Leonard Riskin
Leonard L. Riskin is Harris H. Agnew Visiting Professor of Dispute Resolution at the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law and Chesterfield Smith Professor of Law Emeritus at the University of Florida Levin College of Law. Previously, he taught at the University of Missouri School of Law where he also served as Director of the Center for the Study of Dispute Resolution. He studied at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (B.S.), New York University (J.D.) and Yale (LL.M.). He served as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice Land and Natural Resources Division, and as general counsel of the National Alliance of Businessmen, both in Washington, D.C.
Much of Len’s work has centered on the perspectives with which lawyers and other dispute resolvers approach problem-solving. Since 1980, he has been mediating, writing about mediation, and training lawyers, law students, executives, in alternative methods of dispute resolution. He has published numerous articles and several books on dispute resolution, including Dispute Resolution and Lawyers (with others) (5th Ed., Westgroup. 2014). He has published articles in many academic journals, including the California Law Review and the Harvard Negotiation Law Review, and personal essays in popular publications, such as the Atlantic Monthly and the New York Times Magazine. He proposed a widely-used system for understanding mediation based on the facilitative-evaluative and narrow-broad dimensions, and has received awards for his work from the American Bar Association, the Missouri Bar, the CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution, and the International Academy of Mediators.
Len has practiced mindfulness meditation since about 1990 and has completed mindfulness mediation teacher training at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center through the program then directed by Jon Kabat-Zinn and through the Forest Way Insight Mediation Center under the direction of Matthew Flickstein. Since 1999, he has taught mindfulness to mediators, lawyers, law students, corporate executives and others across North America and in Europe. He has published many articles on the relationship between mindfulness and conflict resolution.
Since 2010, he has been integrating Internal Family Systems with conflict resolution and mindfulness in his writing, teaching, and practice.
Daniel Shapiro
Daniel Shapiro’s life mission is to help people interact more effectively. As founding director of the Harvard International Negotiation Program, he has advised everyone from leaders of war-torn countries to executives at Fortune 500 companies and family-owned businesses alike, helping countless people solve the very human problems that divide them. Drawing on these experiences and decades of research, he has developed a wealth of practical approaches to amplify influence and leadership—in business, in government, and in life.
Named one of Harvard’s top 15 professors by the Harvard Crimson, Dr. Shapiro has launched successful negotiations in the Middle East, Europe, and East Asia, and chaired the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Conflict Resolution. Through nonprofit funding, he developed a high-impact program on collaborative problem-solving that has reached more than one million people across more than 20 countries.
Dr. Shapiro is author of the award winning best seller Negotiating the Nonnegotiable, providing groundbreaking methods for overcoming polarizations at work, at home, and abroad. He also co-authored the negotiation classic Beyond Reason: Using Emotions as You Negotiate, and has contributed to The New York Times, The Boston Globe, TIME magazine, and other popular publications. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the American Psychological Association’s Early Career Award and the Cloke-Millen Peacemaker of the Year Award.
His life’s joy is spending time with his wife and three young boys, who have proven to be his greatest teachers in how to negotiate the nonnegotiable.
Featuring
Katie Marie Zouhary
Katie Marie Zouhary believes in the transformational power of improvisation. Improv’s cardinal rule (“Yes, And . . .”) guides her career and her teaching.
A senior associate in Schiff Hardin LLP’s Labor and Employment Group, Zouhary draws on her theatrical background when counseling clients on matters ranging from discrimination to whistleblower complaints to employment agreements. She has led major investigations into allegations of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. Zouhary also advises clients on wage and hour matters, personnel policies, separation agreements, and performance evaluations.
Professor Zouhary teaches Public Persuasion in Northwestern University School of Law’s Master of Science in Law program. In addition, she leads workshops on how to use improvisation techniques to improve negotiation and communication skills. She has presented at Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law, Michigan Law School, and the ABA’s Section on Dispute Resolution and moderated panels, including POWER Detroit's 2017 Conference. Professor Zouhary was nominated for Northwestern’s Law School’s Outstanding Adjunct Professor Award in 2018.
Prior to her legal career, Zouhary served as Chief of Staff of the National Endowment for the Arts, as an Associate Producer of HAIRSPRAY (Broadway), and as an analyst for Accenture’s Global Brand, Advertising, and Market Research Team. She graduated from the Second City Chicago’s Conservatory Program, studied improvisation at the Magnet Theater and People’s Improvisation Theater in New York, and performed Off-Broadway at St. Ann’s Warehouse and Ars Nova.
Since 2012, Zouhary has collaborated with Riskin and Shapiro, expanding the negotiator’s toolkit with powerful insights from improvisational comedy. Her background as an improviser, attorney, and business professional provides her with a unique perspective on negotiation. Zouhary brings a highly interactive approach to the classroom where the building blocks of improvisation complement Riskin's scholarship on mindfulness and Internal Family Systems and Shapiro's scholarship on the core concerns.
