It is the time of year for law schools’ yearly genuflecting to the USNews Rankings, and this year is no different – even for those of us in the Dispute Resolution community. With that in mind, here are the 2025 USNews rankings for law school Dispute Resolution Programs. Drumroll please. . . . . Ohio … Continue reading 2025 USNews ADR Specialty Rankings
The issue of hostage negotiation is front and center throughout Israel. Even when business or school appears to be operating “as usual”, it is clear that the focus of the Israeli people is on the hostages. Their photos are everywhere—bus stations, sides of buildings, even in the public seats in the Knesset. And banners—to free … Continue reading Israel Reflections 2024–The Law (and Strategy) of Hostage Negotiations
A trip about the law would not be complete without a visit to the Supreme Court and we were also very happy to fit in a visit to the Knesset (the Parliament ) as well on our second day of the trip. The comments from Justice Ruth Ronnen about how she decides cases was a … Continue reading Israel Reflections 2024–Day Two–The Law & Understanding Both Sides of a Case
One of the things that has been in my mind throughout the last six months in particular was for how long Jewish and Islamic culture thrived side by side over the past hundreds of years—hopefully this conflict is a short break in a longer story of coexistence. Our final stop of the day was at … Continue reading Israel Reflections 2024–Day One–Islamic & Jewish Texts in Conversations
I strongly think that starting in Jerusalem is such a good anchor for peacebuilding and so the middle of our first day was a proper tour of the Old City. As student Olivia Corn wrote, a key message of the Old City is the coexistence of the world’s three major religions. The Muslim Quarter, Jewish … Continue reading Israel Reflections–Day One–Old City of Jerusalem
As readers of the blog know, I have had the wonderful opportunity to take students on trips learning about dispute resolution. My most recent trip was to Northern Ireland in 2020 and I also did a trip to Cuba in 2016. But the “regular” trip has always been to Israel—examining the legal system, peacebuilding, and … Continue reading Israel Reflections 2024–Day One–Shared Society
Empirical researchers Jessica Bregant (Houston), Jennifer Robbennolt (Illinois), and Verity Winship (Illinois) have a new article about lay opinions of settlement. Lots of interesting information here, including that a considerable majority of respondents thought that in an ideal world at least 75% of disputes would be resolved by settlement, with 100% being the most common … Continue reading Settlementality by Bregant, Robbennolt, and Winship
I hope that you will share with your campus leaders a new tabletop simulation from the Divided Community Project — and maybe even offer to use your dispute resolution skills to facilitate the simulation and debrief for them. Your campus leaders can use “Tranquil Springs University” to check their readiness for a range of challenges … Continue reading DCP Offers Simulation to Prepare Campus Leaders for Challenges
Who knew that humor theory was a thing? Philosophical theory, no less. I sure didn’t. Not until I took Audible’s “Great Course,” Take My Course, Please! The Philosophy of Humor, taught by Gettysburg College Philosophy Professor Steven Gimbel. When I stopped teaching courses, it left a lotta empty time on my hands. So I decided … Continue reading Humor Theory and Dispute Resolution
Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman died on March 27. He and his colleague, Amos Tversky, published foundational studies in behavioral economics demonstrating that people inevitably have numerous cognitive biases. They upended dominant theories that people simply act rationally to carefully maximize their self-interest. In our dispute resolution field, we rely on their insights to help people … Continue reading Daniel Kahneman
