When I started Missouri’s Dispute Resolution LLM Program in the fall of (ahem) a long time ago, I took Understanding Conflict which Len taught. It was the first class where he had a heavy mindfulness component, which was both brilliant and strange. I remember thinking at the time that Len was just so far ahead of everyone.  And being far ahead of the field is Len’s modus operendi.  Remember that his first big mediation law review article was published in 1982, long before mediation was widely accepted.

If you take a look at today’s Wall Street Journal, you’ll see there’s a front page piece on lawyers and mindfulness. Naturally, Len is/was a big reason why mindfulness has caught on in the legal world. I believe he wrote the first law review article on the topic (some of which explores his experience teaching mindfulness in my class), and his mindfulness work is part of the reason why he was voted to the Mt. Rushmore of ADR profs not too long ago.

Here’s to you Len, a man ahead of his time.

H/T – Taxprof