The President and I actually have something in common–we are both rooting for peace in the Middle East before the end of his term! He, no doubt, has a whole host of reasons, not the least of the which would be managing to salvage some foreign policy success to help his legacy. I find it … Continue reading Peace in the New Year
With the two new Supreme Court decisions handed down at the beginning of last week regarding judicial discretion in federal sentencing and the federal sentencing commission allowing retroactivity on some of the sentences regarding crack cocaine, it appears that the pendulum may start swinging back in favor of allowing more judicial control over sentencing. Until … Continue reading Plea Bargaining in the Shadow of the Law Revisited
So, in an attempt to avoid more grading (as Michael wrote about so eloquently last week), I was thinking about better ways of assessing progress in ADR classes. I, for one, still don’t think that I have quite figured out the successful way to test law students. I also think students know this. I give … Continue reading Negotiating Your Grades
Aside from the fact you might not have cared about the Packer game last week, unless you lived in a local market (Milwaukee, Green Bay, or Dallas), you couldn’t have watched it anyway. Due to the stalled negotiations between the NFL and cable providers, with Comcast and Time Warner leading the way, only about 4 … Continue reading Why I Got to Watch the Packers Lose (And You Probably Did Not)
A few weeks ago, the weekly Torah portion to be read in synagogues across the country dealt with the story of Jacob & Esau. Most of us know this story as a tale of deception—Rachel & Jacob plotting to fool Isaac into giving the eldest son’s blessing (which should have gone to Esau) instead to … Continue reading The Season of Brotherly Love
You would think that negotiation professors would be among the best at picking and choosing their times to negotiate, right? We prepare, analyze our BATNA, come up with good options, set the mood, work on the relationship, order in food, and get set to have a wonderful collaborative experience. We also know when to avoid … Continue reading Black Friday and Avoiding Negotiation
Strikes that get played out in the news are interesting public displays of negotiation positions that we are often not privy to otherwise. In the strike of the Writers Guild of America, their position, as expressed in the New York Times by Damon Lindeloff (the co-creator and head writer for the television series Lost) is … Continue reading Missing Jon Stewart and What the Writer’s Guild Strike Has to do with Negotiation
I am appointments chair for the second year in a row (aah!) and, after returning from Washington DC last week and starting the process of making further decisions, have been focusing just a bit on the character of any new faculty that we would bring on. It reminded me of two great books that I … Continue reading Nice is Not a Four Letter Word
The parties in Hall Street argued their case on November 7, 2007. While the argument was difficult to follow, I thought I could discern some of the justices’ points of view. Chief Justice Roberts suggested that when parties agree to expand judicial review of arbitration awards, they take themselves outside the scope of the Federal … Continue reading Hall Street v. Mattel Oral Argument Yesterday by Sarah Cole
