As you gear up for the new year, here’s a reminder of some of my favorite things you might require or recommend that students read. My short “Letter to Kelly” provides advice for new 1Ls. If you teach a 1L course, you might assign it even though it doesn’t focus on any particular 1L subject. … Continue reading Readings and Resources for Teaching
Ben Trachtenberg, one of the sharpest faculty at my school, wrote this outstanding article analyzing what went wrong during the highly-publicized controversies at the University of Missouri in 2015. Having lived through this painful conflict, Ben’s account seems extremely accurate – and brings up a lot of sad memories for me, reminding me of things … Continue reading A Case Study of Murphy’s Law in Missouri
Michaela Keet and Heather Heavin (Saskatchewan), have been studying “litigation interest and risk assessment” (LIRA), something you probably teach using different names. You probably emphasize the importance of analyzing BATNAs and preparing for negotiation and mediation, which are basic elements of LIRA. Building on their own and others’ research, they developed a simple but comprehensive … Continue reading Keet and Heavin on Why Litigation Interest and Risk Assessment is So Darn Important for Lawyers and Mediators – And How You Can Make Stone Soup With It
The Stone Soup Project is about learning how things actually work in practice. Exposing students to the real world of practice through interviews or observations of actual cases can help them make sense of legal doctrine. Although we have started using Stone Soup in traditional ADR courses, the same techniques can work in a wide … Continue reading Stone Soup in 2L and 3L Courses
Many colleagues see an obvious benefit from using Stone Soup assignments in traditional dispute resolution courses but have doubts about using them in other courses, especially 1L courses. At the ABA Legal Educators’ Colloquium, some people worried that using Stone Soup in 1L courses would overwhelm students. That shouldn’t necessarily be the case, especially if … Continue reading Stone Soup in 1L Courses
Here’s the first paragraph of a press release from Marquis Who’s Who: “Marquis Who’s Who, the world’s premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to present Lisa Blomgren Amsler with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. An accomplished listee, Ms. Amsler (nee Blomgren, and formerly Bingham) celebrates many years’ experience in her professional network, and … Continue reading Lisa Blomgren Amsler Receives Lifetime Achievement Award
Having recently railed against the popularity of superhero movies, I was struck by the themes in the new animated film, Incredibles 2, a satire of the superhero genre. One major theme is about people’s problematic desires for superheroes. A speech by the villain summarizes the critique of people’s dependence on superheroes. She says: “Screenslaver interrupts … Continue reading What’s Wrong with Superheroes?
You probably know – or at least know of – Forrest (Woody) Mosten. He is the award-winning mediator, lawyer, and peacemaker who is called the “father of unbundling,” referring to the process of offering legal clients discrete services as distinct from a complete bundled representation, as lawyers traditionally provide. He also is a prominent collaborative … Continue reading Mosten and Cordover’s New Collaborative Law Book
Last month, Michaela Keet (Saskatchewan), Martha Simmons (Osgoode Hall), Gemma Smyth (Windsor), and I gave a presentation about the Stone Soup Project at the joint annual conference of the Association for Canadian Clinical Legal Education (ACCLE) and Canadian Association of Law Teachers (CALT). You can click on this powerpoint to get an overview of … Continue reading Stone Soup in Canada
The ABA Section of Dispute Resolution is calling for proposals for the 2019 Spring Conference. The theme is “Shining the Light on Parties: Enhancing the Experience of ADR Users.” The 2019 Annual Spring Conference will be held on April 10-13, 2019 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Here is a brief sketch of … Continue reading Call for Proposals for ABA Conference
