Over 30 years of experience in litigation, mediation, and arbitration have given Stephen Lancken a unique set of skills and insights into the world of dispute resolution. As a result, Lancken is an internationally regarded practitioner, trainer, and commentator in all areas of dispute resolution.
Lancken has successfully mediated resolutions in over 2,000 disputes in areas as diverse as health, insurance, banking, property, building, native title, sports, wills and estates, property, leases, rural issues, industrial relations, and community consultation.
He began his dispute resolution career as a litigation lawyer in Sydney in 1981 working at Owen Hodge Lawyers and practiced in commercial litigation, banking and finance, aviation law, insurance, professional indemnity, personal injury, and workplace and employment law.
In 1990, Lancken realised there was a better way to resolve disputes than litigation, and that was through mediation, or other forms of alternative dispute resolution (ADR). He committed to ADR as the future of dispute resolution and left the legal profession in 1999 to focus on his passion for ADR.
Lancken’s knowledge and skill as one of Australia’s leading mediators and ADR professionals led him to teach and train in mediation, negotiation, communication, conflict management, and conflict in organisations at Sydney University, Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM), College of Law and Marcus Evans Asia.
His services have been enlisted by organisations which foster a collaborative culture, such as St. George Bank, Rabo Bank, Pacific Brands, Australia Post, EPA Victoria, Alcoa, Mission Australia, The Australian Industrial Relations Commission, and QANTAS. He works as a mediator in the Supreme Court, the Land and Environment Court, District Court, Local Courts, and Workers Compensation Commission of NSW.
From 2008 to 2013, Lancken was honoured to be appointed to the National Alternative Dispute Resolution Advisory Council (NADRAC) by the Attorney General of Australia, the Honourable Robert McClelland MP.
Lancken has advised the Attorneys General of both Australia and NSW about ADR issues and was an inaugural member of the Board of the MSB.
