Everyone knows that a bottom line in a lawsuit is an immutable “line in the sand” that is accurately reported to mediators and counterparts as the least that a plaintiff would accept or most that a defendant would pay. Not really. During the life cycle of a case, lawyers start with vague and tentative bottom … Continue reading What’s a Bottom Line?
This week, there was another shooting of an unarmed Black man by police, this time in Kenosha, Wisconsin. So it’s very timely to read an article co-authored by MFOI Ava Abramowitz an article in Lawfare, Measurement Matters: The Key to Police Reform. The authors take a dispute system design approach to analyzing the problems, focusing … Continue reading Ava Abramowitz Article on Data Collection as Element in Strategy to Promote Good Police Performance
You may have been one of the people affected by the problems when Zoom was down for a few hours yesterday. Inc. magazine lauded Zoom’s apology, taking responsibility for the problems and promising to fix them, Zoom Just Failed Its Biggest Test. Its Apology Is an Extraordinary Example of Emotional Intelligence. After incidents of “zoombombing” … Continue reading Zoom Apologies
Everyone loves BATNA. It has more than 16 million hits on Google. I have loved BATNA too. Of course, people should consider alternatives to a negotiated agreement when negotiating or mediating. Unfortunately, people have loved BATNA so much that it has become a cliché that is widely misunderstood, even by some dispute resolution experts. When … Continue reading BATNA May Be Less Important Than You Think – and Teach
My career has focused on helping disputants by analyzing and promoting helpful lawyering and other dispute resolution techniques. The ABA book, Litigation Interest and Risk Assessment: Help Your Clients Make Good Litigation Decisions, is the culmination of my scholarly career, combining Michaela’s and Heather’s excellent research on litigation risk assessment and my work on planned … Continue reading LIRA Book Tour
One of the “benefits” of this horrible coronavirus crisis is that it makes it easier to provide professional education by video. Virtually all of us have become proficient in using video and so it is easy to produce programs that many people will want to see. As a result, we can much more efficiently produce, … Continue reading Dispute Resolution Video and Podcast Online Library
We’re in a serious jam. Washington Post columnist Paul Waldman writes that the legislative stalemate over coronavirus disaster relief deals with a complex and thorny negotiation problem. Enhanced unemployment benefits have now expired, leaving over 30 million Americans who have lost their jobs in a precarious economic position. The program providing loans to small businesses … Continue reading Wanted: Master Negotiator
From the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution: The Section will sponsor the ABA Dispute Resolution Tech Expo on September 14-18. Working virtually is our new normal, but now what? Besides Zoom, what other tools are out there to make working online easier? Look no further than the ABA Dispute Resolution Tech Expo. Tailored to the … Continue reading ABA Dispute Resolution Tech Expo – Sept. 14-18
Courtesy of EFOI Doug Yarn: The Georgia Justice Project seeks applications from third-year law students or recent law school graduates for sponsorship of a Skadden, Equal Justice Works, or other public-interest fellowship set to begin in the fall of 2021. Applications will be accepted until August 17th, 2020 but reviewed as they are submitted. Click … Continue reading Georgia Justice Project Fellowship August 17 Application Deadline
Pulitzer-Prize-winning NYT columnist Wesley Morris wrote a thoughtful essay, The Reconciliation Must Be Televised. “What is America’s next step in confronting its racism? A broadcast spectacle that could look like court, a telethon, an Oprah show — and more.” Take a look. [Click the title of this post to read the article.]
