January: Freudenfreude

The word of the month for January is “freudenfreude.” Freudenfreude, as explained in this New York Times article, is the opposite of schadenfreude. Whereas schadenfreude is defined as “the pleasure we feel when witnessing someone’s misfortune” (presumably, someone we think deserves their misfortune), freudenfreude is rejoicing in someone else’s happiness. Freudenfreude is associated with numerous … Continue reading January: Freudenfreude

2023 ADR Speaker Series at UC Law SF

The Center for Negotiation & Dispute Resolution (CNDR) at UC Law San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings College of Law), in collaboration with key institutional partners, is putting on an ADR Speaker Series with some terrific guests who will be presenting on cutting edge issues relating to negotiation, mediation, and international arbitration. All except two sessions … Continue reading 2023 ADR Speaker Series at UC Law SF

New Book on Effectively Representing Clients in Family Mediation

Forrest (Woody) Mosten, Elizabeth Potter Scully, and Lara Traum’s book, Effectively Representing Clients in Family Mediation, was just published by the ABA.  This is particularly valuable because many parties rely on lawyers to represent them in mediation, and there probably are many more lawyers who act as advocates in mediation than those who mediate. The … Continue reading New Book on Effectively Representing Clients in Family Mediation

How The Real Practice Systems Project Can Help Improve Mediation Quality

Improving mediation quality is tricky.  This post describes how the Real Practice Systems Project can help. In Principles for Policymaking about Collaborative Law and Other ADR Processes, I argued that policymakers generally should consider non-regulatory policy options before adopting new rules. Non-regulatory approaches include training for disputants and professionals, dispute referral mechanisms, technical assistance for ADR … Continue reading How The Real Practice Systems Project Can Help Improve Mediation Quality

Would You Like to Get the Benefit of the Real Practice Systems Project and Share Your Experiences?

I am doing a research study entitled “Assessment of Real Practice Systems Experience” to assess how well Real Practice Systems assignments and exercises have worked in courses, trainings, and continuing education programs as well as for individual practitioners.  I’m writing to invite you to participate in this study. In this document, I describe how faculty … Continue reading Would You Like to Get the Benefit of the Real Practice Systems Project and Share Your Experiences?

ADR Scholarship Projects (Jan. 2023 edition)

From FOI Peter Reilly (Texas A&M), a round-up of recent scholarly projects from ADR profs: Ava Abramowitz (GW Law) and Ken Webb (Kenn Webb Consulting, LLC) Planned Research:  Our research builds on Neil Rackham’s and John Carlisle’s 1978 paper “The Behaviour of Successful Negotiators” (which can be found here). We asked ourselves, can the same … Continue reading ADR Scholarship Projects (Jan. 2023 edition)

More Ways to Help Students Understand Dispute Resolution Practice

I developed a variety of assignments that faculty can use to help students better understand mediation, advocacy in mediation, negotiation, or other regular procedures. The assignments grow out of my article, Real Mediation Systems to Help Parties and Mediators Achieve Their Goals in the Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution. You might assign students to read … Continue reading More Ways to Help Students Understand Dispute Resolution Practice