Our Team
The DRC consists of ten interns who are trained in alternative dispute resolution, a roster of law students who have graduated from the intern training program in a previous year, led by three Student Coordinators, under the supervision of the DRC Director Robyn Hurley.
Robyn Hurley
DRC Director
Robyn is an accredited family and child protection mediator with the Ontario Association of Family Mediation. She is a member of the mediate393 family court mediation roster, and the ADR-Link child protection mediation roster in London, Ontario. Robyn has been a supervising mediator at the mediate393 internship program, where she supervises new mediation professionals.
She previously worked as a family lawyer, representing parents, spouses, Children’s Aid Societies and children. Today, she continues to provide legal representation to children as a panel member of the Office of the Children’s Lawyer.
As a part-time professor at Western’s King’s University College, in the Social Justice and Peace Studies, and Childhood and Social Institutions programs, Robyn has taught Alternative Dispute Resolution, Children’s Participation in Family Law, Marginalized Childhoods and Access to Justice. She is also a regular Negotiation Coach for students at Western Law.
You can learn more about Robyn at robynhurley.com.
Justine Pileggi
Lead Student Coordinator
Justine is in her third year at Western Law, having completed an Honours Bachelor of Arts in English and French, and a Master’s in French at the University of Toronto. While she was a master’s student, she worked as a Union Steward for CUPE 3902 and assisted in the resolution of conflicts between teaching assistants and the department administration. She developed her skill set in alternative dispute resolution as a DRC intern in her first year of law school, and in her second year she worked as a DRC student coordinator. She is pleased to be continuing in the Coordinator role this academic year and looking forward to the new programming and community initiatives commencing this academic year. She is also working towards her Qualified Mediator designation under the Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute of Ontario (ADRIO). A property and privacy rights enthusiast, she is interested in mediating intellectual property and business disputes, particularly for companies working with emerging technologies.
Jacqueline Murphy
Student Coordinator
Jacqueline is a third-year student at Western Law, having completed an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Criminology at King’s University College. In the final year of her undergraduate degree, she worked as a clinical practicum student at the London Family Court Clinic. Her role focused on conducting research and educating employees of different community agencies in London including police officers, social workers, foster parents and clinicians. The directive was to provide a methodology and collateral to best support the needs of youth connected to the legal system. This experience sparked her interest in access to justice. This interest was further developed when she was a student volunteer for ProBono Students Canada in her first year at Western Law. Her role involved conducting research and creating resources for the Urban Haven Project, which provides services to those in need around the London community. During her second year of law school, she was a DRC Intern, where she developed and refined her skills in mediation and negotiation. She is interested in the role alternative dispute resolution can play in decreasing barriers to justice.
Nikisha Thapar
Student Coordinator
Nikisha is a second-year student at Western Law. Before law school, she completed a Bachelor of Arts in Gender and Social Justice Studies at Trent University. At the age of 20, she was one of the youngest people in Ontario to receive both a Qualified Arbitrator and Qualified Mediator designation from ADRIO. She has three years experience working as a freelance Alternative Dispute Resolution specialist, and as a Community Mediator with the John Howard Society of Ontario. She looks forward to applying her dispute resolution skills to meet the needs of the London community. She is interested in learning more about the intersection of dispute resolution and areas such as business and human rights.
DRC Interns
There are 10 student Interns from September to April, all of whom have a strong interest in mediation and alternative dispute resolution. Interns are trained in mediation and conflict resolution and apply their skill set to community mediations, conflict coaching and workshop trainings. Intern positions are filled through a competitive application process in the fall of each year. If you are a Western law student interested in applying for an internship, please see the “DRC for Law Students” Tab.
Mediation Roster
The roster of student mediators consists of graduates of the Internship Program, who have a demonstrated capacity to effectively mediate community disputes. Student mediators tend to be assigned mediation files that reflect their legal interests. Student mediators may also participate in community outreach projects, such as our 810 Court Project.
