A newly formed Swiss political party is trying to save us all (or at least the Swiss) from boring power point presentations. The new Anti-Power Point Party wants to prohibit power point, claiming it would both save money (by their estimate €350bn) and help us to once again enjoy “real discussion about ideas as opposed … Continue reading Against Power Point
The dust has settled now on the debt-ceiling debate, and many liberals believe President Obama both gave away too much in this negotiation and has a habit of giving away too much in negotiations with Congressional Republicans. A theme has emerged that Obama 1) consistently gives away his main concession items without demanding enough in … Continue reading Neutral in Chief?
I am passing along a deadline remider for a Call for Papers from the Oregon Law Review: Oregon Law Review is currently accepting submissions for a special themed issue of our 90th volume. Called “ADR for the Masses,” this special issue will address appropriate dispute resolution in the context of mass torts, mass settlements, and large-scale public … Continue reading Call for Papers: ADR for the Masses – Oregon Law Review
I just learned that Melanie Greenberg has been named the new Chief Executive Officer of the Alliance for Peacebuilding. I do not know AFP’s work as well as I probably should, but I think very highly of Melanie, and I’m confident that she’ll do a great job. MM
Susan Franck has sent along this conference announcement for what looks like a really wonderful opportunity. The Institute for Transnational Arbitration – which is one of the leading institutes for the education and promotion of international arbitration in the world – is holding its First Annual Winter Forum this February in San Francisco. As Susan writes, … Continue reading Conference at the Institute for Transnational Arbitration
I am delighted to post this guest post courtesy of Brian Pappas: The summer of 2012 was an interesting one for our negotiator-in-chief. On July 13th, a Politico article (“President Obama abruptly walks out of debt ceiling talks “) describes a president willing to use both integrative (collaborative) and distributive (competitive) negotiation tactics. On the … Continue reading As Negotiator-in-Chief, Obama Needs to Better Manage his BATNA
Sean Nolon (U. Vermont) recently published an article related to environmental conflict resolution. In the article, Sean describes how different forms of consensus-building can be used to site wind turbines and create wind energy policy. A link to the article on SSRN is here. It is entitled Negotiating the Wind: A Framework to Engage Citizens in … Continue reading ADR, Consensus-Building and Wind Energy Policy
Just as I am beginning to settle back into my bourgeois American lifestyle, I wake up this morning to find this article in the Times on a Ghanaian chief who spends most of his year in New York overseeing a taxi operation with his wife. While in Ghana last week, I had the opportunity to … Continue reading Customary Arbitration in an Evolving Africa
Yesterday the ABA adopted a tepid resolution encouraging law schools to, perhaps, if they want to, give their students more training for the actual practice of law by developing “capstone” courses and clinics. Unfortunately, the resolution expressly states only that these courses should provide students with “client contact” (which is good) and “court appearances” (which … Continue reading ABA Adopts Resolution on Skills Training
In the upcoming term, the US Supreme Court will hear a pair of appeals from criminal defendants who allege that they did not have competent assistance of counsel during plea bargaining. In one case, Lafler v. Cooper, the defendant states that he rejected a plea offer after his lawyer misunderstood the law and gave him … Continue reading Plea Bargains and Competent Assistance of Counsel
