Deborah Medlock has been serving the Kansas City metro area as an Alternative Dispute Resolution provider for over 25 years. Like her Dispute Resolution Center attorney-colleagues, Deborah also attended law school at UMKC, and became interested in mediation through her work as a CASA volunteer. Law school gave her the skills necessary to develop her ADR expertise and she has spent much of her career working with clients in this capacity. Deborah genuinely cares about people and loves the challenge of helping them solve difficult problems. She began her full-time career in dispute resolution in 2000 working in a high-volume court-connected agency dealing primarily with family disputes. To date, Deborah has spent over 25 years working with (and helping!) over six thousand families involved in the court process.
While Deborah has extensive experience working with families in paternity and divorce cases, she has also mediated workplace issues, elder issues, and a wide range of civil and business cases. Deborah is a Kansas Supreme Court-approved Dispute Resolution Provider in the areas of Domestic, Civil, Core, Parent/Adolescent, and Juvenile Dependency matters. She is also approved as a Conciliator, Parent Coordinator and Mentor Mediator for those just entering the field.
Deborah is deeply involved and well-regarded in the dispute resolution community. She is a Past President of Heartland Dispute Resolution Association and is currently serving on the Board of Directors. Deborah spent six years on the Kansas Courts Advisory Council for Dispute Resolution, and helped create the current Kansas Rules for Dispute Resolution, submitted to and approved by the Supreme Court of Kansas.
Deborah is also a skilled facilitator, educator, and presenter. Her friendly demeanor and sense of humor work well together with a deep, intuitive understanding of conflict resolution she has developed after years of training parents (via parent education, groups, and court-connected classes) and professionals. Deborah is a primary trainer at Johnson County Community College for Core and Domestic Mediation; teaches Conciliation state-wide, and works with those seeking approval as mentor mediators in the State of Kansas.
Deborah excels at connecting with people and engaging in creative problem solving. Two of her favorite activities include playing with her dogs (or anyone else’s) and being in a room with people who are in dispute.
Areas of Practice
- Mediation
- Conciliation
- Parent Coordination
- Dispute Resolution Specialist
