Galen Trine-McMahan is a lawyer, mediator, and conflict resolution practitioner whose work has focused on helping people navigate complex disputes involving high stakes, damaged trust, competing interests, and strong emotions.
Before entering mediation and conflict resolution work, Galen spent more than a decade representing families affected by catastrophic harm, including cases involving wrongful death, severe injury, human trafficking, environmental contamination, institutional failures, and violent crime. Many of these matters involved multiple stakeholders, significant financial exposure, technical complexity, and deeply personal loss.
His work frequently required bringing together people with very different perspectives, interests, and sources of power, including families, corporations, insurers, government agencies, experts, journalists, and community members. Rather than focusing solely on legal claims, he often worked to understand the broader human, organizational, and systemic factors shaping the conflict.
In addition to his legal practice, Galen has trained extensively in mediation, restorative justice, and psychodrama.
More recently, his work has expanded internationally. He has studied conflict resolution in Geneva, conducted oral history and listening projects with civilians affected by war, and worked alongside practitioners involved in peace processes, dialogue initiatives, and humanitarian negotiations in conflict-affected regions.
These experiences shaped his approach to dispute resolution. He believes that many conflicts persist because they are operating within systems of misunderstanding, distrust, competing incentives, and incomplete information. Effective resolution often begins by understanding those dynamics before attempting to negotiate outcomes.
Galen’s practice focuses on complex disputes involving businesses, organizations, workplaces, communities, and individuals where relationships, reputations, institutions, or significant interests are at stake. His work typically combines confidential interviews, conflict mapping, facilitated dialogue, negotiation support, and tailored resolution processes designed around the specific circumstances of each matter.
He is particularly well suited for disputes where the conflict has become entrenched, parties hold fundamentally different understandings of the situation, or traditional approaches have failed to produce meaningful progress.
Business & Partnership Disputes
Conflicts between owners, founders, professional partners, and closely held businesses.
Workplace & Organizational Conflicts
Leadership disputes, governance challenges, team dysfunction, and workplace tensions.
Community & Multi-Stakeholder Disputes
Situations involving neighborhoods, nonprofits, coalitions, associations, and public institutions.
Institutional Harm & Community Repair
Dialogue and resolution processes following shootings, serious injuries, public safety failures, allegations of abuse, or other events that have damaged trust between institutions and affected communities.
Restorative & Accountability Processes
Facilitated conversations focused on understanding harm, accountability, repair, and future relationships.
Government & Public Sector Engagement
Facilitation between agencies, community members, advocacy groups, elected leaders, and other stakeholders facing difficult public issues.
High-Conflict Relationship Disputes
Cases where communication has broken down and parties hold fundamentally different understandings of what has occurred.
Conflict Assessment & Process Design
Early-stage conflict mapping and tailored resolution process design for complex disputes involving multiple parties or competing interests.
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