Tsisana Shamlikashvili

Senior Fellow – Russia

Tsisana Shamlikashvili is an ADR pioneer, who initiated and supported the institutionalization of mediation in Russia. In 2005, she founded the Scientific Methodological Center for Mediation and Law, the leading institution in the area of mediation and ADR in Russia.

About Tsisana Shamlikashvili

Tsisana Shamlikashvili is an international commercial mediator and expert in ADR and ODR. She is a lawyer, a neurologist (with academic degrees of MD, PhD) and a psychologist. She is also a Professor at the Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, where she holds the chair of the University’s Master’s Program, “Mediation in Social Practices,” which is the first of its kind in Russia. She is also the academic and scientific supervisor at the Center for Mediation and ADR in legal practice at the Moscow State Academy of Law. Her primary research topic involves how society can influence the personality, its formation and development, and the implementation of ADR in the business environment.

In 2006, due to her initiative, Mediation Service was established by the Russian Union for industrialists and entrepreneurs. Professor Shamlikashvili has devoted herself to the field of ADR, mediation in particular, and its social impact.

In 2005, she founded the Scientific Methodological Center for Mediation and Law, which became a key force in the efforts to successfully implement mediation in the Russian Federation.

Professor Shamlikashvili serves as a regional mediator of the World Bank for Russia, Kazakhstan, and countries of Central Asia. She is a Member of the Association for Integrated Mediation, a Board member of EMNI, a Council Member of the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, Pepperdine University, an Associated Board Member of GEMME (Europe), a Board Member of AAPMAD (Association of Academics for the Promotion of Mediation as Academic Discipline), and a Member of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR European Advisory Board).

Mediation Practice

Professor Shamlikashvili is a CEDR-accredited mediator and CPR neutral with international experience mediating a wide range of cases, from complicated commercial disputes to family conflicts, as well as intellectual property, workplace, financial, personal injury, and medical malpractice disputes.
She has practiced as mediator since 2005 and has mediated several hundred cases.

Her areas of mediation practice include:

Commercial
Community
Copyright
Cross-cultural
Divorce (all issues)
Education
Family
Healthcare
Intellectual property
International
Medical malpractice

ADR Achievements and Training

Professor Shamlikashvili has developed her own “meditative approach,” facilitating the use of key mediation principles in everyday life, created a “school mediation” method and educational program for children, students and youths (to be integrated into the Juvenile and Restorative Justice systems), and developed training programs for professional mediators, approved by the Ministries of Education and Justice of the Russian Federation.
She is the author of the Master’s Program “Mediation in Social Practices,” which is the first of its kind in Russia, at the Moscow State University of Psychology and Education.
Under Professor Shamlikashvili’s leadership, the Center for Mediation and Law has established introductory courses on ADR and Mediation in Russian universities and law schools, such as the Moscow State University and the Russian School of Private Law, among others. She has developed a Multilevel Complex Integrated Meditative Approach (MCIAM) for corporations. She also supports courts in different regions of Russia in establishing mediation referral programs.
Professor Shamlikashvili is a Co-Founder and President of the National Organization of Mediators (NOM, Russia), serving to create a system of self-regulation for the mediation practice in Russia.
She founded the Scientific and Methodological Centre for Mediation and Law (Moscow), the leading institution in the area of mediation and ADR in Russia. Under the Center’s leadership, state professional standards for mediators were developed and approved by the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection in 2014.
Professor Shamlikashvili is the founder, publisher, and editor-in-chief of the only professional magazine on mediation and ADR in the Russian language, Mediation and Law – Intermediation and Conciliation, published since 2006.
In 2013, Professor Shamlikashvili was appointed as the scientific and academic chair of the newly founded state-run institution, The Federal Institute of Mediation (FIM), whose aim is to promote the wider usage of mediation and ADR in Russia. Under her leadership, FIM is implementing Restorative Justice Programs in various fields, especially, in child protection. Special concepts and tools were developed to support the use of mediation in different areas and court referral programs.
Professor Shamlikashvili is the Chair of the Subcommittee on ADR and Mediation for the Russian Association of Lawyers.
Since the Federal Program on the Digital Economy was adopted, Prof. Shamlikashvili and the Center for Mediation and Law, under her leadership, are working on the implementation of an online dispute resolution system in the Russian Federation, and the legislation necessary for its implementation and further development.
In 2012, The Russian Reporter magazine named Professor Shamlikashvili among the top-100 of the most influential persons in Russia and top-10 lawyers for her contribution to improving Russia’s legal system.
In 2016, she received the National Award for outstanding contribution and achievements in the development of mediation in the Russian Federation.
She is the recipient of a Weinstein JAMS International Fellowship (2009), a Distinguished Fellow of the Academy of International Mediators (AIM), and a DBF expert.

Publications and Education

Publications

Prof. Shamlikashvili is the author of numerous research articles and several books on mediation, alternative dispute resolution, law, psychology and neurology, including:

“Mediation as a Method of Out-of-court Dispute Resolution” (2006)

“Management of Difficult Decisions in the XXI Century: Secrets of Building Consensus, or How to Make Everybody Content” (2009)

“Why Does a Child Find Difficulties in Schooling and How to Help Him?” (2010)

“Mediation as ADR Method. Focusing on Judges” (2010)

“The ABC’s of Mediation” (2011)

“Introduction to Dialogics” (2011)

“Basics of Mediation as Dispute Resolution Method” (2013)

“Mediation in the Judicial System,” ed. T. Shamlikashvili (2017)

“Court. ADR. Mediation,” ed. T. Shamlikashvili (2017)

“Mediation in Questions and Answers” (2017)

“Mediation as a Contemporary Method of Non-Judicial Dispute Resolution” (2017)

Educational Qualifications

International mediator, lawyer, M.D, Ph.D.
Graduate of several Harvard Negotiation Program courses (including Frank Sanders’ mediation courses)
Certified Mediator in Water Diplomacy matters (joint program of MIT and Tufts University)