WHAT ARE THE MEDIATOR'S QUALIFICATIONS?

Janet E. Mitchell, J. D., is the Mediation Coordinator for Bluffton University and the Director of the Midwest Mediation Center. Janet has served as an Attorney-Mediator in Fort Wayne, Indiana, since 1986, and has mediated over 800 disputes, focusing on interpersonal conflict. She also provides training courses certified by the Indiana Supreme Court, teaching both basic and advanced mediation skills.

Janet is a mediation pioneer. She worked with Indiana's judiciary and bar associations to establish mediation in the court system. Janet is an Advanced Practitioner member of the Association for Conflict Resolution, and co-chaired the state bar's first mediation ethics committee. She co-founded a number of organizations, including the Church of the Brethren's Ministry of Reconciliation and Fort Wayne's Common Ground Community Dispute Resolution Center.  She also co-founded www.EldercareMediators.com to honor elders and their families. 

Janet is listed with the Locate a Mediator Directory, National Mediation Centers Directory, Indiana Association of Mediator's Directory, and the Indiana Court's Registry of Civil Mediators and Registry of Domestic Relations Mediators. She serves as a United States Postal Service REDRESS Mediator, mediates Americans with Disabilities Act cases for the Department of Justice, and mediates employment disputes involving air marshals and screeners for the Transportation Security Administration.  She mediates special education disputes for the Indiana Department of Education, and Medicare disputes for Health Care Excel.  She also serves on the following mediation panels: Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Services International, National Mediation Centers, Indiana Association of Mediators, Fort Wayne Volunteer Lawyers Referral Panel, Lacefield Mediation Network, Construction Dispute Resolution Services Mediator, and Northern Indiana Federal District Court Bankruptcy Mediator Panel. 

Janet received her undergraduate degrees in Psychology and Political Science, and her Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School. She is a licensed Indiana lawyer, and authored the mediation ethics chapter for the Indiana Dispute Resolution Manual.