On Wednesday, October 5, the University of Nebraska College of Law is hosting a Community Conversations event (ComCon for short). More than a third of the law student body has agreed to participate — that’s 133 people! Kristen Blankley (Nebraska) has been instrumental in planning the ComCon, in which students will serve as facilitators of … Continue reading Student-Facilitated Community Conversations →

Our friends at the Harvard Negotiation & Mediation Clinical Program are working with the White House and the Department of Education on an exciting initiative to help community college students become more effective negotiators. From the press release: Negotiation training can be critical in helping workers of any age secure a good job, salary and … Continue reading HNMCP at the White House →

Reposting from DRLE: If you teach a simulation course, how do you satisfy the new “direct supervision” requirement under ABA Standard 304(a)? Quick background on this question: Two years ago, I sent an email to those of you on the DRLE listserv asking whether your law school would consider Negotiation and Mediation “simulation courses” under … Continue reading Thinking through ABA 304(a) →

It’s summer, which means time for camps! Here in the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere, survival camps are quite popular with kids and adults. Offerings run from the standard, such as archery and foraging, to the more exotic, such as “hiding in the woods” (my kids took that one) to “processing a goat” (my husband wants … Continue reading ADR as a Survival Skill →

This project out of Northeastern’s Law Lab takes a pro se player through preparing for and going through a simple civil case. It’s cool. Many of us have long advocated for more pre-mediation training for self-represented, non-repeat players in mediation, and this format seems quite accessible. Does anyone know whether someone has created something similar … Continue reading Game for self-represented litigants →

As I posted earlier, last Friday Oregon hosted a symposium on implicit bias. Our keynote speaker was Michael Z. Green (Texas A&M), who spoke on “Civility and Mediation as Workplace Responses to Conscious Disregard of Racially-Biased Behaviors.” Like this title, Michael’s talk was provocative, stuffed with information, and at once idealistic and critical. You can … Continue reading Green on Race and ADR →

For the past four years at the ABA Conference, the “What I’m Reading” panel has given us an opportunity to talk about what inspires ADR scholars and practitioners. Last week, we had a wonderful panel and several people asked if I would post the reading list from the session. Here it is: Michael Colatrella (Pacific … Continue reading What I’m Reading →

This Friday, April 15, the University of Oregon’s ADR Center and Division of Equity and Inclusion will be co-hosting a symposium called: Out of the Shadows: Implicit Bias, Institutional Responses (link here). The symposium will include basic and advanced implicit bias trainings as well as sessions on effective interventions for the self and for institutions. … Continue reading Oregon Symposium on Implicit Bias: UPDATED 4/14 →

Donna Shestowsky (UC Davis) has published “How Litigants Evaluate the Characteristics of Legal Procedures: A Multi-Court Empirical Study” in the UC Davis Law Review, available on SSRN. The abstract: This Article presents findings from the first multi-court field study examining how civil litigants evaluate the characteristics of legal procedures shortly after their cases are filed … Continue reading Shestowsky on How Litigants Evaluate Procedures →

Jonathan Cohen (Florida) has published “Open-Minded Listening” in the Charlotte Law Review. Jonathan’s article explores what it means to listen with an open mind and how we (as lawyers, mediators, or judges) might cultivate open-minded listening in our practices. Abstract here. Read on for two micro-analyses or “quick takes” on Jonathan’s article, in which two … Continue reading Two Quick Takes on Cohen: Open-Minded Listening →