Category Archives: General

Update on Constructive Conflict Initiative

Heidi and Guy Burgess have done phenomenal work for a long time to develop resources about dealing with destructive intractable conflicts. They have expanded their project, which is called the Constructive Conflict Initiative.  They just posted an update, which describes an impressive range of activities including public education, the Beyond Intractability materials, networking, publicity, and … Continue reading Update on Constructive Conflict Initiative →

Jackie Font-Guzmán Op-Ed on Democracy and Self-Government in Puerto Rico

TFOI Jacqueline Font-Guzmán wrote this op-ed column on democracy and self-government in Puerto Rico. She noted the publication of chat messages involving Governor Ricardo Rosselló which led to his resignation.  The messages “contained expletive attacks on the LGBTQ community, women, obese individuals, the 4,645 people who died as a result of Hurricane María, political opponents, … Continue reading Jackie Font-Guzmán Op-Ed on Democracy and Self-Government in Puerto Rico →

Political De-Biasing

I was going to post the piece below riffing on Arthur C. Brooks’s column about de-polarizing political biases. And then came the Democratic presidential debates this week, which provided a glaring example of how political biases often are generated and spread.  This post uses these debates as an illustration of the process and then discusses … Continue reading Political De-Biasing →

For Pragmatic Romanticism About ADR, Understanding Why the “Haves” Come Out Ahead

“Mediators equalize the power between the parties.”  Have you heard that claim? I used to hear it with some frequency, though (fortunately) not much lately. Considering this idea even for a nano-second, obviously it is wildly optimistically untrue as a generalization – and it doesn’t even make sense in individual cases. Some of the discussion … Continue reading For Pragmatic Romanticism About ADR, Understanding Why the “Haves” Come Out Ahead →

Readings and Resources for Teaching

Now as an annual tradition, here’s a reminder of some of my favorite things you might require or recommend that students read as you gear up for the new year. My short “Letter to Kelly” provides advice for new 1Ls.  If you teach a 1L course, you might assign it even though it doesn’t focus … Continue reading Readings and Resources for Teaching →

Reflections from the Past-and-Future Conference

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This post includes a variety of reflections from the Appreciating our Legacy and Engaging the Future conference in June.  The conference was co-sponsored by the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, and the Aggie Dispute Resolution Program, Texas A&M University School of Law in cooperation with a ton of law school … Continue reading Reflections from the Past-and-Future Conference →

Studying What DR Practitioners Actually Do

At the Past-and-Future Conference last month, I was on a program with Doug Frenkel, Michaela Keet, and Donna Stienstra entitled, “Research and Scholarship with a Real-World Focus:  Studying What Practitioners Actually Do.”  This program followed one on research terminology and methodology, described in this post. This program was in a conversational format, framed around several … Continue reading Studying What DR Practitioners Actually Do →

Another Year’s Wonderful Resource Share

From TGFOI Sharon Press and Bobbi McAdoo:       Dear Colleagues, It is with great pleasure that Bobbi and I (finally) post the 2019 Legal Resources Share.  The document has gotten so large and chock-filled with great ideas that we added this year, we split it into 2 documents: one containing the ideas and … Continue reading Another Year’s Wonderful Resource Share →