Dana L. Curtis

DANA CURTIS is a pioneer and leader in the Bay Area alternative dispute resolution (ADR) field. She was among the first attorneys in the country to devote her career exclusively to mediation, beginning her full-time practice in 1991, before most lawyers could distinguish between mediation and other forms of ADR. Since serving for four years as a Circuit Mediator on staff with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Ms. Curtis has maintained her Sausalito-based practice, Dana Curtis Mediation. The Los Angeles Daily Journal has recognized her as one of the 50 "Best Neutrals" in California.

Ms. Curtis is experienced in a wide range of ADR processes (training, mediation, early neutral evaluation, special master and independent fact-finding), all within numerous legal subject areas. She offers an individualized approach focused on identifying the parties' needs and identifying the challenges presented by each individual case. For a description of Ms. Curtis' approach to mediation, visit Mediation Procedures on her website.

Prior to becoming a mediator, Ms. Curtis served as law clerk to Associate Justice Edward A. Panelli of the California Supreme Court and practiced commercial and employment litigation with McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen (now Bingham McCutchen) in San Francisco and San Jose. Before becoming a lawyer, Ms. Curtis was a community college and a nationally recognized high school teacher in Idaho.

Ms. Curtis is also a respected mediation teacher. She has designed and facilitated hundreds of programs for law schools, businesses, court panels, private groups, bar associations and professional conferences throughout the United States and internationally. Ms. Curtis' mediation practice is informed by her strong academic experience, including as lecturer-in-law at Stanford Law School, where she taught the Mediation Seminar for ten years, and as adjunct faculty at Santa Clara University School of Law, where she taught a variety of mediation courses for eight years. Ms. Curtis designed and taught the first appellate mediation training programs for California Courts of Appeal, including the First, Second and Third Appellate Districts, where she continues to train mediation panelists. In addition, she taught the first appellate mediation trainings in Hawaii, Arizona, Nevada and Minnesota.

In 2008, she founded Elder Mediation Group to provide mediation training and conflict services to older adults and adult families. To view Ms. Curtis' current teaching schedule, visit the training calendar at http://danacurtismediation.com/dcm/calendar.html. To view a list of programs and courses she has taught over the years, see Ms. Curtis' complete resume.

Ms. Curtis has written widely on the subject of mediation, including as a contributing author to the Continuing Education of the Bar's Litigator's Guide to Representing Clients in ADR. For a list of Ms. Curtis other publications, visit the publications page at www.danacurtismediation.com. Ms. Curtis has also been active in the mediation community, serving for ten years as Co-Chair of the Mediation Committee of the Bar Association of San Francisco; as a member of the California State Bar ADR Committee; and as a member of the board of directors of the California Dispute Resolution Institute. She is a charter member of the San Francisco Mediation Society and belongs to numerous professional organizations, where she is frequently invited to present programs. Ms. Curtis serves on numerous Bay Area court and national mediation panels, including the Employment Mediation Panel of Boston Law Collaborative. For a complete list of panels on which Ms. Curtis serves, see her resume.

Ms. Curtis is co-founder and a member of the Board of Directors of RockRose Institute, a Bay Area non-profit dedicated to solving conflict through dialogue and deliberation, and serves as a consulting member of the San Francisco Zen Center's Ethics and Reconciliation Council.

When she is not working, Ms. Curtis enjoys hiking iand traveling, especially to visit her three children and five granddaughters.

View Ms. Curtis' complete resume.

EDUCATION

Santa Clara University School of Law, J.D. 

University of Idaho, M.A., English 

University of Montana, B.A., English

View complete resume at http://danacurtismediation.com/dcm/resume.html

OTHER PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Bonner County School District, Sandpoint, Idah-- 1970-1983
English and Child Development teacher; Idaho and National Teacher of the Year
North Idaho College, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho -- 1972-1983
Director of satellite campus; instructor of American Literature and Composition

Founder, Director and Secretary, RockRose Institute 501(3)(c), San Francisco :: 2004-present
Supporting conflict resolution through dialogue and collaboration; producing Justice
Religion and Conflict Resolution: A World Forum, 2007, San Francisco
Member, Ethics and Reconciliation Council, Zen Center of San Francisco :: 2003-present
Co-chair, Bar Association of San Francisco Mediation Committee :: 1997-2005
Board of Directors, California Dispute Resolution Institute  - 2002 - 2003
Member, California State Bar ADR Standing Committee :: 1999-2001
Co-chair, Training and Programs Committee, BASF ADR Section :: 1992 -1994
Chair, San Francisco Barristers Club ADR Committee :: 1991-1993
Member: Mediation Society; Association for Conflict Resolution of Northern California;
California Dispute Resolution Council
Mediator Panelist: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California; Court of Appeal,
First, Second and Third Appellate Districts; Marin Santa Clara, San Mateo and San Francisco
Superior Courts; UCSF Mediation Program; Boston Law Collaborative

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