Professional Mediator Guide to Certification

Salim, a Black man with black hair, wears a white shirt, yellow tie and navy jacket.By Salim Uqdah

Salim Uqdah, a Dispute Resolution Council Member and Co-Chair of the Dispute Resolution Pro Bono Committee, discusses his journey to certification for North Carolina Dispute Resolution Commission’s Superior Court, Family Financial, and Clerk Mediation programs.

What got you interested in the Dispute Resolution field?

There are two answers to that question. A quick summary is that sometimes, you have to be lost to find your true purpose. 

In 2016-2017, I felt lost and conflicted. I no longer wanted to pursue law school, and my crisis of faith and identity felt overwhelming and nerve-racking. After six to seven months of research, I realized that mediation was a viable option for me; it also helped to have the ADR coordinator sitting one cubicle behind me. I took the MSC training in March and opened my company, Uroboros Mediations, in June 2018. I gained expertise in other areas, like divorce coaching, collaborative law neutral facilitation, arbitration in FINRA cases, and dispute system design.

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Paralegal Spotlight: Johana Sanchez

By the Communications Committee

This month’s Paralegal Spotlight is on Johana Sanchez, a Paralegal at Armendariz Law Office, PLLC.

Johana began her legal career in her native country of Venezuela, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Law from the Universidad de Carabobo and a Master’s degree in International Criminal Law from the Universidad Latino Americana y del Caribe. However, due to political and social issues, she made the decision to live abroad in Panama. This move led Johana to personal and professional growth, allowing her the opportunity to work as an assistant in a local family law firm, in addition to coursing (but not completing) an MBA at the Universidad Interamericana de Panama. Yet, she desired to continue her professional growth so she decided to move again, this time to the United States. She attended Campus Education Midtown in New York City and Taylor Business Institute in Chicago, places where she would learn English as a second language. Read more

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