Just over 40 years ago, Owen Fiss wrote his famous article Against Settlement, arguing that settlement was bad public policy. While the article has long served as a foil for dispute resolution academics, it is a good read — especially if you disagree with it, as do some of the commenters in the first volume … Continue reading Fiss Was Right – At Least About This One
Every year US News ranks law schools overall as well as by specialty areas, one of which is dispute resolution. Fortunately the specialty rankings are purely peer-based as opposed to some arbitrary number – like bar passage. It’s so unfair that some states have diploma privilege and therefore law schools in those states get a … Continue reading 2026 US News Dispute Resolution Rankings
With great sadness, our field learned of the passing of Isabelle Gunning. Those of us at Indisputably felt that the most meaningful way to honor her life and legacy was to invite people who knew her well to share reflections with our community. We are especially grateful to Sharon Press (Mitchell-Hamline) and Ellen Deason (Ohio … Continue reading In Memory – Isabelle R. Gunning (1956-2026)
I am happy to announce that Keith Allred, Executive Director of the National Institute for Civil Discourse and the Founder of Common Sense America, will deliver the 8th Annual Bruce E. Meyerson Lecture at Arizona State. You may know him better as the first Negotiation professor hired by the Kennedy School at Harvard. The lecture, … Continue reading Keith Allred to Deliver the 8th Annual Meyerson Lecture at Arizona State
Yesterday the interwebs sent me a link to an interesting essay by David Hoffman, a contracts scholar at Penn who wrote an article in the aughts provocatively titled The Best Puffery Article Ever. When discussing puffing in my Negotiation class, I use the title to provide a fun example. Nevertheless, that’s as far the paper … Continue reading Celebrating Intellectual Humility
Today’s Wall Street Journal features an interesting piece on the use of “judges for hire” — Inside the Little-Known World of Private Judging. When I first saw the headline, still a bit blurry-eyed before morning caffeine, my mind immediately went to Judge Judy and other courtroom-style TV shows — which, of course, are really just … Continue reading Private Judging – An Introduction
On behalf of my co-editors Andrea Schneider and Sarah Cole, I am happy to announce that Discussions in Dispute Resolution: The Coming of Age (2000-2009) is available for purchase. Note – use the code AUFLY30 to save 30% from the list price. Getting a book project to fruition is a labor of love, and there … Continue reading Discussions in Dispute Resolution: The Coming of Age (2000-2009)
Roselle Wissler (Arizona State) and I have published our final article empirically examining aspects of initial joint sessions and initial caucuses. Participant Actions and Intermediate Outcomes in Initial Joint Sessions and Initial Caucuses recently appeared in the Journal of Dispute Resolution (here). The findings are based on the online survey responses of over 1000 civil … Continue reading Participant Actions and Intermediate Outcomes in Initial Joint Sessions and Initial Caucuses – Final Article from Study of Over 1,000 Mediators
This year the Lodestar Dispute Resolution Center at Arizona State is taking the Schiefelbein Global Dispute Resolution Conference on the road. The conference will be on Thursday June 27th in Geneva, Switzerland in partnership with the Geneva Center for International Dispute Settlement. This year’s keynote speaker is Professor Anthony Patt, Ph.D, Professor of Climate Policy … Continue reading Schiefelbein Global Dispute Resolution Conference – Geneva June 27, 2025
Ok, so it’s not dead yet. However, it is with sadness that I pass along news of the demise of Dispute Resolution Magazine as we know it. ABA DR Section Chair Susan Guthrie made the announcement in a recent email sent to the Section’s membership tying the decision to funding restraints. As Co-Chair of the … Continue reading The ABA’s Dispute Resolution Magazine is dead. Long live Dispute Resolution Magazine !!
