Dr James W. Gibson

Dr. James Gibson is an attorney, mediator, and educator with an extensive background in alternative dispute resolution and conflict management.  James is a frequent speaker on conflict management at state, regional and national conferences.  He was awarded the highest honor obtainable by a mediator in the State of Texas by the Texas Association of Mediators in 2007.  Dr. Gibson received this award based upon eighteen years of contributions to the advancement of mediation in Texas and the nation.  Dr. Gibson also served on the Board of the Texas Mediators Credentialing Association as Secretary, and was honored in 2009 by the Texas Mediators Credentialing Association with an endowed scholarship in his name.  He was formerly on the Board of Directors of the Texas Association of Mediators, the Texas Mediators Trainers Roundtable, and is past President and Treasurer of the Greater Houston Chapter Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution (now ACR).  A member of the State Bar of Texas, he has been honored for outstanding service to that organization’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Section.

He is co–author of Capitalizing on Conflict, published by Davies–Black, Palo Alto, California, April, 2002.  After release, Harvard Business School placed Capitalizing on Conflict on their Book Recommendation Library List, and it also won an award as one of the best business books in 2002.

He has written or contributed to various training manuals, and published the first training manual for criminal mediation in Texas.  Other publications have been featured in Texas Trial Lawyer, Alternative Resolutions, Texas Mediator, the newsletter of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, publications of The State Bar of Texas, and Texas Young Lawyers Association.  

Since 1996, he has trained mediators through Southern Methodist University Certificate and Masters Program in Dispute Resolution, Sam Houston State University, Texas A&M University, Texas Woman’s University, The University of Houston–Clear Lake, Our Lady of the Lake, and The Citadel by conducting seminars in Basic Mediation, Advanced Mediation, Family Mediation, Mediation of Employer/Employee Disputes, Ethics, Criminal Justice, and Advanced Communication Skills.  In addition to his mediation training, James serves as Students’ Legal Advisor at Sam Houston State University.  He also mediates disputes for private clients, and consults with public and private organizations on the development and implementation of alternative dispute resolution systems.  He specializes in highly complex interpersonal cases in both political and non–political settings.

Dr. Gibson received his B.B.A. degree from the University of Texas at Austin, a Master of Science from Sam Houston State University, and his Juris Doctor from Southern Methodist University School of Law.