a multi-cultural and cross cultural environment, integrated dispute resolution systems, measuring performance, assuring quality, and working toward an international civil service that is conflict literate.

Ms. Laufer consulted with organizations on creating and integrating ADR into existing programs and developing corps of neutrals. Her clients have included the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (Department of the Treasury), the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the US Office of Special Counsel, the Baltimore Federal Executive Board, George Washington University Law School, the Israel-Palestinian Conflict Resolution Center, and the Shatil Peace Center in Beer Sheva University, Israel.

Ms. Laufer is an experienced trainer and has lectured on ADR techniques, international dispute resolution, culture and diversity, creative problem solving, and rosters of neutrals. She has written several articles on ADR in the international workplace and federal dispute resolution systems, was editor of the Government Section of Mediate.com, and is co-editor of the Federal ADR Deskbook published by the American Bar Association (2001). She also established and directs the Federal ADR Network, a listserv for practitioners and academics on developments in the dispute resolution field. The Network has over 1,500 members worldwide.

Previously, Ms. Laufer was Assistant General Counsel and ADR Coordinator for Federal Programs at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. Prior to joining FMCS, Ms. Laufer worked at the Administrative Conference of the United States where she specialized in administrative law and federal ADR law.

Ms. Laufer is an attorney with a JD from Georgetown University Law Center (1989). She graduated with honors from Barnard College, Columbia University with a major in political science and minors in economics and psychology (1982).

Educational Degrees

• Georgetown University Law Center, Washington D.C., USA, J.D. 1989
  
• Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA, 1989

Publications

• Federal ADR Deskbook, co-editor (2001, ABA)