Qualifications for Registration as a Neutral Mediator

In her role as mediator and arbitrator at Miles Mediation and Arbitration Services, Judge Patricia Stone specializes in civil litigation disputes, including wrongful death, employment, and personal injury cases, as well as domestic cases. Awarded a Savannah Police Department Commendation and Certificate of Merit while serving as an Assistant District Attorney early in her career, Judge Patricia Stone is currently registered as a neutral (mediator) with the state of Georgia.

No certification or licensing is required for mediators to work in a private setting in the state of Georgia. Like many other states, Georgia requires neutrals associated with court cases to be registered with the Georgia Office of Dispute Resolution (ODR). 

The general qualifications for registration as a neutral by ODR include significant training hours, observation by a veteran mediator and letters of recommendation. Qualification as a neutral for divorce and custody cases requires further specialized training in addition to meeting the general registration criteria. Qualifying as a neutral for arbitration requires still more supplementary specialized training. Patricia Stoned has completed all of the necessary training to qualify her as a mediator and an arbitrator of both civil and domestic disputes. 

Patricia Stone and other registered mediators representing a variety of disciplines are listed with the ODR for the court's reference.

Honored Judge a Product of Mercer University School of Law

 

The Honorable Patricia Stone has garnered many awards as Judge of the Juvenile Court of Chatham County in Savannah, Georgia. These include the Georgia Senate honoring her in Senate Resolution 59 in 2015 for her outstanding endeavors in the community of Chatham County, WJCL’s Champion of Change award, and the Georgia Child Placement Conference’s 2009 Georgia Leadership Award. Senior Judge Patricia Stone earned her juris doctor from the Walter F. George School of Law of Mercer University in 1995, where she was awarded Outstanding Law Student for Academics and Leadership.

Named after 1901 Mercer Law School graduate Walter F. George, a former justice of the Georgia State Supreme Court and later U.S. Senator, Mercer Law was founded in 1873 and is one of the nation’s oldest law schools. It is the state of Georgia’s first law school to receive American Bar Association (ABA) accreditation.

Located in Macon, Georgia, Mercer Law has around 440 students and is part of the 12 colleges and schools of Mercer University. The law school is nationally acclaimed for its outstanding programs in public service, moot court, legal writing, and ethics and professionalism. It hosts the Legal Writing Institute, The Journal of Southern Legal History, and the National Criminal Defense College.

Widely regarded as an excellent model for law schools throughout the United States, Mercer Law’s Woodruff Curriculum is a recipient of ABA’s Gambrell Professionalism Award.

The Highly Recognized Chatham County FDTC

Senior Judge Patricia Stone serves as a full-time mediator and arbitrator at Miles Mediation and Arbitration Services in Savannah, Georgia, handling all civil and domestic issues. Prior to this, Patricia Stone served as judge of the Juvenile Court of Chatham County, Eastern Judicial Circuit, in Savannah, Georgia. During her tenure she established and presided over the Chatham County Family Dependency Treatment Court (FDTC). 

FDTC was launched in 2008 in order to help children to have permanent families. This is accomplished by dealing with the helplessness brought about by a guardian or parent engaged in substance abuse. The encompassing requirements of parents and children are addressed through a multi-disciplinary, court-based, and integrated undertaking endeavoring to provide judicial oversight, timely actions, harmonized treatment, and placements that are secure and permanent. 

Interventions and standards include thorough alcohol and drug treatment for targeted parents, attending recommended family, group, individual, and residential and/or marriage treatment, random alcohol and drug screenings to ensure the caregiver is drug and alcohol free, providing adequate and secure housing, completing family education programs and parenting classes, and demonstrating good parenting skills. 

NPC Research, a leading authority in accountability courts, rated Chatham County FDTC in 2012 as the Top Family Court in Georgia, citing its large number of research-based best practices lead by Patricia Stone. For three consecutive years, The Children and Family Futures and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention likewise selected Chatham County FDTC as a national Peer Learning Court, and one of the top 5 programs in the United States.

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