This was the email subject line from a former student who sent me a link to the recently released dissenting opinion (available here) in Sarei v. Rio Tinto — a case alleging human rights violations in the context of the Papua New Guinea civil war.  There was no majority opinion, just an order referring the … Continue reading Mediating the French Revolution →

Ron Johnson defeated Russ Feingold in Wisconsin earlier this week.  Feingold had been the sponsor of the Arbitration Fairness Act for years. I’ve now spent (read: wasted) a good amount of time on the web, trying to figure out what Ron Johnson’s position might be on the AFA and other ADR-related measures.  I have some … Continue reading The Arbitration Fairness Act’s Sponsor →

Almost two decades ago, in what feels like a different lifetime, I did some work with folks who were focusing on questions of how best to teach productive conflict management skills to school-age children.  I confess that some shiny object or another distracted me from that inquiry, and I haven’t spent much time thinking about … Continue reading ADR and Bullying →

An informal organization of former members of Congress, from both sides of the political aisle, has released a call for “a civil and productive 112th Congress.”  They embrace the ideas of both partisanship and bipartisanship, but reject the politics of division and vilification. Available at www.fmocforcommonground.org, the open letter from these former members of Congress … Continue reading Former Members of Congress for Common Ground →

Below is a listing of the presenters at the Works-In-Progress Conference later this week, here at Oregon.  Stay tuned for more! MM — Cynthia Alkon, Texas Wesleyan: Rearranging Deck Chairs on the Titanic: Rule of law development assistance to countries in conflict Hiro Aragaki, Fordham Business School: Arbitration’s Suspect Status Rich Birke, Willamette: A Neuroscientific … Continue reading ADR Works-In-Progress Lineup →

Many (aside: why isn’t it all?) of us who teach Negotiation spend at least some time on Rule 8.4 (dishonesty, fraud, deceit, misrepresentation) and its relationship to Rule 4.1 (fraud).  The New York City Bar’s committee on ethics just issued an opinion in which it declared that an attorney may attempt to “friend” an unrepresented … Continue reading What? Rule 8.4 means it?! →

Lela Love and Gina Brown just sent around an announcement about a new ABA Section award.  Contents below. MM ————— I am writing to urge you to submit a nomination for what we hope becomes an important award of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution : The ABA Section of Dispute Resolution Award for Outstanding … Continue reading ABA DR Section: Award for Scholarly Work →

Wallace Warfield died about a week ago, and the world of conflict resolution is now far less rich. Wallace taught at ICAR at George Mason, and he did stints with SPIDR, with ACUS, with Community Relations Service at DOJ,  with Eastern Mennonite University, and with street gang worked in NYC.  He worked in conflict zones … Continue reading Wallace Warfield 1938-2010 →

The New York Times just ran an article (full text below) describing the more careful examination some judges are providing to possible settlements related to financial institutions’ misdeeds.  The role of judicial review of settlements is not new, as anyone familiar with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 knows.  The public scrutiny of that judicial … Continue reading Assessing Settlements – Judicial Deference, the Feds, & the Banks →

Until this evening, I had no familiarity with the Bell Labs study, examining predictors of high levels of performance in the workplace.  Their study suggested that it wasn’t grades, or other kinds of academic success, and it wasn’t even IQ or other typical academic-success predictors.  Instead, after some years of study, they named at least … Continue reading High-Performance in the Workplace →