Donna Shestowsky, chair of the Association of American Law Schools ADR Section, received the following announcement from the AALS. Congratulations! Based on your outstanding submission, the AALS Committee on Sections has selected the Section on Alternative Dispute Resolution as the winner of the 7th annual Section of the Year. The section will be formally recognized … Continue reading AALS ADR Section Is Named “Section of the Year”
Randall Kiser just published another great book relevant to our community, Professional Judgment for Lawyers. Randy is the principal analyst at DecisionSet®, which consults with lawyers and law firms to improve their effectiveness. This earlier post describes his background and his book, Soft Skills for the Effective Lawyer. That book presents research showing that legal … Continue reading Randy Kiser’s New Book on Professional Judgment for Lawyers
Noam Ebner circulated the latest version of his ODR bibliography in June and this is a belated post to circulate it. It focuses mostly on books, book chapters, and journal articles on ODR. It also includes a less comprehensive collection of writing in trade and professional journals, conference proceedings, and other formats. Take a look.
At this year’s excellent AALS ADR Section Works-in-Progress conference, I invited people to share their perspectives about how we can take advantage of the NextGen bar exam to stimulate changes in legal education. This short article suggests how reformers can do this, and it includes colleagues’ ideas from the conference. Starting in July 2026, the … Continue reading Taking Advantage of the NextGen Bar to Stimulate Changes in Legal Education
Until recently, the University of Oregon Law School graciously hosted the website of the Legal Education, ADR, and Practical Problem-Solving (LEAPS) Project. This short article describes the history of the project and presents the materials it developed. The project promoted “practical problem-solving” (PPS), which was defined as including interpersonal skills, general lawyering skills, dispute resolution … Continue reading The LEAPS Project
When Someone You Love Is Upset, Ask This One Question, writes New York Times “wellness columnist” Jancee Dunn. It’s a helpful question for almost anyone – including colleagues, students, and clients – even if you don’t love them. This question can give people a sense of control, which they may really appreciate, especially when they … Continue reading Do You Want to Be Helped, Heard or Hugged?
From Donna Shestowsky: On behalf of the AALS Section on ADR, I hope you will join us in DC for the AALS Annual Meeting. Registration is open. Here is some information about our section’s program, which will also serve as our section meeting: In the spirit of the AALS’s recognition of the need for “Defending … Continue reading AALS Program on Difficult Conversations in Polarized Times
Gary Doernhoefer turned me on to a bot called “Pi.” Apparently, Pi is more conversational than other bots, which seem designed to accomplish tasks like finding information and drafting documents. I was really intrigued and uploaded the app on my phone. I had a remarkable “conversation” as it did a great job of voice … Continue reading Easy as Pi
From Corinne N. Stuber on behalf of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution: The ABA Dispute Resolution Section is now accepting program proposals for our 2024 Spring Conference that will be held April 10–13, 2024, in San Diego, CA. This year’s conference theme is Mastering the Future: Revolutionizing Dispute Resolution in a Dynamic World. We … Continue reading Last Chance to Submit Proposal for ABA Conference – Sept. 13 Deadline
I bet you didn’t know that you need to train your mediator bot. This didn’t occur to me until I read this Washington Post article about biases in artificial intelligence (AI) apps. The article includes eight (!) references to bot training. In my post, Avatar Mediation, I speculated about a future market for mediation bots. … Continue reading Training Your Mediator Bot
