Understanding & Managing High-Conflict Legal Disputes
A comprehensive 3-hour overview of high-conflict legal disputes: the five personality patterns and their cognitive distortions, recent brain research, four key management skills, EAR Statements™ and BIFF Responses® for communication, and the ethical pitfalls that catch litigators.
Your instructor
Bill Eddy, LCSW, Esq.
Co-founder & Chief Innovation Officer, High Conflict Institute
500,000+
professionals trained worldwide
Standard litigation instincts misfire in high-conflict disputes.
Five personality patterns produce most chronic legal conflict, each with its own cognitive distortions and predictable moves. Litigating against them (or representing them) without that map invites escalation and ethical trouble: overpromising, boundary erosion, retaliating in kind. This course provides the map and the skills, including several common ethical pitfalls and how to avoid them.
Outcomes you'll bring back from Managing High-Conflict Legal Disputes.
- Identify the five personality patterns behind most high-conflict disputes.
- Recognize the common cognitive distortions each pattern produces.
- Ground your approach in recent brain research on conflict.
- Apply four key skills for managing high-conflict behavior.
- Use EAR Statements™ in person and BIFF Responses® in writing.
- Avoid the common ethical pitfalls of high-conflict litigation.
Who Managing High-Conflict Legal Disputes is built for.
Litigation Attorneys
Strategy and self-management for the cases that never settle quietly.
Family & Civil Lawyers
The same five patterns drive high-conflict disputes in every practice area.
Paralegals & Legal Staff
Recognize the patterns in the correspondence and calls you handle daily.
How Managing High-Conflict Legal Disputes is delivered.
A 3-hour on-demand video course combining personality theory, brain research, communication techniques, and litigation ethics.
- 3-hour video course — Patterns, distortions, brain research, skills, and ethics in one program.
- PowerPoint — Downloadable slides to keep as a reference.
- Certificate of Completion — 3 hours documented.
Methods taught in Managing High-Conflict Legal Disputes.
EAR Statements™
Short verbal moves that calm an upset person: Empathy, Attention, Respect.
BIFF Response®
Written replies that end hostile exchanges: Brief, Informative, Friendly, Firm.
Bill Eddy, LCSW, Esq.
Bill Eddy, LCSW, Esq. is the co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of the High Conflict Institute. He pioneered the High Conflict Personality Theory (HCP) and is an international expert on managing disputes involving people with high-conflict personalities. He is the author or co-author of more than 25 books, manuals, and workbooks, co-host of the podcast It's All Your Fault!, and writes a Psychology Today blog with millions of views.
Before co-founding HCI, Bill was the Senior Family Mediator at the National Conflict Resolution Center for 15 years, a Certified Family Law Specialist lawyer representing clients in family court for 15 years, and a licensed clinical social worker therapist with twelve years of experience. He has served on the faculty of the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University School of Law, taught as a Conjoint Associate Professor with the University of Newcastle Law School in Australia, and trained professionals in over 35 U.S. states and 13 countries.
Managing High-Conflict Legal Disputes — frequently asked questions.
Who is this course for?
How do I access the course?
Will I get continuing education credit?
Is this legal or therapeutic advice?
Can our team or organization get this training together?
Ready to enroll?
Enroll an individual seat now, or talk to us about a private cohort designed around your organization's actual cases.
