2007 MEDIATOR OF THE YEAR AWARD
King County Dispute Resolution Center

Rina Goodman, owner of Transforming Conflict, LLC, is an attorney and certified mediator with over 200 hours in advanced mediation training, including divorce, elder care, and workplace mediation. She also has had considerable continuing legal education in divorce, relationship dissolution, estate planning, and elder care, and continues her education in these substantive areas.

After earning her law degree at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Rina worked on commercial law matters for a Manhattan law firm, briefly served as an Assistant Circuit Executive for Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and represented plaintiffs with wrongful death, personal injury, civil rights, and employment discrimination claims. As an associate in a law firm specializing in aviation mass disaster litigation, she worked closely with clients and experts, including psychiatrists and economists, developing cases for trial on damages. She co-authored the winning brief for Administrator, Federal Aviation Administration v. National Transportation Safety Board and Richard A. Rolund, 57 F.3d 1144 (D.C.Cir. 1995), and served as second-chair at oral argument.

Prior to her law and mediation careers, Rina managed a not-for-profit art gallery in lower Manhattan where she created a performance program, Poetry and Visual Media. The program featured, among others, notable performance artists and writers such as Anna Deavere Smith, Anne Waldman, Thomas Lux, Chris Kraus, and John Yau.

Her Core Values

Today Rina devotes her practice exclusively to family mediation. She has a deep understanding of the human costs of litigation (e.g., the loss of self-determination, privacy and opportunities for healing) and therefore is strongly committed to mediation in which parties work collaboratively to craft agreements that serve their particular needs. Moreover, because mediation is empowering and constructive, she believes it is especially effective for resolving conflict in family situations.

In addition to maintaining her private practice, Rina Goodman mediates family disputes as a volunteer for the King County Dispute Resolution Center and employment disputes for the Mediation Consortium of the Seattle Federal Executive Board. Throughout her professional career as a lawyer and mediator, Rina has been commended by employers, clients, associates, and judges for her professional knowledge, integrity, and commitment. In August 2007, she was recognized by the King County Dispute Resolution Center as Mediator of the Year.