The New Nigerian Bill on Arbitration & Mediation: Lessons for the Singapore Convention?

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After several attempts over many years, on 10 May 2022 the Nigerian Parliament passed a new Commercial Arbitration and Mediation Bill (H.B. 91).  The Bill is currently awaiting signature of the President, at which time it will become law.  If enacted, it is set to replace Nigeria’s Arbitration and Conciliation Act, originally enacted in 1988. … Continue reading The New Nigerian Bill on Arbitration & Mediation: Lessons for the Singapore Convention? →

Real Mediators’ Real Mediation Models

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Mediation theory generally focuses on models of mediation procedures.  While prescribed procedures obviously can be important factors affecting mediators’ behavior, traditional mediation theories are major oversimplifications that often don’t reflect the reality of how mediators actually think and act.  Many mediators agree with this critique, but these theoretical concepts still are widely used without much … Continue reading Real Mediators’ Real Mediation Models →

What Does Rowing Across the Pacific Have To Do With Dispute Resolution?

In case you haven’t been keeping up with the news, on Monday, July 25, a four-woman rowing team arrived in Hawaii, 34 days after leaving San Francisco, setting a new record.  As someone who gets motion sick looking at boats, it is hard to imagine spending over a month rowing across the Pacific Ocean in … Continue reading What Does Rowing Across the Pacific Have To Do With Dispute Resolution? →

Shestowsky’s Study Supports Value of Lawyers’ Early Education of Clients About Their Procedural Options

For a long time, Donna Shestowsky has conducted empirical studies of litigants’ perceptions about dispute resolution processes.  CPR’s Alternatives to the High Cost of Litigation magazine just published an article summarizing her study about parties’ expectations about the process used to resolve their cases.  The article is Why Client Expectations of Legal Procedures Must Be … Continue reading Shestowsky’s Study Supports Value of Lawyers’ Early Education of Clients About Their Procedural Options →

Humor Theory for When Everything Seems Like it is Going to Hell

Mediators have long recognized that they can use humor to help disputants deal with conflict (though it can really backfire). What about using humor when it seems like the world is going to hell? In her essay, Please Laugh About My Abortion With Me, comedian Alison Leiby describes experiences with her comedy show “Oh God, … Continue reading Humor Theory for When Everything Seems Like it is Going to Hell →

Is the World Really Falling Apart, or Does It Just Feel That Way?

That’s the title of an article by New York Times reporter Max Fisher.  He summarizes, “By most measures – with one glaring exception – people around the world are better off than ever.  So why doesn’t it feel that way, especially to Americans?” Scanning the headlines, it’s easy to conclude that something has broken.  The … Continue reading Is the World Really Falling Apart, or Does It Just Feel That Way? →

Readings and Resources for Teaching

As an annual tradition, this is a reminder of some of my favorite things you might use in your courses as you plan for next academic year. Here’s a post suggesting how you can teach students to use more realistic, thorough, and practical models of negotiation and mediation than we traditionally teach. Here’s a message … Continue reading Readings and Resources for Teaching →

Retrofuturism on the Supreme Court

Princeton sociology professor Paul Starr wrote an essay in the Washington Post, Conservatives Hope to Turn Back the Cultural Clock. Can They Succeed? He writes that “[r]etrofuturism is a term for imaginative works that envision a future out of the past,” and he compares the Supreme Court’s abortion and other recent decisions to “prohibition and … Continue reading Retrofuturism on the Supreme Court →

What Jamelle Bouie is Reading

New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie is an avid reader with a particular interest in American history.  In today’s column, he describes various books he has been reading lately.  Two of the books are relevant to the recent audacious decisions by the Supreme Court majority to radically redirect legal doctrine by using dubious jurisprudential methods.  … Continue reading What Jamelle Bouie is Reading →