FOI Jean Sternlight has just announced a symposium in which I expect our blog readers will be interested.  The focus is democracy in the workplace, and the symposium will be interdisciplinary in nature.  See the below call for papers for details.  As Jean notes, Las Vegas is quite nice in February! UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA LAS VEGAS WILLIAM S. … Continue reading UNLV Law School Saltman Center Call for Papers–Democracy and the Workplace →

From the National Law Journal yesterday: “Judge stalls Prius headlight settlement, citing ‘big problem’ with fees” —– A federal judge, citing concerns about a request for attorney fees, has put the brakes on a proposed class action settlement between Toyota Motor Corp. and nearly 300,000 owners and lessees of Prius hybrids who claimed that their … Continue reading Prius Headlight Settlement “Stalled” →

Last week my good friend Greg Scott, a reading and writing instructor at the University of Missouri, collapsed as he was walking to class and passed away a short while later.  Greg’s true love in life was teaching.    Not everyone can make Legal Research and Writing somebody’s favorite law school class, but he did time and … Continue reading Gregory J. Scott, 1957-2011 →

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 →

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 →