DANA CURTIS is a pioneer and leader in the Bay Area alternative dispute resolution field. She was among the first attorneys in the country to devote her career exclusively to mediation, beginning her full-time practice in 1991. She is also a respected teacher of mediation, one of the first, beginning in 1988 at Santa Clara University School of Law and, for ten years beginning in 1997, at Stanford Law School. 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 also a gifted teacher and presenter. She has designed and presented scores of programs and trainings for law schools, businesses, court panels, private groups, bar associations and professional conferences throughout the United States and internationally. For a calendar of Ms. Curtis’ forthcoming trainings and presentations, see Upcoming Programs. For a list of her past presentations and trainings, see Past Programs.
In recent years, Ms. Curtis has devoted a significant portion of her mediation practice to helping parties resolve elder-related issues. She has mediated a wide range of disputes involving elders and their families, from informal meetings in which family members wish to have respectful conversations and make decisions that are in the best interest of the older person, to mediating highly emotional, hotly contested legal disputes involving elder abuse claims, trusts, estates and conservatorships.
In 2008, Ms. Curtis founded Elder Mediation Group to provide mediation training and conflict services to older adults and adult families. To view Ms. Curtis’ elder mediation teaching schedule visit Upcoming Programs.
Ms. Curtis has written widely on the subject of mediation. She is currently writing Guide to Elder Mediation, which will be published by the American Bar Association in 2011. It will be one of the first books to be published on the subject of elder mediation. For a list of Ms. Curtis’ other publications, see Publications.
Ms. Curtis has also been active in the mediation community, serving for many 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 Mediation Society of San Francisco and belongs to numerous professional organizations, where she is frequently invited to present programs. Ms. Curtis serves on various 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 (rockroseinstitute.org), a Bay Area non-profit 501(3)(c) whose mission is to promote and advance non-violent conflict resolution through education, improved communication and a deeper understanding of justice. RockRose produced Facing Violence: Justice, Religion and Conflict Resolution – World Forum 2007.
When she is not working, Ms. Curtis enjoys being on her Sausalito houseboat with her husband Daniel Bowling, who also is a mediator, hiking in Marin and traveling, especially to visit her four children and four granddaughters.
View Ms. Curtis’ complete resume.
