Ask Barbara Radnofsky what she likes best about practicing law and the answer comes without hesitation. Helping people,” says Barbara, a partner in V&E’s Houston office. “There’s no doubt about it.” Mixed in among her defense work at V&E, Barbara has taken on a number of personal injury cases for plaintiffs over the years, including litigation that allegedly defective utility lighters caused injuries and deaths.

But that passion for lending a hand extends outside of the courtroom as well. For more than a decade, Barbara has taught area students how to resolve conflict through a peer-mediation program that promotes tolerance, listening, and understanding. Designed to stop on-campus violence, the program is now taught by Barbara at Spring Branch Middle School and the Monarch School, and to Upward Bound students in Houston. “This is one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done,” the longtime litigator said. “And it really makes you feel great when you realize students are benefiting from it.” Mediation equips students with communication and critical-thinking skills to help solve problems when tempers flare over stolen books, gossip, and name calling in the classroom.

A group of “mediators”—chosen from a diverse cross-section of students each school year—are trained by Barbara to help reconcile differences between warring parties before they result in violence. Among other things, the mediators are taught to make eye contact when overseeing a conflict. The students also are given a mini course in public speaking, and they teach by demonstrating and answering questions about how mediation works, including sophisticated ways of looking past positions to determine true interests. Most of the meetings to resolve student disputes are taken care of in one hour or less.

Students accept the process, Barbara says, largely because it does not involve a teacher or principal and is promoted as an alternative to detention or expulsion. Nevertheless, serious problems such as the possession of drugs or weapons are not referred to student mediators. In addition to acting as mediators on campus, students are taken on field trips by Barbara to demonstrate what they’ve learned during the process.

For the past several years, the students have shown off their skills and fielded tough questions about the program from the Texas Supreme Court, State Bar conferences, the CPR International Institute for Dispute resolution, and Rice University students. “It’s a confidence-builder and an eye-opener for kids who’ve never interacted professionally with adults or been able to be in a position where they teach,” Barbara says. “I enjoy all my charitable work for AIDS, the Anti-Defamation League and for political causes, but this is the most direct, hands-on involvement and some of the most satisfying.

“It would be easy for any attorney or person trained in mediation to conduct similar programs in her local schools,” she adds. “It costs next to nothing and is worth any amount of time you could put in.”

- Vinson & Elkins Litigation News, Fall 2004

Led by Houston lawyer Barbara Radnofsky, students from Spring Branch Middle School and the Monarch School, an educational facility for people with neurological impairments, acted out five peer mediation scenarios, ranging from spreading gossip to fighting over stolen gym shorts. The purpose was to “encourage other lawyers to do this and to encourage educators that (peer mediation) is doable,” Radnofsky said,

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“It seems petty to our audience today,” said Lauren Davis, an eighth-grader at Spring Branch,” but we like to catch the problems at this level so they don’t escalate. Then it’s out of the mediators’ hands.” Instances involving drugs and guns are not referred to peer mediation, Radnofsky said.

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Active listening, neutrality and confidentiality are cornerstones of the program, and setting down ground rules, such as “no put-downs” help the student mediators achieve a peaceful, safe atmosphere. During training, students are taught the importance of eye contact, positive paraphrasing and concise speech. “This is the way modern adults listen. They know the importance of getting to the point and making it. No more Lincoln-Douglas debates,” Radnofsky said.

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A variety of students with good communication skills are chosen for the program. Spring Branch has three Spanish-speaking mediators. “It’s like a little United Nations,” Radnofsky said.

- Austin American-Statesman, February 8, 2003