And by us, I mean people who teach ADR in law schools. I have just completed a year-long data-driven research project looking at the current shape of ADR within the legal academy, along with a look at trends over the past decade. I learned a ton. I was sometimes surprised. Occasionally appalled. Mostly hopeful. Some … Continue reading What Could Possibly Be More Interesting Than Us ?
Finally up for air after a terrific training yesterday for our new volunteer attorney-mediators, I am delighted to announce that Marquette will be starting a Milwaukee Foreclosure Mediation Program. You can link here for the website giving the background details (generous funding by the city and state–see the announcement by the dean here) and also to … Continue reading Milwaukee Foreclosure Mediation Program Kickoff
I just learned that my University is closing its Ombuds Office, to save resources in these tight times, and instead is spreading out its functions among various related offices (student complaints to Dean of Students Office; employee disputes to Human Resources, etc.). It seems to me that this economically-driven decision clearly undervalues dispute resolution. While those … Continue reading Are Ombuds Offices Expendable?
I read recently that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has voted to permit pilot projects aimed at developing alternative ways of processing EEO complaints. I have not read the details of the draft regulation. As I understand it, the principal motivation for the regulation is to encourage creativity and flexibility in the handling of these … Continue reading Alternatives to Alternatives: The EEOC’s Next Experiments
I just read the recently-posted, to-be-published-somewhere empirical study of the use of ADR in the federal government in the late 1990s. Entitled, Dispute Resolution and the Vanishing Trial: Comparing Federal Government Litigation and ADR Outcomes, the study’s authors include Lisa Bingham, Tina Nabatchi, Jeff Senger, and Michael Scott Jackman. Their abstract reads: This study compares … Continue reading ADR: The Federal Government’s Experience
Today’s New York Times Editorial entitled “The Cult of Secrecy at the White House” includes reference both to ombudsmen and to mediation. I am neither an every-day reader of the NYT editorial page, nor is my long-term memory as reliable as I’d prefer. But I cannot recall either of these staples of modern dispute resolution appearing … Continue reading Today’s New York Times Editorial
During the American invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, we were introduced to the concept of the “embedded journalist.” Pentagon officials claimed that they were limiting journalists’ access in order to ensure their safety and protect secret military operations. These protestations likely were sincere, but Pentagon officials also must have been aware that “embedded journalists” were … Continue reading The Rise of the “Embedded Neutral?”
