Sara Budish

Sara del Nido Budish is Assistant Director of the Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program (HNMCP), and a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School. She supervises student teams in the Dispute Systems Design Clinic, which partners with client organizations and communities to help them engage conflict effectively. Sara also teaches courses on conflict management theory and practice, including Multiparty Negotiation, Group Decision Making, and Teams; and Dilemmas in Dispute Resolution. From 2018-2020, she co-hosted, with HNMCP colleague Neil McGaraghan, “Thanks for Listening,” a podcast about bridging political divides in America. Through her teaching and consulting, Sara has assisted clients all over the world working in healthcare, higher education, technology, court systems, international negotiation, and public service.

Sara previously served as Clinical Fellow at HNMCP, and as a Research Associate in the Negotiation, Organizations & Markets Unit at Harvard Business School. Her writing has been published by the Journal of Dispute Resolution, WBUR’s “Cognoscenti” blog, Harvard Business School Publishing, Harvard Law School Case Studies, and HNMCP’s “Bridging Divides” blog. During law school, she served as a mediator in small claims court and Advanced Training Director for the Harvard Mediation Program, and as a student in HNMCP she designed and delivered a series of customized trainings for a group of medical providers focused on difficult conversations. She earned her J.D. from Harvard Law School, and her A.B. from Dartmouth College.