Professional Bio
VERLYN FRANCIS is an experienced in-person and virtual arbitrator, mediator, and relationship manager in Corporate/Commercial, Civil, Estates, Family, Disability, and Intercultural disputes. She is the Principal Consultant, and the Culture, Diversity and Inclusion Specialist at Isiko (ē/sē/kō) Dispute Resolution Consultants Inc. In addition to her international independent arbitration and mediation work, Verlyn is a roster arbitrator and mediator on the Global and General Commercial panels of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR) Panels of Distinguished Neutrals, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and the National Bar Association-ADR (NBA-ADR). Prior to devoting herself exclusively to Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), she practised law in Ontario, Canada for over 20 years.
Ms. Francis lectures on Advocacy and ADR at Lincoln Alexander School of Law – Toronto Metropolitan University. She is a professor of ADR at Humber Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning, and Centennial College, Toronto, Canada; visiting professor of Advanced Negotiation in the Master of International Business program at La Salle EMCI in Lyon, France; and guest lecturer in the LL.M. Dispute Resolution Program at Osgoode Hall Law School.
Verlyn publishes and presents on Ethics in ADR, the Impact of Culture on Conflict, Diversity and Inclusion in ADR, Conflict Prevention, and Process Design. Her publications include Ethics in Arbitration: Bias, Diversity and Inclusion (2020-2021) 51:2 Cumberland Law Review 419; Infusing Dispute Resolution Teaching and Training with Culture and Diversity in (2018) 33:2 Ohio St. J. on Disp. Resol. at 171; Teaching Dispute Resolution in a Multicultural Environment, (2017) 26:2 Can Arb & Mediation J 34; and Designing Emotional and Psychological Support into Truth and Reconciliation Commissions (2016) 23 Willamette J. of Int’l Law & Disp Resol at 274.
Verlyn holds J.D. and LL.M. (ADR) degrees from Osgoode Hall Law School, Toronto.
Ms. Francis is a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb), the President’s Circle of ADR Institute of Ontario, ADR Institute of Canada, Society of Ontario Adjudicators and Regulators (SOAR), American Bar Association (ABA), National Bar Association (NBA), Association for Conflict Resolution - Greater New York Chapter (ACR-GNY), Canadian Association of Black Lawyers (CABL), and Women’s Law Association of Ontario (WLAO).
