High-Conflict Law Certification & Training
Advanced high-conflict law training and certification taught by Bill Eddy. Describes the surprising and predictable patterns of five high-conflict personality disorders — and effective, ethical methods for managing them in legal disputes, in and out of court. For attorneys, judges, and paralegals working with difficult clients and opposing counsel.
Your instructor
Bill Eddy, LCSW, Esq.
Co-founder, High Conflict Institute
Optional add-on: 2× 1-hour Live Labs with instructor
500,000+
professionals trained worldwide
High-conflict litigants don't play by the rules — and standard advocacy can't reach them.
Standard legal practice assumes parties respond to facts, evidence, and rational self-interest. High-conflict clients, opposing parties, and negative advocates don't. They escalate, blame, distort, and persuade others to join their conflict — turning routine cases into ethics minefields and consuming disproportionate time, money, and emotional energy. This certification trains you in the surprising patterns these five personality types share, and gives you a structured, ethical playbook for managing them: calming clients, structuring cases, setting limits, and presenting in court.
Outcomes you'll bring back from High-Conflict Law Certification.
- Recognize the five predictable high-conflict personality patterns in clients and opposing parties.
- Apply ethical methods for managing high-conflict legal clients without enabling their behavior.
- Calm emotionally upset clients in your office and in court.
- Help clients make sound decisions despite cognitive distortion and pressure.
- Structure cases to anticipate and contain high-conflict tactics from the other side.
- Set defensible limits on client behavior — and document them.
- Manage negative advocates that high-conflict parties recruit into the dispute.
- Present cases more effectively when a high-conflict personality is in the room.
Who High-Conflict Law Certification is built for.
Family Law Attorneys
For the cases that take 10× the work of an average matter — divorce, custody, alienation, and DV.
Civil Litigators
Plaintiffs and defense in protracted, high-conflict civil disputes.
Trial Judges
Recognize and manage high-conflict litigants in your courtroom.
Paralegals & Legal Staff
Front-line case management with difficult clients — practical scripts and protocols.
Mediators
Lawyers who also mediate — add HCP framework to your dispute-resolution practice.
Estate & Probate Lawyers
High-conflict family disputes after a death — siblings, contested wills, fiduciary fights.
How High-Conflict Law Certification is delivered.
A fully self-paced online certification: 8 sessions of pre-recorded content you complete at your own pace, with email support throughout and access to a post-certification Q&A laboratory. Optional live coaching lab add-on (two 1-hour 1:1 sessions with an HCI coach) is available at enrollment.
- 8-session online course — Comprehensive video curriculum on the five HCP patterns and ethical management methods.
- Post-certification Q&A Lab — Ongoing peer discussion and integration laboratory after you finish the certification.
- BIFF Response Prep Worksheet — Ready-to-use worksheet for drafting BIFF responses to hostile email and motions.
- EAR Statement Examples — Library of EAR Statement examples for the courtroom and the office.
- Decisions and Dilemma Checklist — Decision-support tool for managing ethically gray situations with high-conflict clients.
- Certificate of Completion — 8 hours documented for submission to MCLE/CLE boards where applicable.
- Email support included — Direct access to HCI for follow-up questions (1–2 business day response).
- Optional: 2× Live Coaching Labs — Two 1-hour 1:1 Live Lab™ coaching sessions with an HCI coach — add at enrollment.
Methods taught in High-Conflict Law Certification.
5 HCP Patterns
Bill Eddy's framework for the five predictable high-conflict personality patterns in legal disputes.
BIFF Response®
Reply to hostile communication without inflaming — Brief, Informative, Friendly, Firm.
EAR Statements™
Three-second verbal moves that calm a reactive client or witness — Empathy, Attention, Respect.
Setting Limits
Ethical, defensible methods for setting limits on client behavior and managing negative advocates.
Bill Eddy, LCSW, Esq.
Lawyer, therapist, mediator, and author — Chief Innovation Officer and co-founder of the High Conflict Institute. Bill is a Family Law Specialist certified by the State Bar of California (15 years), Senior Family Mediator at the National Conflict Resolution Center (15 years), and pioneer of the High-Conflict Personality (HCP) theory.
He has trained attorneys, judges, mediators, and mental health professionals in 35+ U.S. states and 13 countries, and is a faculty member at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University School of Law and Conjoint Associate Professor at the University of Newcastle Law School in Australia.
Bill is the author of more than 20 books, including High Conflict People in Legal Disputes, BIFF for Lawyers and Law Offices, Splitting, and It's All Your Fault! His Psychology Today blog has over 6 million views, and he co-hosts the podcast It's All Your Fault with Megan Hunter.
Trusted by professionals across industries.
I've practised family law for over 15 years. This training by HCI provides invaluable insights and tools for every lawyer who sees themselves as a problem-solver rather than a gladiator. The tools work for high-conflict cases, but work even better with your average client. They can be applied in the workplace and in life generally — genuinely a mandatory piece of the problem-solving, peace-making puzzle.
High-Conflict Law Certification — frequently asked questions.
Who is this certification for?
What is the format?
How long do I have to complete it?
What is included?
Will I get MCLE/CLE credits?
What's the optional live coaching lab add-on?
Do you offer discounts?
Can our firm or court enroll a group?
Ready to enroll?
Enroll an individual seat now, or talk to us about a private cohort designed around your organization's actual cases.
