As we wait to hear whether the ABA will adopt the proposed change to Standard 304(b), below is the Section’s letter to the Section on Legal Education and Bar Admission in support of the proposed rule. For those who don’t know the details, the short version is this.  Last summer the ABA extensively revised the … Continue reading ABA DR Section’s Letter Supporting Proposed Changes to Standard 304(b) →

Last week I had the pleasure of being part of a panel at the Clinical Conference discussing mediation skills that crossover into lawyering skills.  [Spoiler alert – Doug Frenkel (Penn) and Jim Stark (Connecticut) have an article coming out in the HNLR this fall on this very topic.]  Not surprisingly we spent a lot of time … Continue reading It’s Not About the Nail ……… →

As regular readers know, we are big fans of the ABA Conference here at Indisputably.  There are a number of reasons why (here are Jill’s and John’s post conference explanations why), and one of the big ones for me is the DR Section’s annual Award for Outstanding Scholarly Work.  This year’s recipient was Jean Sternlight … Continue reading Sternlight’s Acceptance Speech for the Outstanding Scholarly Work Award →

The ABA Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar released a memo on proposed revisions to the ABA Standards for Approval of Law Schools. As you may recall, the Standards were approved over the summer and defined law school clinics in a manner that meant that mediation clinics would no longer be considered … Continue reading ABA Standard 304(b) Update – Mediation Clinics Are on the Way Back →

From Jonathan Cohen (Florida) via the list serv The University of Florida Levin College of Law seeks applicants for a Lecturer position to teach courses in which the skills of interviewing, counseling, negotiation, mediation, and mediation advocacy are taught.  This is a nine-month, non-tenured faculty position, which offers the opportunity for the award of long-term … Continue reading Florida seeks Lecturer in Negotiation, Mediation and Other Skills →

Last week Paul posted about the CFPB report on Mandatory Consumer Arbitration, and after wading through the entire report, FOI Jean Sternlight provides us with a post reporting the report’s key findings. ————————————————- For many years we have debated whether companies’ imposition of mandatory arbitration is helpful or harmful to consumers. Well-intentioned academics and neutrals … Continue reading Sternlight – CFPB Report Shows Mandatory Consumer Arbitration Harms Consumers →

Today USNews released their law school rankings (here) and their specialty rankings, which are password protected.  The Dispute Resolution rankings are below.  Congrats to all. 1. Pepperdine 2. Missouri 3. Harvard 4. Ohio State 5. Hamline 6. Cardozo (Yeshiva) 7. Oregon 8. Marquette 9. UNLV 10. UC Hastings 11. Arizona State and Northwestern (tie) 13. … Continue reading USNews Rankings →

FOI Jim Alfini (South Texas) sends this follow up to his announcement of Judge Enslen’s death on the list serv last week. This past week, we lost a pioneer in the modern ADR movement. Judge Richard Enslen passed away at the age of 83. As Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the … Continue reading Alfini on Judge Richard Enslen →

Last summer I blogged about Bravo’s divorce mediation tv show Untying the Knot, that follows New Jersey mediator Vikki Ziegler (a Quinnipiac law grad – go Bobcats!) as she assists couples in the divorce process.  Even though it really is an Early Neutral Evaluation show, it’s a great classroom tool, which I intend to use … Continue reading Untying the Knot – Returns for 2nd Season →

Today’s big law school news is the merger of Hamline and William Mitchell Law Schools into the Mitchell/Hamline School of Law to be located on Mitchell’s St. Paul campus. This is of particular interest to us here because of Hamline’s strong ADR program with wonderful faculty who are good friends. In the true win-win nature … Continue reading Hamline and William Mitchell Law Schools to Merge →