Our story begins in two places: Arkansas and New Mexico.

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Niblock Mediation Services is based in Arkansas, where Ray was born and raised, attended the University of Arkansas School of Law, and has spent more than three decades representing clients throughout the state. Arkansas is home, professionally and personally. It is where the firm was built, where Ray has tried cases, handled appeals, advised clients, and developed the courtroom experience that informs his work as a mediator.

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New Mexico is also part of who we are. Van grew up in Tucumcari. Paul was born and raised in Los Lunas. Ray came to Roswell as a young man to attend the New Mexico Military Institute and, in many ways, grew up there. Ray and Van were both educated at NMMI and later graduated from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Paul graduated from the College of Santa Fe and built part of his early professional life in New Mexico, working for Albuquerque Ambulance and the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator before practicing tort law in the state.

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These are not simply biographical connections. They mean we know Arkansas and New Mexico from the inside: their communities, institutions, people, distances, and legal cultures. Today, we serve parties throughout both states. We will go anywhere within Arkansas or New Mexico when an in-person mediation is appropriate, and we are equally comfortable mediating by Zoom when distance, convenience, or the circumstances of the dispute make virtual mediation the better choice.

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Our collective experience has taught us that while legal issues may define disputes, human issues often determine their resolution. Fear, grief, communication, leadership, personality, and organizational dynamics can influence outcomes as much as the law itself. That understanding led us to build something different. We did not assemble an interdisciplinary panel because conflict is complicated; we assembled it because people are.

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Niblock Mediation Services is an intentionally interdisciplinary panel of experienced, independent neutrals. Our backgrounds span law, medicine, psychology, business, communications, emergency medicine, and organizational leadership. Michelle, a board-certified psychiatrist, adds a medical perspective shaped by a lifetime of clinical experience. That range allows us to bring broader insight to the human forces that often drive conflict and settlement while remaining grounded in the mediator’s essential role: serving impartially and helping parties reach informed, durable resolutions.

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Each panelist maintains an independent professional practice and may be retained individually or, where appropriate and by agreement of the parties, as part of a co-mediation team.

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Whether we are working in a conference room in Arkansas or New Mexico, or bringing the parties together by Zoom, our philosophy remains the same: careful preparation, direct communication, and an unwavering focus on helping people resolve conflict with dignity, clarity, and respect.