About
About Harman Dispute Resolution
My name is Joe Harman. I am the principal and proprietor of Harman Dispute Resolution. I have been resolving disputes for 40 years, as a lawyer, judge, academic and author and, most importantly, as a dispute resolver.
I started mediating disputes in 1992. I was a mediator for nearly 20 years before I became a judge in 2010. After leaving the court in 2021, I returned to mediation.
I want to use my many years of practice and experience to help people resolve disputes and stay away from, or get out of, court.
Over 15,000 hours of mediation
I have conducted over 15,000 hours of mediation. I have worked across all models of mediation, including legal aid panels, the community sector, Family Relationship Centres and in private practice. I have taught family law and mediation at University, trained mediators and written over 20 articles and book chapters on family law and mediation.
My approach to dispute resolution is informed by my 40 years of dealing with disputes. In that time, I have come to fundamentally understand as true the comments of former US Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger that
“The notion that most people want black-robed judges, well-dressed lawyers and fine-panelled courtrooms as the setting to resolve their disputes is not correct. People with problems, like people with pains, want relief, and they want it as quickly and inexpensively as possible.”
I embrace informality. I do not wear a suit and tie. I do not use titles, post nominals or other such honorifics. I like to use first names and I refuse to refer to people by dehumanising, generic labels like “husband” and “wife”.
Family disputes inevitably involve a vast amount of emotion. I believe that these emotions must be acknowledged and responded to, not dismissed with platitudes like “you need to leave the emotion out of it”. I like to work co-operatively and collaboratively, taking the heat out of the room, engaging both parties and their lawyers as allies in focusing on and finding solutions.
Dispute resolution is not an adversarial or combative process. Dispute resolution is about compromise. In fact, the term “mediation” is derived from
the Latin verb mediāre, meaning “to be in the middle”. Dispute resolution is about finding mutually acceptable and “liveable” outcomes, not winners and losers.
Dispute resolution is not about each party advocating for what they want or believe they are entitled to. It is about finding solutions that satisfactorily address everybody’s needs and interests and allow everybody to move on and heal.