Carolyn Laredo

Law and Mediation, PLLC.

Serving Orange,Rockland and Westchester County,NY
White Plains, New York 10601

845-639-1836

Business, Child Custody, Civil, Conflict, Divorce, Elder, Employment, Environmental, Family, Partnership Disputes, Personal Injury, Probate, Sexual Harassment, Workplace


Judicial, Arbitration & Mediation Experience

 

State of New York, Executive Department, Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, New York State Liquor Authority, Albany, NY Administrative Law Judge. Conduct administrative hearings and render recommended decisions in accordance with Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, Rules of the State Liquor Authority, the State Administrative Procedure Act and related statutes.

 

American Arbitration Association, New York, NY Arbitrator. Render arbitration awards on HIMP claims which involve subdivisions (d) and (h) of section 13 of the Workers' Compensation Law. HIMP rules and regulations assist health insurers and health benefits plans obtain reimbursement for health insurance claims that they have paid which may be the responsibility of the employer, workers' compensation insurance carrier, or special fund.

 

New York State Workers' Compensation Board, Albany, NY ECR Arbitrator. Conduct Arbitrations and render decisions in accordance with New York State Workers' Compensation Laws on claims between workers' compensation board employees and New York State Insurance Fund.

 

State of New York Unified Court System Ninth Judicial District,  NY Arbitrator. Render decisions on matters involving Attorney Fee Disputes.

 

United States Postal Service, New York, NY Mediator. Mediate Equal Employment Opportunity complaints within Postal Service Resolve Employee Disputes Reach Equitable Solutions Swiftly [REDRESS] program.

 

Key Bridge Foundation, Washington, DC Mediator. Mediate Americans with Disabilities Act complaints for the United States Department of Justice.

 

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, New York, NY Mediator. Resolve employment discrimination disputes involving federal sector employees.

 

Teaching Experience

 

Baruch College, Graduate School of Public Administration, New York, NY Stipendiary Professor. Negotiation and Conflict Management Course.

 

Manhattanville College, Westchester, NY Adjunct Professor, Graduate & Professional Studies. Legal Issues in Human Resource Management. Providing an overview to human resources professionals of the various legal issues that arise in the workplace and how to effectively handle and respond to such issues, specifically, Family Medical Leave Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, Equal Employment Opportunity Law, and Age Discrimination.

 

Brooklyn Law School, Brooklyn, NY Stipendiary Professor. Mediation Skills. Teaching law school students conflict resolution and mediation practice techniques.

 

Training Experience

 

The Conference Board Trainer. Utilizing the Law and Mediation to Increase your Bottom Line. Provided training in HR Leaders & Practitioner New Tough Issues Forum at The Waldorf Astoria, New York. Session explored the principal strategies and key skills of the Alternative Dispute Resolution method of mediation. Participants were shown how to utilize the mediation process to prevent potential and actual conflicts from escalating into employment complaints and costly litigation.

 

Association of Collaborative Lawyers Rockland/Westchester Trainer.  Mediation Skills for Lawyers. Two day specialized training course designed for lawyers to develop skills in relationship building with co-counsel and their clients. Participants were provided with instruction on how to establish a cooperative bond between all parties in a responsible effort to resolve conflict and secure satisfying long lasting agreements. Training focused on building core mediation skills to enhance communications and negotiations.

 

Village of Scarsdale Trainer. Sexual Harassment Training. Providing sexual harassment training to key management personnel.

 

Hillel Trainer. Management Essentials: Effective Communication & Decision Making. Providing instruction to management personnel of different organizations regarding the DISC method of identifying different behavioral styles in the workplace and how to use this method to enhance communication and conflict resolution skills.

 

Rockland County Bar Association, New City, NY Trainer. Conflict Resolution & Mediation Skills. Training attorney's how to utilize conflict resolution and mediation techniques in their law practices. Training provided attorney's with 7.5 Professional Practice and 1.5 Ethics Credits toward New York's mandatory continuing legal education requirement.

 

New York State Department of Labor, New York, NY Trainer. Cultural Awareness and Diversity. Training human resource personnel and managers how to respect diversity in the workplace and how to communicate successfully through cultural differences. Approximately 50 participants.

 

Westchester Human Resource Society, White Plains, NY Trainer. Recognizing Signs of Violence in the Workplace. Training human resource personnel and managers how to recognize the signs of violence and different techniques for violence prevention in the workplace. Approximately 50 participants.

 

Greater New Jersey Postal Customer Council, Newark, NJ Trainer. Stress Management. Training individuals from various businesses how to recognize the signs of stress and how to develop a stress management program in the workplace. Approximately 40 participants.

 

Port Chester Middle School, Port Chester, NY Trainer. Violence Prevention Program. Training Administration and Staff members working for the Port Chester Middle School to recognize symptoms of conflict and violence. Assist participant to develop a plan to address conflict, harassment, bullying and victimization while setting procedures which allow all participants to address issues in a safe environment. Contract includes approximately 80 participants.

 

Brown, Brown & Associates, Inc., Hempstead, NY Trainer. Building Bridges in Communication. Training employees working for Consolidated Edison on issues involving diversity, identification of different behavioral styles utilizing DISC, developing anger management techniques, enhancing communication and conflict resolution skills. Assisted participants to discover behavioral strengths, value the strengths of others, manage effectively, foster teamwork, improve communication skills and reduce conflict and stress. Participants were also taught how to work with strong emotions, cultural differences, and values disputes that interfere with problem solving. Full day [6 hours] training with class sizes ranging from 20-35 participants. Overall contract includes approximately 14,000 employees.

 

Trainer. Train employees working for Saint Mary's Hospital. Training includes team building techniques, DISC method of identifying different behavioral styles in the workplace, and building conflict resolution skills. Full day [6 hours] training with class sizes ranging from 20-35 participants. Overall contract includes approximately 2,000 employees.

 

Resolve It, Inc., Bronx, NY Trainer. Co-op City: Introduction of New Harassment and Discrimination Workplace Policy. Training involved the introduction of a new Workplace Policy discussing Sexual Harassment and Discrimination. All employees from Co-op City were also taught skills on how to manage anger in the workplace, building communication skills and resolving conflict in the workplace. Training guided participants on a path to discovering their personal comfort level with people different than themselves, understanding the impact of their behavior on others, how to assess the accuracy of their knowledge about differences [diversity] in order to reduce conflict in the workplace and embrace diversity as a source of organizational strength. Full day [6 hours] training with class sizes ranging from 30-35 participants. Overall contract included approximately 1,000 employees.

 

Mental Health Association, Pomona, NY Trainer. Managing Anger. Training participants methods which can be utilized to express anger safely and build anger management skills. Three hour workshop with classes ranging from 20-30 participants.

 

Trainer. Parent Education in Problem Solving with Children. Trained parents skills to resolve conflicts creatively and constructively. Three hour workshop with classes ranging from 20-30 participants.

 

Trainer. Violence in Our Schools. Trained participants how to identifying signs of violence in schools, the dynamics of a Bully/Victim relationship, and strategies on how to make our schools safe. Three hour workshop with classes ranging from 20-30 participants.

 

Blue Rock School, West Nyack, NY Trainer & Mediator. Conflict Resolution and Mediation Training for Educators. Trained teachers and administration effective methods of conflict resolution as well as techniques on teaching problem-solving skills to students. Full day [6 hours] training with class size including 20 participants.

 

Archdiocese of the State of New York, New York, NY Trainer. Family and Divorce Mediation Skills Training. Trained participants how to prepare themselves to work as family and divorce mediators. Skills taught included: introduction to negotiation and problem-solving, structuring the mediation process, communicating effectively as a mediator, reframing, dealing with deadlocks, conflict analysis, and mediation strategy design. Participants were also taught how to handle the legal aspects of divorce, custody, parenting, property and financial issues. Full day [6 hours] workshop with classes ranging from 30-40 participants.

 

Montclair University, Montclair, NJ Trainer. Communication Skills & Problem Solving Techniques. Trained participants the concepts, strategies, and skills effective in resolving conflicts. Participants were also taught strategies to handle strong emotions, exercise power effectively, maintain neutrality, identify stereotypes, promote acceptance of differences, and manage prejudices in a mediation session. Full day [6 hours] workshop with classes including approximately 40 participants.

 

Rockland Community College, Monsey, NY Trainer. Understanding Diversity. Students and educators explored, and learnt to appreciate, their differences on all levels. (gender, race, religion, clique, class, ethnic, sexual orientation, etc.) Full day [6 hours] workshop with classes including approximately 40 participants.

 

Volunteer Counseling Service, New City, NY Trainer. Peer Mediation Training. Training included a diverse group of student leaders trained to help their peers resolve a range of interpersonal conflicts including name-calling, gossip, prejudice, and boyfriend/girlfriend tensions. Three day training with classes including approximately 40 participants.

 

Licensed to practice law in both New York and New Jersey.

 

Associations & Certifications

  • Rockland County Bar Association; ADR Committee Chairperson 1995-2006
  • Rockland County Bar Association; Grievance Committee member.
  • Association for Conflict Resolution; Consultant Member.
  • New York State Council on Divorce Mediation; Accredited Member.
  • New York State Unified Court System; Certified Member.

 

Specialized Training

  • Neuro- Collaboration; Pepperdine University School of Law -Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution
  • Collaborative Law; Center for Mediation in Law
  • Mediating ADA Employment Disputes; Center for the ADA
  • Advanced Mediation Skills for Postal Service Mediators
  • John Haynes Advanced Divorce Mediation
  • Multi-Collaborative Problem Solving; Cornell University
  • 40 Hour Divorce Mediation; Mediation Training Group
  • Community Mediation; Office of Court Administration Unified Court System,
  • Mediation Skills Training; New York County Bar Association

 

Publication

 

Meeting the Challenges of Client Dissatisfaction, 13 Jrnl. of Prof. Leg. Ed. 1 (1995).

 

Other Media

 

Talk Show co-host for Jukebox Radio 103.1 FM, The Conflict Negotiators.  Interviewed on Lite FM and WRKL radio.

 

Education

 

Brooklyn Law School, J.D., 1994. State University of New York at Albany, B.A., 1991.

 

Languages

 

Conversant in French and Spanish.

Mediation

 

Mediation is a process where an impartial third party helps two or more parties discuss a dispute and work toward a solution that is acceptable to all parties. Participation is voluntary. Unlike a judge or arbitrator, the mediator does not decide the outcome of the dispute. Mediated agreements tend to succeed because they result from a process that allows parties to create their own solutions.

 

Why is it used and when?

 

Mediation works in situations where the parties are willing to participate in discussions aimed at resolving the dispute. It is particularly valuable when there is an on-going relationship among or between the parties.

 

Mediation can be used in  many areas:

  •  

  • Commercial Resolving debtor/creditor problems, partnership or company disputes, contract disputes, wrongful dismissal or other civil matters.

  • Family Resolving issues of financial support for a spouse or children, parenting plans, division of matrimonial property and disputes regarding estates.

  • Organizational Planning or intervening in labor/management collective bargaining, resolving workplace conflict and harassment or grievance disputes.

  • Victim/Offender Working out agreements that satisfy the victim while meeting the needs of the offender.

  • Public Policy/Environmental Resolving expropriation and other land use disputes and issues regarding the development or implementation of public policy.

  • Community Resolving neighbourhood disputes, zoning conflicts and community development issues.

  • School Resolving teacher/student, teacher/parent and student/student disputes.

  • Cross-Cultural Resolving conflicts between or among participants from different cultures.

 

Is mediation the right process for me?

 

Mediation is not appropriate for every person or situation. Mediated agreements tend to result from meetings where participants are willing to express themselves while demonstrating respect for the other party. A skilled mediator can help parties assess their situation to determine if the mediation process would be an appropriate way to resolve the dispute.

Contact Us

Address:

 Law & Mediation, PLLC

 28 New Hempstead Road

 New City, New York 10956

Phone:  845.639.1836