Kathy Gonzales

Senior Fellow – Trinidad and Tobago

Kathy Gonzales is an attorney, certified mediator and mediation trainer with the Mediation Board of Trinidad and Tobago. She also serves as a consultant to the Judiciary of Trinidad and Tobago on the implementation of ADR in the courts.

About Kathy Gonzales

Dr. Gonzales has been an attorney for more than thirty years. She practiced in the Supreme Court of Trinidad and Tobago before moving to the United States to pursue graduate studies in Dispute Resolution. Upon completion of her Master’s degree, she joined the Western Justice Center Foundation, a dispute resolution think tank in Pasadena, California, as the Director of Community Engagement Programs. She did pioneering work in police/community mediation with the Pasadena Police Department, and also in peer mediation for which she received a commendation from then Mayor, Anthony Villaraigosa. Upon her return to Trinidad and Tobago, she founded JANUS Conflict Management Services, a consulting firm specializing in conflict management system design and training. For almost ten years she provided a full range of conflict management services to individuals and corporate clients.

In 2015, Dr. Gonzales completed her Ph.D. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution and was an Assistant Professor at Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska in the Negotiation and Conflict Resolution Program from 2016 to 2020. She now operates as a conflict management consultant and educator based in Omaha, Nebraska. She works exclusively with non-profits, providing them with assessments, conflict management program design and delivery, conflict coaching and monitoring and evaluation services.

Litigation Practice

Dr. Gonzales’ litigation practice focused on family and civil disputes, including:

Divorce
Custody and child support
Spousal support
Matrimonial property division
Medical negligence
Landlord and tenant
Administrative Law

Mediation Practice

Dr. Gonzales has been a mediator since 2005. She is certified by the Mediation Board of Trinidad and Tobago to mediate family matters and non-family civil matters and as a mediation trainer. She has designed court-annexed mediation systems for the Supreme Court of Trinidad and Tobago, has advised on mediation policies for the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, and has conducted research on and evaluation of the mediation program at the Family Court of Trinidad and Tobago. Types of disputes she has mediated include:

Family (child custody, child support, spousal support, matrimonial property division)
Landlord and Tenant
Medical negligence
Commercial matters (breach of contract, compulsory land acquisition)
Probate (contested wills, breach of fiduciary duty by executors and trustees)

ADR Achievements and Training

Dr. Gonzales founded JANUS Conflict Management Services, the first conflict management consulting company in Trinidad and Tobago, and provided services to the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, as well as to regional institutions, such as the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States and the Caribbean Court of Justice.

Awarded a Weinstein JAMS International Fellowship (2012)
Made a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London, England (2014)

ADR Teaching and Mentoring

As Principal Consultant of JANUS Conflict Management Services, Dr. Gonzales conducted:

Court-annexed mediation workshops for judges, masters and staff of the Supreme Court of Trinidad and Tobago
Mediation trainings and workshops for members of the public
Mediation advocacy workshops for young lawyers
Negotiation workshops for lawyers, business executives, entrepreneurs and government officials
Conflict management workshops for police officers, prison officers, social workers, magistrates and others involved in the juvenile justice system
Conflict management workshops for at-risk youth

As Assistant Professor in the Negotiation and Conflict Resolution Program at Creighton University, Dr. Gonzales taught Mediation Process, Introduction to Negotiation and Conflict Management and System Thinking in Conflict.

As a conflict management consultant, Dr. Gonzales has been responsible for the re-design and implementation of a Fellowship for Diversity in Negotiation, Mediation and Conflict Resolution offered by Habitus Incorporated based in Boston, MA. Through this Fellowship Program, in June 2022, Dr. Gonzales was able to usher into the field of ADR some 10 new practitioners from diverse backgrounds.

Publications and Education

Educational Qualifications

Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) from University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados (1990)
Legal Education Certificate (L.E.C.) from Hugh Wooding Law School, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago (1992)
Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Dispute Resolution from Pepperdine University School of Law, Malibu, California, USA (2005)
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from Nova Southeastern University, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA (2016)