With deep sadness, we learned this week about the passing of Lawrence D. Gaughan, a pioneer professional family mediator in the United States and titan of the sector whose significant contributions to professional mediation will stand the test of time. Larry was one of the most skilled divorce mediators in America. He founded Family Mediation of Greater Washington in August 1980. During the preceding 12 months, he became a Scholar-in-Residence at the Georgetown Family Center, which, at the time, changed into the Department of Psychiatry at Georgetown University Medical School.
Larry graduated from the School of Law at the University of Montana and was first admitted to the bar in Montana. After serving as a U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate in Texas, Turkey, and France, he acquired an LL.M. At the University of Virginia School of Law in 1964, the same year, I was appointed Assistant Professor of Law. During this time, he became admitted to practice regulation in Virginia. In 1970, he was appointed Associate Professor of Law with tenure at Washington & Lee Law School and was promoted to Professor in 1975. He was later appointed Professor of Law with tenure at George Mason Law School and remained in the school through 1987, while he resigned to hold on to his full-time practice of circle of relatives law and mediation.
In the early 1980s, Larry became deeply involved in increasing their family mediation motion. His mentor changed into O.J. Coogler, a former kingdom senator from Georgia who turned into the founding father of the organized movement to promote divorce mediation within the United States. In 1980, Larry became the President of the Family Mediation Association (FMA), the first countrywide agency for family mediation. Then, in 1981, a brand new organization— the Academy of Family Mediators (AFM)—became based within the conference room of Larry’s former workplace in Arlington, Virginia. The founders protected John Haynes, Steve Erickson, Judy Wood, and others, who were a few of the most experienced divorce mediators.
The discipline of divorce mediation has undergone many adjustments since 1980, and Larry regularly has been inside the vanguard of many of those adjustments. He became one of the various Founding Members of a new national mediation business enterprise, the Academy of Professional Family Mediators. His articles are regularly regarded in APFM’s quarterly booklet, The Professional Family Mediator.
From 1978 to 1982, Larry became a member of the Board of Governors of the Family Law Section of the Virginia State Bar. For 25 years (1975-1999), Larry gave a lecture each year at the Annual Convention of the Virginia State Bar on the tendencies in Virginia family regulation (which includes legislative modifications and new case law) for the previous year. These lectures were then circulated in Virginia on videotape.
Larry practiced family mediation till his passing. During that point, he treated over 3,000 instances as a mediator. For most of that point, Larry additionally conducted a separate exercise as a legal professional. However, he had nearly wholly terminated that side of his practice on account that 2008 if you want to focus on family mediation and collaborative exercise. He also remained an active board member of the Professional Mediation Board of Standards (PMBS), an agency developing national standards and credentialing professional mediators.
Larry’s work and presence in the subject have left an indelible mark on APFM, and his contributions to the career have helped shape mediation paintings for all destiny mediators. His other than 40 years of meditation practice, training, and significant contributions to the field require our utmost gratitude.
Michael Aurit, JD, MDR, is President of the Academy of Professional Family Mediators (APFM), an expert divorce and family mediator, and Co-Founder of The Aurit Center for Divorce Mediation in Scottsdale, Arizona. He also is an Adjunct Professor at Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law, where he teaches divorce and family mediation. Michael is a former American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution Fellow.
He also serves as Ethics Chair of the Maricopa County Association of Family Mediators (MCAFM). Michael holds his Juris Doctorate diploma from Pepperdine University School of Law and a Master’s in Dispute Resolution from The Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine Law. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts from The Boston Conservatory of Music.
