From Courtrooms to Conversations. Member Spotlight: Ed Timken

Nelson Edward Timken, known to most simply as Ed, has spent his professional life guided by law, learning, and a deep belief in the power of listening. A third-generation New Yorker, he lived most of his life in New York, a place that continues to shape his identity and professional outlook. Though now retired from the court system and splitting his time between New York and Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, Ed considers New York the foundation of both his career and his values.

Ed completed his formal education in New York, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Queens College of the City University of New York. He went on to attend St. John’s University School of Law, where he began what would become a legal career spanning more than three decades. For over thirty years, Ed practiced law, with much of that time spent working within the court system.

“I always wanted to be a teacher,” Ed reflects, “but I changed course when I discovered it was hard to get tenure as a professor.” Law school initially steered him toward litigation, yet his professional path unfolded differently. From 1994 to 2023, Ed worked in the court system, eventually serving as a Principal Law Clerk. In that role, he was not an advocate for one side or the other, but someone tasked with moving cases forward and ensuring the process functioned efficiently.

It was in this environment that mediation first became part of his daily work. “I had to assign people to mediation,” he explains. As he began referring cases, he heard frequent complaints about the quality of the mediation process. “It was at that point that I decided that I would like to do that kind of work.”

Over time, Ed discovered that helping people resolve disputes gave him a sense of fulfillment he had not anticipated. During his years in the court system, he helped settle thousands of cases and realized that the process itself deeply resonated with him. That realization prompted him to formally pursue mediation.

Ed trained with several mediation organizations in New York, including the New York Peace Institute and New York Center for Interpersonal Development (NYCID), and completed specialized courses, including divorce mediation. Between 2017 and 2023, he trained extensively as a mediator while continuing his court responsibilities. In 2018, he joined Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), an organization that handles financial disputes between brokers and clients, as well as commercial disputes within the financial industry. By 2023, the court system expanded its mediation work to include commercial disputes between business entities involving contracts and complex legal relationships.

Even after decades in law, Ed chose to return to school. In 2020, during the height of the COVID pandemic, he enrolled in an LLM program at Fordham University School of Law, focusing on International Dispute Resolution. He completed the degree in 2022. “It was interesting to go to school during COVID,” he says. “I really enjoyed learning about International Dispute Resolution, a subject I previously knew very little about.”

After relocating to Florida, Ed completed the state’s rigorous certification process and became a certified mediator. Florida’s system is known as one of the strictest administrative approaches in the country, and Ed ultimately qualified as a circuit supreme court mediator. In 2024, he opened his own mediation practice after working in the court’s commercial division. By 2025, his focus expanded further into family-related mediation.

Today, Ed’s work spans multiple contexts. In New York, he continues to handle commercial mediation through the court system. In Florida, much of his work is family-based. He also volunteers with a community dispute resolution center in New York, supporting cases that involve family and interpersonal conflict.

Despite the variety of settings, Ed sees common challenges across his work. “The biggest challenge is to convince people to enlist in the mediation process and handle their dispute through mediation rather than going to court,” he explains. Once parties agree to participate, the work takes on a different character. “Once they are in the process, you do your best to resolve their situation or, at the very least, allow them to be heard.”

Being heard, Ed believes, lies at the heart of effective mediation. “People feel a lot better when they feel that they have been heard and have had somebody listen to them,” he says. “People typically want to be heard. That’s the first challenge of mediation.” For Ed, listening is not passive. It requires validating each person’s experience and acknowledging their perspective.

Culture also plays a significant role in how people approach conflict. “You have to be aware of the cultural influences that are brought to bear in handling people’s disputes,” he explains. “Culture has a great deal to do with the way people express themselves and the way they want to handle their disputes.” He emphasizes the importance of recognizing one’s own cultural assumptions, noting that “everything people bring to the table with them impacts how they handle disputes.”

Success, for Ed, is not measured solely by settlement agreements. While he is persistent in his efforts to resolve cases, he recognizes other forms of progress. “I emphasize trying to settle the case. I’m pretty persistent in trying to do that,” he says. At the same time, he values the concept of a positive impasse, where participants may not reach a full agreement but still gain clarity, understanding, or the relief that comes from being heard.

“I enjoy resolving disputes,” Ed says, “but further than that, you want to try to empower people to be able to handle their problems in a positive way so that they’ll feel they’re more capable of handling it.” Even when a dispute is not fully resolved, he believes mediation equips people with tools for the future. “Even if you don’t settle the immediate problem, you’ve furnished people with the capacity to deal with issues in the future.”

Trust, he notes, is built through honesty. “The most important thing to build trust is to be honest with people and have them know you are being honest with them,” Ed says. “You build trust by being honest and acknowledging you’ve heard what they said.”

Ed’s view of conflict itself has remained consistent over time. “I see conflict as something that occurs naturally,” he reflects. “The distinction becomes how we deal with it.” Conflict, he believes, is unavoidable, but responses to it are choices. “Running to court and suing people is, in my opinion, the worst way to deal with it,” he says, pointing to how litigation often encourages rigid positions. “Speaking with one another directly is more effective.”

What gives Ed hope today are the people he encounters in the field. “What gives me hope is that there are people who are consciously committed to the process of peaceful resolution who aren’t motivated by outside forces like money or self-aggrandizement,” he says. He believes deeply that everyone deserves access to conflict resolution, regardless of status or barriers.

Looking ahead, Ed sees learning as a lifelong commitment. “Knowledge is a continuous process in my life,” he explains. “I’m always trying new things and improving upon what I do.” He also hopes to contribute internationally, particularly in regions experiencing severe conflict. With Ukrainian heritage, he views the war in Ukraine through a personal lens and hopes to support efforts that alleviate suffering and help restore peace.

For Ed, mediation is not simply a profession. It is a practice grounded in listening, honesty, and the belief that even in conflict, there is space for understanding and healing.

Article by Shamailah Islam, MBBI Writer