Family Dispute Mediation in State & Federal Courts

Cynthia R. Mabry-King is a graduate of New York University's Master of Laws program and a graduate of Howard University's Juris Doctor program where she was Student Articles Editor of the Howard Law Journal.

She has been a full-time Circuit Mediator for the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit since 2015. She is the first African American to hold that position. She has facilitated settlement discussions in hundreds of complex disputes. Mabry-King was a volunteer mediator for the Superior Court of the District of Columbia's Multi-Door Dispute Resolution, Family Division for thirteen years before she joined the Fourth Circuit.

In 2005 and 2010, while she was a Professor of Law, she created and taught an international comparative law course on alternative dispute resolution processes at the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town, South Africa. Mabry-King is a member of the Supreme Court of the United States Bar, the District of Columbia Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association's Alternative Dispute Resolution Section, the American Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Section, and the International Society of Family Law.

Mabry-King frequently speaks at Continuing Legal Education seminars and lectures at law schools. She has more than 170 hours of mediation training and has trained other mediators and law students. Mabry-King served as a law clerk for the Honorable Anna Diggs Taylor (U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan) and for the Honorable Harriett Rosen Taylor (Superior Court of the District of Columbia where she mediated landlord and tenant cases for the Court). She practiced law at Crowell & Moring LLP, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (where, as an attorney, she negotiated settlements in many cases through mediation), and the Federal Railroad Administration (where she personally negotiated settlements regarding railroad company violations of federal regulations).

Mabry-King was a full-time Civil Procedure and Family Law professor for twenty-two years and an Associate Dean of Academic Affairs for two years. Her lengthy publication record, that includes a best-selling Adoption Law textbook, has been cited favorably and widely by judges, legislators, lawyers and professors. She has received many awards for her scholarship, teaching and community service including the 2015 Angel in Adoption Award, Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (October 7, 2015) (sponsored by Senator Barbara Mikulski), the Distinguished Service Award, Law School Admission Council, Board of Trustees (May 29, 2015), the 2015 Outstanding Faculty of the Year Award, the 2013 Capital Pro Bono Honor Roll from the District of Columbia Court of Appeals and the Superior Court of The District of Columbia, and the Warren Rosmarin Professor of Law Award of Excellence in Teaching and Service (May 8, 2010).

Ms. Arnold is a founding-partner and shareholder with Arnold, Rodman & Kretchmer, P.A. in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Ms. Arnold practices in all areas of family law including interstate and international divorce and child custody, Hague Convention, non-Hague parental child abduction, parental child abduction prevention, third-party custody and visitation, and mediation. Ms. Arnold is rated a Super Lawyer® by SuperLawyers.com based upon her work and peer recognition in the area of family law. Ms. Arnold is also a Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers (IAFL), which is an international organization of family law attorneys recognized by their peers as among the most experienced and skilled in international family law matters in their respective countries. Ms. Arnold serves on The Hague Convention Committee for the USA Chapter of the IAFL since the committee’s inception in 2010. Ms. Arnold is also a member of the U.S. State Department’s Hague Convention Attorney Network and serves as a volunteer Hague Attorney Mentor for the U.S. State Department.

A 1997 graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School, Ms. Arnold also holds BA (1988) and MA (1992) degrees in French from the University of Minnesota and a Maîtrise (1990) in linguistics from the Université de Savoie. Languages: English, French.