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The term Landmark Education refers to the corporation Landmark Education LLC and to its commercial operations, which primarily involve the delivery of a series of training and self-development courses. Landmark Education refers to the most well-known of its offerings as The Landmark Forum.

Landmark Education's courses are primarily designed for individuals, while the subsidiary Landmark Education Business Development provides training and consultancy to organizations.

Landmark Education and its methods evoke considerable controversy, with passionate opinions held both by supporters and detractors.

Scope and Claims

Landmark Education states that "* fundamental principle of its work is that people and the communities, organizations, and institutions with which they are engaged have the possibility not only of success, but also of fulfillment and greatness". "In independent research, graduates of Landmark's programs report major positive results in the following areas:

  • The quality of their relationships.
  • The confidence with which they conduct their lives.
  • The level of their personal productivity.
  • The experience of the difference they make.
  • The degree to which they enjoy their "personal life"See Landmark Education's "Benefits" web site.
Landmark Education states that it intends its courses for mentally healthy people and discourages potential participants who may have unresolved mental health issues which psychotherapy might more appropriately treat.

Landmark Education maintains that the Forum consists of an "inquiry", rather than providing a belief system or an ideology. Course content is summarised in their forum syllabus and course catalog

Operation

Landmark Education courses generally take place in large rooms with 80-300 attendees listening to lectures, engaging in dialogue, and participating in some educational exercises. Volunteer workers keep the room clean and tidy, set out chairs, replenish the drinking water and hand out supplies. See Kopp's academic analysis (Kopp, 2003) of the Landmark Forum milieu for an analysis of the delivery-setup and his conclusions - based on personal involvement - on the importance of Landmark Education's managing the environment of its classes.

Landmark Education characterizes its courses as investigations into the ways in which human beings make decisions in response to their experiences in the past, and how these decisions then place constraints on how humans perceive the world and the people around them. Landmark Education suggests that, in identifying and taking responsibility for these decisions the majority of course participants discover a freedom to act in previously unimaginable ways. The claimed results vary as much as the individuals who get them. Quoted outcomes range from the trivial to the dramatic. Some examples are tidiness, punctuality, personal organisation, reconciliation with an estranged divorced partner, starting a multi-million dollar business, etc. Numerous specific examples and alternative views on outcomes appear on many websites, some of which are referenced below.

Landmark Education encourages prospective participants to define in advance an area of their life in which they wish to experience a "breakthrough" result, and to define it with sufficient detail to leave no doubt as to whether they accomplish this result. Landmark Education claims that a large majority of customers report getting the result they specified, and in addition receiving further unexpected benefits. For examples, see the surveys quoted below, and personal accounts on Landmark's websites and those of its supporters, referenced below.

Regarding philosophical aspects of the course content, supporters of Landmark Education have made comparisons with the ideas of historical and contemporary thinkers and schools such as Heidegger, Richard Rorty, Sartre, Fernando Flores and Westernized and popularized Zen. Others have suggested that Landmark Education has incorporated ideas from a wide range of philosophers from Socrates to Wittgenstein. Some suggest that Nothingness and meaninglessness form a key part of Landmark Education's existentialist foundation. However the courses are not targeted to any specific audience and participants come from all walks of life and varying backgrounds ranging from housewives to CEOs, from young children to the retired.

An eight-page article in the March 2001 edition of the journal Contemporary Philosophy hosted at the University of Colorado at Boulder and co-authored by Professor Steven McCarl and by Landmark Education Business Development CEO Steve Zaffron discusses philosophy and the Landmark Forum under the title "The Promise of Philosophy and the Landmark Forum" (McCarl et al, 2001). This article provides an example of discussion of the Landmark Education course content aside from the course syllabus provided by Landmark Education.

Courses

Landmark Education offers four principal courses, which it collectively markets as "The Curriculum for Living":

  • The Landmark Forum consists of three days and an evening. Part of the curriculum is focused on "completing", or coming to terms with, participants' pasts. See vocabulary section for more information on "completion". Completing the Landmark Forum is a pre-requisite for registering into other Landmark Education courses.

  • The Landmark Forum in Action Seminar, a series of ten 3-hour seminars at weekly intervals. Cost of this seminar series is typically included in the tuition for the Landmark Forum. The seminars review the material from the Landmark Forum and encourage participants to see how it may apply in practical terms to their own circumstances.

  • The Advanced Course, (formerly four days and an evening; three days and an evening since January 2006) focused on designing "a new future of freedom and self-expression" for participants' lives.

  • The Self Expression and Leadership Program (SELP) focused on giving practical expression to the "new future ... designed" Landmark Education, website, Self Expression and Leadership Program in the prerequisite Advanced Course. As one part of this course, each participant (including the program leader and the coaches) takes up a project in a community (not directly related to Landmark Education), such as a sports or social club, an extended family, a church group or a charitable undertaking. It is interesting to note that the coaches in this program, typically one for every five participants, are all unpaid and participate as coaches voluntarily, usually out of being inspired by the breakthrough results they produced during a previous SELP program as a participant or coach. Some projects even go on to become stand alone organizations.

Landmark Forums have taken place in at least 27 countries: Japan, Israel, India, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, Romania, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom, South Africa, Kenya, Jamaica, United States, Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Australia and New Zealand. Beyond the Curriculum for Living, Landmark Education offers the following other curriculums to supplement the Landmark Forum:

  • The Communication Curriculum, consisting of Communication: Access to Power, and Communication: Power to Create. These two courses focus on creating a "new model" of communication focused on creation rather than on surviving and fixing. (Note: While not formally a part of the Communication Curriculum, the Team, Management, and Leadership Program has the two communications courses as prerequesites and revolves heavily around the distinctions of the Communication Curriculum.)
  • The Wisdom Curriculum, consisting of various courses that take place over an extended period of time and which focus on the connection between childhood and adulthood.
  • Various seminar series which cover a large variety of topics, ranging from general topics such as excellence (the excellence seminar), integrity, extraordinary life ("causing the miraculous" seminar) and commitment, to specific subjects such as money, sex and intimacy (the relationships seminar), and fitness.
  • The Introduction Leader Program, six months in duration, which prepares participants to lead Introductions to the Landmark Forum. This course also forms the foundation of the training for Program Leaders of all of Landmark's courses. Many participants report breakthrough results in confidence and public-speaking skills, whether they go on to lead Landmark events or not Landmark Education, website, "Breakthrough results".
In addition to its regular courses, Landmark Education also presents free "Special Evening About the Landmark Forum" events. These offer an invitation for prospective customers to learn about the Landmark Forum, to experience an introduction to the Landmark Forum's work, and to register for the Landmark Forum. Most courses include what Landmark Education refers to as "the evening session" that gives guests an opportunity to participate in what Landmark Education refers to as the "technology" their friend or family-member has been trained in. Landmark Education encourages the guests to participate in exercises from the course itself so they will sign up.

Memberships, associations, affiliations

Landmark Education and its subsidiaries hold memberships in the following professional associations and organizations:

Landmark Education

Landmark Education expresses adherence to principles of "non-linear education" and a study by the Talent Foundation has associated it with ideas of emotional intelligence. As with almost all adult educational organizations not in the academic milieu, Landmark Education has not produced published peer-reviewed work in the field of education, and again, as with almost all adult educational organizations, Landmark Education course instructors are intensively trained in Landmark's pedagogy but need not have any specific non-Landmark credentials, educational training or experience.

Many organizations use Landmark Education as a provider of continuing education offering course credit. One such organization, the Phoenix Police Sergeants and Lieutenants Association, states that the Landmark Forum (in the language of the reference) "has been determined to qualify for POST continuing 43.5 training credits." (POST means "Peace Officer Standards and Training".)

Structure and financials

Structurally, Landmark Education as an organization comprises an international employee-owned company with more than half its offices in North America. Landmark Education employees and, in some cases, graduates from Landmark Education's courses own all the stock, with no single individual holding more than 3%. The company does not distribute dividends, so any profits go either to expand the operation generally worldwide or to subsidise courses in countries such as Kenya, South Africa and India (thus rendering them affordable to local populations of those countries).

As of 2005 between 70,000 and 80,000 people take the Landmark Forum annually, and around 50,000 take the various other courses offered.

Landmark Education reported revenues of $70 million for 2004.

Revenues

$76 million in 2005 Landmark education, website, Revenues, 2005

Management

Landmark Education is a privately owned company the stock of which is held by its employee stock option planBetter Business Bureau, June 19, 2006, report, Landmark Education Corporation, Better Business Bureau. The organization's executive team reports to a board of directors elected by the stock holders.

For those currently trained to lead the Landmark Forum (Landmark Forum Leaders), Landmark Education has provided a set of photographs.

Naming

Landmark Education Corporation ("LEC"), originally set up under that name in 1991, became "Landmark Education LLC" in February 2003.

Landmark Education Corporation acquired certain rights to the form and content of the course previously known as "The Forum" from Werner Erhard and Associates (WEA -- the corporate successor of Erhard Seminars Training - better known as "est" ). The new owners, some of them former staff-members of WEA, renamed the course "The Landmark Forum" and reduced the duration from two weekends to three full days plus an evening. Landmark Education states that further development of the course took place at that time, with further major re-design of the Landmark Forum in 1999, as well as continuous on-going adjustments in the light of experience.

During the transition of personnel and certain rights from WEA to Landmark Education in 1991, the new organization temporarily had incorporation as Transnational Education and as The Centers Network, and as Rancord Company, Ltd. in Japan Landmark Education, website, archived Japan - Rancord Co., Ltd.. Once the employees of the new company constructed a road map, the naming standardised and stabilised. All of the centers (offices) in the United States have used the name "Landmark Education" since 1991 ("Landmark Education Corporation" to 2003 and "Landmark Education, LLC" since 2003).

The coursework and pedagogy of WEA was originally from the Erhard Seminars Training. The organization has undergone multiple name and curriculum changes since the original Erhard Seminars Training was founded. For timeline, see Erhard Seminars Training article. Note that The Forum, by Werner Erhard and Associates, and The Landmark Forum are different classes by different companies. Academic and independent research has been done on both with some differing results.

Timeline of Incorporation, Name Changes

For information about pre-LE entities see: Werner Erhard and Associates, est/Erhard Seminars Training
  • Gilbert H. Judson, president
  • Regina Tierney, secretary
    • July 14, 1992 - Alexandria, VA - federal district judge rules Landmark Education Corporation did not have successor liability, in the case brought by a Silver Spring, Maryland woman for emotional damages allegedly due to participation in the Forum under Werner Erhard and Associates.
  • February 2003 - became "Landmark Education LLC"

Werner Erhard

Current Involvement

There have been claimsTime Magazine article, Werner Erhard, Time Magazine that Werner Erhard is directly involved with Landmark Education, however, in spite of the fact that his younger brother (Harry Rosenberg) serves as Landmark Education's Chief Executive Officer, and their sister (Joan Rosenberg) acts as the Vice President of the Centers Division, there is no evidence that Mr. Erhard has any direct current involvement with the operations of Landmark Education.

Financial Ties

Landmark Education states that its programs have as their basis ideas originally developed by Erhard, but that Erhard has no financial interest, ownership, or management role in Landmark Education. Landmark Education, website, Landmark Education, Media Q & A. The Schreiber Declaration states that Werner Erhard never received payment under the licensing agreement, and that he assigned his rights to someone else. The courts determined that Landmark Education Corporation did not have successor liability to Werner Erhard & Associates, the corporation whose assets Landmark Education purchased.

As of 2001, Landmark Education purchased Werner Erhard's license and his rights to Landmark Education technologies in Japan and Mexico (According to statements made by CEO Harry Rosenberg) :

...Erhard kept the Mexican and Japanese branches of the operation...Last year, Landmark had revenues of $58 million, and [Harry Rosenberg says the company has bought outright Erhard's license and his rights to Japan and Mexico. Pay Money, Be Happy, New York Magazine, July 9, 2001, http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/culture/features/4932/index2.html

From time to time ErhardLandmark Education, website, archived, controversy, Landmark Education, website consults with Landmark Education, but he has no ownership, management or financial interest in that company.

Results

As noted above, Landmark Education claims that the majority of course participants report dramatic results in the areas of communication, confidence, personal relationships, productivity and effectiveness. However, others question such claims.

Academic studies

Charles Wayne Denison's Ph.D. research excerpt available online (Denison, 1994) involved interviewing Landmark Forum participants and reported predominantly positive outcomes.

An academic study commissioned by Werner Erhard and Associates concluded that attending a (pre-Landmark) Forum had minimal lasting effects, positive or negative, on participants' self-perception. (J.D. Fisher, R. C. Silver, J. M. Chinsky, B. Goff and Y. Klar Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training: A Longitudinal Study of Psychosocial Effects Springer-Verlag, 1990, ISBN 0387973206). (This study won a 1989 American Psychological Association award.)

DYG study

An analysis done for Landmark Education by Daniel Yankelovich, chairman of DYG, Inc., (Analysis of The Landmark Forum and Its Benefits) of a survey carried out by questioning 1300 respondents about six months after they had participated in the Landmark Forum concluded that:
  • 95% of respondents report "practical value for many aspects" of life
  • 94% of respondents saw the Forum as "likely to have enduring value"
  • 93% of respondents saw the Forum as "well worth ... time and effort"
  • 90% of respondents adjudged the Forum "well worth the cost"
  • More than 90% of respondents who self-reportedly attended the Forum in order to gain "a better understanding of relationships and how they work" expressed satisfaction.
  • Nearly every participant in the survey reported receiving unexpected benefits - ranging from 'ability to control weight' to 'achieving a specific educational or business goal'

What Landmark Education bills as the Landmark Education, website, Yankelovich Study, excerpted "full" report of the Yankelovich study states that "survey was conducted of more than 1300 people who completed The Landmark Forum during a three-month period" Landmark Education, website, [http://www.landmarkeducation.com/display_content.jsp?top=21&mid=80&bottom=116&siteObjectID=350 quote, RE: Yankelovich Study — leaving undefined such details as the period over which surveys and follow-ups may have taken place, the number of Landmark Forum courses involved, the exact numbers surveyed and the precise selection-method applied to participants and their distinction from non-participants.

Harris Interactive

A survey carried out by Harris Interactive for Landmark Education Corporation) concluded that:

  • One-third experienced a significant increase (of 25% or more) in their incomes after completing The Landmark Forum. Of that group, 94% said The Landmark Forum directly contributed to the increase.
  • Seven out of 10 people said they worried less about money and became more effective in managing their finances after completing Landmark's programs.
  • Participants found they were working fewer hours, suggesting they achieved greater balance in their lives.

It remains unclear over what time duration Harris Interactive conducted this study.

University of Southern California

The University of Southern California Marshall School of Business carried out a case study into the work of Landmark Education Business Development (LEBD) at BHP New Zealand Steel. Landmark Education summarized: "The set of interventions in the organization produced impressive measurable results:
  • Safety performance improved 50%
  • Key benchmark costs were reduced 15-20%
  • Return on capital increased by 50%
  • Raw steel produced per employee rose 20%"
(Full report available from USC at (800) 447-8620. Case studies cost $3.00 each, plus shipping, handling, and applicable taxes.)

International Society for Performance Improvement (2005)

The International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) site contains a report of Landmark Education Business Development (LEBD)'s involvement with improving safety at Minera Escondida Ltda, which ran the largest copper mine in the world and a workforce of 5,000 people. The ISPI report notes that when LEBD started working with Minera Escondida, that company had a total injury frequency rate of 23.7 accidents per million man-hours worked. Five months later, when LEBD had finished its program with Minera Escondida, the injury rate had reduced by over 50% to 11.5 accidents per million man-hours worked. ISPI reports that Landmark created this environment of improved safety. The ISPI awarded LEBD a "Got Results" award for its actions. International Society for Performance Improvement, award to LEBD, award, Landmark Education Business Development

Post hoc?

Some critics dispute whether the Landmark Forum actually produces the reported results, and speculate that participants experience an improvement in their circumstances and wrongly attribute its cause to the Landmark Forum.

Michael Langone, in "Large Group Awareness Training Programs" (Cult Observer, v. 15, n. 1, 1998), states his opinion that people who currently have problems are the kind of people who sign up for seminars. Many people then have upswings and experience fewer problems, and many of these participants will attribute their sense of improvement to the program they've taken. See Regression toward the mean. Langone speculates that much of their reason may exhibit post hoc thinking: the improvement happened during or after participation, but that participation did not actually cause the improvement, forming only the perceived cause of improvement. Skepdic, website, testimonial, Skepdic, website

Supporters point to the scale and consistency of the results reported in the surveys and in many personal accounts, and suggest the implausibility of such widespread perceived benefits occurring entirely coincidentally, or of explaining them by selection bias. Many reported outcomes also link to a specific topic in Landmark Education's published syllabus.

Techniques and Teachings

Educational Methodology

Landmark education claims that there is a portion of our life that we know we know, a portion we know we don't know, and a portion we don't know we don't know. See chart Taken from the description on the landmarkeducation.com website:
"Whenever we're limited in life, there is something - a context or framework - that we are blind to and that is holding that limitation in place. Landmark's technology allows you to create breakthroughs in a two-step process in which you:

• Uncover and examine the blind spots or context holding you back in your life.
• Find out where your current context originated and address it for what it really is.

Having completed these two steps, a new realm of possibility is available to you. The constraints from the past disappear. Your view of life, your thoughts, your feelings, and your actions, change - and the change is immediate, dramatic, and without effort. It is a breakthrough."

The official description of the educational methodology is available here

The Forum Syllabus

The official syllabus for the forum is available here

Key Ideas
=Language As An Access to Power
= Landmark's Forum syllabus states "a new view of language ... alters the very nature of what is possible" and "Language comes to be seen as a creative act". According to the Forum, by using language as a creative force one can create a new future now.

A book written about the power of language: Language in Thought and Action.

Courses Available

See other courses available from Landmark here

Vocabulary

Landmark Education has accumulated specialised usage for some terms used in its courses and amongst those who have done those courses. Landmark Education intends such usages to enable graduates of the courses to communicate more succinctly and unambiguously with one another. The originators of the usages have never had the intention of causing bafflement, confusion or irritation by parading these terms to people unfamiliar with them, although doubtless this has happened on occasions.

Some common Landmark Education words and their specialised meaning appear at:

Enrollment

Enrollment is modelled after the natural process of persuasive and inspiring speech. According to the Landmark philosophy, it is also what makes transformation possible. Gandhi and Martin Luther King are often used as examples of good enrollers because their speeches were well structured, inspiring, and powerful tools used to transform the world. The process of enrollment has several steps:

1. Create a background of relatedness
2. Acknowledge an inauthenticity
3. Project a probable, almost certain future if the inauthenticity were allowed to continue
4. Identify a need for action
5. Create a possibility

In many cases, the first step can be brief if the relationship between people is a longstanding one.

Also see Martin Luther King, Jr's I have a dream speech.

Controversies

Critics of Landmark Education make accusations which generally fall into one or more of these areas:

  • Questioning whether the courses do really produce worthwhile benefits.
  • Suggesting that participating in the programs may have harmful consequences.
  • Speculating that the Landmark Education system may possibly exploit customers (financially or otherwise).

Is it a cult?

Occasionally this question is asked or considered by detractors of Landmark Education, but there has been no evidence presented that would affirm such a claim.

Paul Derengowski, formerly of the Christian cult-watch group Watchman.org, states that Landmark "has theological implications" The Apologetics Index (an online Christian ministry providing research resources on what it considers cults, sects, other religious movements, doctrines, and practices) maintains a page on Landmark Education Apologetics Index, page, [http://www.apologeticsindex.org/l30.html Landmark Education. Australian psychologist Louise Samways (an anti-cult activist) included a section on Landmark Education in her book, however she makes no claim to have even observed Landmark programs first hand, and also uses the term "cult" (or "dangerous persuader") when discussing organizations such as multi-level-marketing company Amway.)

Experts with direct experience of Landmark Educations programs have indicated that Landmark Educations programs are not harmful and that Landmark Education is not a cult / sect by either the strict or the pejorative definition of those terms. One expert, Dr. Raymond Fowler, a retired CEO of the American Psychological Association, upon studying Landmark Education on his own behalf said, "I saw nothing in The Landmark Forum that I attended to suggest that it would be harmful to any participant." Another expert, Dr. Norbert Nedopil, the foremost sect expert from the University of Munich, in a 2002 study said that Landmark Education is definitely not a sect, nor sect-like in any way. In that study he reported that: On the basis of empirical investigation, it can be said that to the largest extent, Landmark Education does not present risks to the health, free will and legal integrity of its participants. Nor, is there any evidence that the Landmark Forum is harmful. Dr. Nedopil stated that he could not discern any form of behavior which would put the Landmark Forum near a so called * sect.

Landmark in France
An agency of the French government, the Interministerial Mission for Awareness against Sectarian Risks (MILS) has classified Landmark Education as a secte (cult). It remains unclear what criteria the MILS uses to make this classification, and many of the organisations which it has so classified strenuously dispute the validity of such classification. Defamation lawsuits in the US and the Netherlands refute this French-language classification Regarding France, the US State Department noted in a 2002 report that the French legislation creating the MILS did not define the term "cult" and that the president of MILS had resigned in mid-2002 and that no replacement had emerged by the time of the US State Department's reporting deadline.)

In France, Landmark Education 'assistants' have the apparent French legal status of volunteer unpaid workers. On May 24, 2004, the France 3 show "Pièces à conviction" broadcast the investigative report "Voyage au pays des nouveaux gourous" ("Voyage to the land of the new gurus"). The next month, in June 2004, the French government (L’Inspection du Travail) investigated labor practices regarding "volunteer workers." Shortly thereafter, Landmark Education ended operations in France. (A short timeline in French.)

Landmark in Berlin
Although the Berlin State Senate report on Sects - their risks and consequences originally listed Landmark Education as espousing "a religious world view". The Berlin Senate subsequently retracted that, and re-classified Landmark Education as a "provider of life-assistance" (Anbieter von Lebenshilfe). (The literal translation of the word Lebenshilfe, "life help", does not accurately reflect the contexts in which speakers of German use Lebenshilfe.)

Clergy and the Landmark Forum
Many clergy have attended the Forum and find no conflict between the Forum and their faith. Clergy and religious who have made statements supportive of Landmark Education include Father Gregg Banaga, Father Eamonn O'Conner, Sister Iris Clarke, Father Gerry O'Rourke, Father Basil Pennington, Episcopal Church Bishop Otis Charles, Rabbi Arnold Mark Belzer, and Sister Miriam Quinn, O.P..

Is it Brainwashing?

After taking the Landmark Forum, one customer, Martin Lell, wrote a book titled Das Forum: Protokoll einer Gehirnwäsche: Der Psycho-Konzern Landmark Education Forum: Account of a Brainwashing: The Psycho-Outfit Landmark Education, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich, 1997, ISBN 3423360216. (This book is out of print, and the publisher's web-site no longer notes Lell as one of their current authors.)

Landmark Education sued to have the word "brainwashing" removed from the sub-title of Lell's book. During a hearing in a German court, Lell admitted that:

...following completion of The Landmark Forum, he did not see a doctor, was not hospitalized, did not seek or obtain medication, and was not diagnosed by a medical professional as being brainwashed or having any mental problem.
The German court decided that "brainwashing" constituted a matter of opinion and not an assertion of fact and allowed the sub-title to remain. (Opinions in some other jurisdictions constitute constitutionally-protected free speech; false statements of fact in certain jurisdictions may subject the publisher to claims of defamation / libel.)

Landmark refers inquiries on the issue of brainwashing to a letter by Forum graduate Edward H. Lowell MD PA, an eminent New Jersey psychiatrist with expertise in the areas of cults and brainwashing who states in no uncertain terms that Landmark does not use brainwashing techniques Edward H. Lowell, MD, PA, letter, letter on issue of brainwashing

"Brainwashing involves (1) intensive, forcible indoctrination aimed at destroying a person's basic convictions and attitudes and replacing them with an alternative set of fixed beliefs and (2) the application of a concentrated means of persuasion, such as repeated suggestion, in order to develop a specific belief or motivation. Necessarily involved are a kind of physical entrapment, power to inflict harm or detrimental effects, and secluding one from contact with friends and family. Not one of these exists in Landmark or any of its programs."

In 1999 Landmark Education asked Raymond Fowler, a psychologist and past President of the American Psychological Association, to evaluate the effectiveness, safety, and appropriateness of the procedures in the Landmark Forum. Speaking on his own behalf and not that of the APA, Fowler reported Landmark Education, website, Raymond Fowler, psychologist, personal statement

"I saw nothing in the Landmark Forum I attended to suggest that it would be harmful to any participant. ... the Landmark Forum is nothing like psychotherapy ... has none of the characteristics typical of a cult ... does not place individuals at risk of any form of “mind control” “brainwashing” or “thought control.”"

Large Group Awareness Training

Some commentators have described the Landmark Forum as a large group awareness training (LGAT) program, a view espoused in a University of Denver Ph.D. dissertation by Charles Wayne Denison: "The Children of est: A study of the Experience and Perceived Effects of a Large Group Awareness Training (The Forum)".

See the large group awareness training page (LGAT) for more information.

Lawsuits against Landmark Education in the United States

In the years since the emergence of Landmark Education in 1991, two customers (out of a total of over 800,000 world-wide) have brought their claims on the effects of the courses to court hearings in the United States of America, and in neither case did the court uphold the claim.

Landmark Education's standard "course information form" for use within the United States of America (but not elsewhere) has, for several years, required any disputes to go to arbitration rather than to court. (The use of binding arbitration occurs commonly in the United States.)

1) In September 1989 Stephanie Ney attended "The Forum", conducted by Werner Erhard (doing business as Werner Erhard & Associates (WE&A)). In 1992 Ney sued Landmark Education Corporation (LEC) for $2,000,000, saying that three days after attending the Forum she "suffered a breakdown and was committed to a psychiatric institute in Montgomery County".Stephanie Ney case, September 1989, psychiatric breakdown The trial court dismissed her suit on summary judgment. The appeals court affirmed, ruling that "although perhaps her participation in the Forum might have led in part to her psychotic reaction," Virginia law did not allow recovery for emotional injury unaccompanied by physical injury. Legal document, Stephanie Ney case, Court Ruling

In 1996, Art Schreiber, general counsel for Landmark Education, summarized Landmark Education's view of the case: "Out of more than 350,000 people who have participated in The Landmark Forum around the world, there has been only 1 person who filed a lawsuit. ... the United States District Court rejected Mrs. Ney's claims and ruled that The Forum did not cause her emotional problems." Art Schreiber, 1996, Letter RE: article "Handel In Geluk", general counsel, Landmark Education

2) In 2002, Jeanne Been versus Jason Weed with Landmark Education as a cross-defendant. Jason Weed had a psychotic episode shortly after his participation in the Landmark Advanced Course and shot and killed a letter-carrier, Robert Jenkins. The United States government had jurisdiction because the case involved the killing of a government employee. Jason Weed was found not guilty by reason of insanity. At the sanity hearing, the witness for the United States Government, Dr. Harrison Pope, a Harvard Medical School psychiatrist who also helped draft the DSM-III and DSM-IV stated,

"Weed's previous steroid use and participation in an exhaustive self-awareness program Landmark Advanced Course the week prior to the shooting could be ruled out as causes of the psychotic break, leaving only 'very rare possibilities' as the triggering factors." Jeanne Been versus Jason Weed with Landmark Education as a cross-defendant, 2002 file from Caselaw

In June 2006, the plaintiff refiled the case, after having dismissed it for less than a year, as allowed under Oklahoma law.

3) In 1997, Tracy Neff, 1997, sued Landmark Education, not over the content or effects of the courses, but alleging a Landmark Education center manager sexually assaulted her. Landmark lacked a sexual harassment policy at the time, but introduced comprehensive anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies following this case, as well as detailed complaint procedures. The parties settled out of court, and no charges were filed against the alleged perpetrator.

Lawsuits initiated by Landmark Education in the United States

Since 1991, Landmark Education has filed a total of five lawsuits in the United States, in each case over issues of alleged defamation.

For an alternative count and legal summary of Landmark Education litigation history, including events outside the United States of America, see the summary written by Peter L. Skolnik and Michael A. Norwick of Lowenstein Sandler PC, Roseland NJ (Skolnik and Norwick, 2006). Note that this document is not an encyclopedia entry nor is it POV neutral, simply the summarized opinions of above attorneys.

Some cases appear here discussed in chronological order as listed in the declaration of Art Schreiber (the Schreiber Declaration), filed May 5, 2005, at the US District Court of New Jersey, civil action 04-3022 (JCL).

1. Condé Nast Publications (1993)
In 1993, Landmark Education sued Self Magazine (Condé Nast Publications) for defamation. Defendants moved for summary judgement, which the court denied. Rather than stand trial by jury, Self Magazine issued a retraction.

2. The Cult Awareness Network / Cynthia Kisser (1994)
In 1994 Landmark Education sued Cynthia Kisser, the Executive Director of the original Cult Awareness Network, which had issued leaflets containing a list of purported "Destructive Cult Organizations" which included "The Forum."

During a deposition Kisser stated as follows: " Cynthia Kisser, deposition, 1994, recorded statements

Q. Do you, Cynthia Kisser, say that ... the Landmark Forum is a cult? A. No.
Q. Do you Cynthia Kisser as executive director of the Cult Awareness Network say that Landmark is a cult -- Landmark Forum is a cult? A. No, no.
Q. So the Cult Awareness Network does not hold Landmark Forum to be a cult. A. It does not.
Q. Now, with respect to your individual opinion first, do you say that the Landmark Forum is a destructive cult? A. No.
Q. And that's your personal opinion. A. Correct.
Q. And does the Cult Awareness Network say or hold the position that Landmark Forum is a destructive cult? 2 A No.

3. Dr. Margaret Singer (1996)
In 1996, Landmark Education sued Dr Margaret Singer, an adjunct UC Berkeley professor and author of Cults in Our Midst (published in 1995) for defamation. Singer mentioned Landmark Education in her book; it remained unclear whether she labelled Landmark Education as a cult or not. Singer issued a retraction stating that she did not intend to call Landmark a cult nor did she consider it a cult. Dr. Margaret Singer, retraction, Landmark Education, website, files Singer removed the references to Landmark Education from subsequent editions of the book. She also stated at deposition that the had "no personal, firsthand knowledge of Landmark or its programs."

Scioscia (2000) Amanda Scioscia, 2000, Phoenix News Times, Drive-thru Deliverancereports:

Singer says she never called it a cult in her book, but simply mentioned it as a controversial New Age training course. In resolution of the suit, Singer gave a sworn statement that the organization is not a cult or sect. She says this doesn't mean she supports Landmark.

"I do not endorse them -- never have," she says. Singer, who is in her 70s, says she can't comment on whether Landmark uses coercive persuasion because "the SOBs have already sued me once."

"I'm afraid to tell you what I really think about them because I'm not covered by any lawyers like I was when I wrote my book."

Singer will say, however, that she would not recommend the group to anyone.

4. Elle Magazine - Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. (1998)
In 1998, Landmark Education sued Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. publishers of Elle Magazine for an allegedly defamatory article published in Elle magazine (August 1998), written by Rosemary Mahoney and entitled "Do you believe in miracles?" (Mahoney, 1998). See the press release for the lawsuit from August 31, 1998. The court dismissed the claim without going to trial and Landmark chose not to appeal; Landmark received neither retraction nor apology.

5. Rick Ross Institute (2004)
In June 2004, Landmark Education filed a one million US dollar lawsuit against the Rick A. Ross Institute, claiming that the Institute's online archives did damage to Landmark Education's product. In April 2005, Landmark Education filed to dismiss its own lawsuit with prejudice on the grounds that a material change in case law regarding statements made on the Internet occurred in January 2005; see Donato v. Moldow, 374 N.J. Super. 475 (N.J. App. Div. 2005), which held an operator of an online bulletin board not liable for defamatory statements posted by others on his bulletin board, unless he made a "material substantive contribution" to the defamatory material. Tech Law Advisor, caselaw, 2005, RE: Communications Decency Act, New JerseyReligion News Blog, Landmark Education Withdraws Lawsuit Against Critic, Dec. 21, 2005

For the case against the Rick Ross Institute, Landmark Education also obtained expert-witness testimony of Dr. Gerald McMenamin, a professor and leader in the field of forensic linguistics, claiming that Rick Ross himself has authored many of the materials on www.rickross.com, though presented as anonymous third-party postings.

In December 2005, Landmark Education succeeded in withdrawing the lawsuit with prejudice to avoid paying legal expenses of the opposing council. Landmark Education issued a press release on the matter. The Rick Ross Institute responded.

Registration Pressure

In 1996, Jill P. Capuzzo from The Philadelphia Inquirer, Weekend took the Forum and reported
"I made some eye-opening discoveries about myself and how I function in the world." However, she also stated that "One of the most irritating aspects of The Forum is the hard sell to sign up future participants." Jill P. Capuzzo, Philadelphia Enquirer, 1996, The Scoop About the Landmark Forum

Other participants have had different impressions, for instance Dr. Raymond Fowler has said:

"I was, along with everyone else in the group, encouraged to sign up for additional Forum sessions, but there was no coercion or high pressure sales. Participants were simply informed of the opportunities and told how to take advantage of them. In the months following the forum experience, I received, as I recall, two or three notices of forum opportunities and one telephone call which was cordial and non-coercive. I declined, because of time pressures, to attend any additional sessions and received no pressure to do so." Dr. Raymond Fowler, letter, February 22, l995

See also

History (before Landmark Education)

Current/Previous Involvement, Landmark Education
Related Organizations

Philosophical References

External links

Legal related information

Corporate websites

Generally favorable opinions on Landmark Education

Generally unfavorable opinions on Landmark Education

References

Human Potential Movement | Personal development | Employee-owned companies of the United States

Landmark Education

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Landmark Education".

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