Earlier in the semester, I taught Spaulding v. Zimmerman for the first time in an ethics course versus in a dispute resolution course. And, not completely surprisingly, the frame actually matters. You might remember that Spaulding v. Zimmerman is the case where there is a really nasty car accident. One of the survivors is a … Continue reading Spaulding v. Zimmerman as an Ethics Lesson
Today and tomorrow, the Harvard Negotiation Law Review is hosting an enormous symposium exploring various aspects of Dispute Systems Design.My understanding is that they will be posting web-based video of at least some of the presentations, and I will post a link to those when they become available. I am sitting in the audience, and … Continue reading Dispute Systems Design Symposium at Harvard Law School
At the 2008 AALS Section meeting, Dwight Golann and Ellen Waldman (two of the most thoughtful scholars of mediation ethics I know) presented a talk entitled “Ethical Codes and the Commercial Mediator.” They have graciously agreed to share the powerpoint materials they used in the presentation. (Attached below.) I am hopeful that we may entice … Continue reading Ethical Codes and the Commercial Mediator
Jean Sternlight recently published an article entitled In Defense of Mandatory Binding Arbitration (If Imposed on the Company), 8 Nev. L. J. 82 (2007). She describes the project as one that she conceived initially as a “lark,” but what emerges is a truly fascinating thought exercise. Jean’s basic thesis is summarized in the excerpt below. … Continue reading Imposing Arbitration on the “Big Guys”
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
There are many unforseen consequences of the writer’s strike, not the least of which is that my law students are watching American Gladiators. (Maybe they would do this anyway but I am clinging to the hope that, faced with choices, they would not.) When is the writer’s strike going to end? Is this strike, like the … Continue reading The Writer’s Guild Strike and American Gladiators
The President and I actually have something in common–we are both rooting for peace in the Middle East before the end of his term! He, no doubt, has a whole host of reasons, not the least of the which would be managing to salvage some foreign policy success to help his legacy. I find it … Continue reading Peace in the New Year
Do practicing mediators actually turn to conventional articulations of mediation ethical standards for guidance? So much ink has been spilled describing mediator standards, and so many hours have been devoted to parsing their every word, that some might hope the answer is “Yes, of course!” But I doubt busy mediators ever consult them. I personally … Continue reading Mediator Ethics … and What Actually Guides Us
Most of the conflicts about which I know anything, I learned about through reporters. And today, I wonder what I should think about that. At a conference I attended yesterday, on “Interest-Based Reporting,” faculty from the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication and the University of Missouri’s Center for Conflict, Law, and the … Continue reading Interest-Based Reporting
We will soon read about a Department of Justice initiative to decrease online public access to criminal plea agreements. I know this because the ABA Section of Litigation sent me an email yesterday, announcing the contents of the January 2008 issue of Litigation News, one part of which will be devoted to the topic of … Continue reading Access to Plea Agreements
