Kevin McCarthy’s quest to become speaker of the House of Representatives is a master class in how not to negotiate. He became what New York Times columnist Paul Krugman calls “speaker in name only” after fifteen ballots over five days. Election of a speaker normally is a routine event, and this was the first time … Continue reading How Not to Negotiate
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
Noam Ebner (Creighton) and I are delighted to announce (1) our new co-edited book, Star Wars and Conflict Resolution; and (2) the CfP for the sequel (tentative title: Episode II)! From the Introduction: “Never upset a Wookiee.” “Be mindful of your thoughts.” “Surrender is sometimes a perfectly reasonable option. “Failure to listen may lead to … Continue reading Star Wars and Conflict Resolution
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
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?
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)
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
My post, The Critical Importance of Pre-Session Preparation in Mediation, really resonated for some people. Clearly, pre-session preparation can help everyone involved in mediation to improve the process and outcomes. Many mediators and mediation programs routinely incorporate robust pre-session procedures in their mediation systems. Roselle Wissler and Art Hinshaw’s empirical study provides some good news … Continue reading Seeking Resources to Promote Pre-Session Preparation in Mediation
This post collects and summarizes the posts in the Real Practice Systems Project. I began by focusing on mediation systems, which are the combination of factors affecting what mediators do before, during, and after mediation sessions. These systems include their routine procedures and strategies for dealing with recurring challenging situations. Practitioners develop systems for other … Continue reading Real Practice Systems Project
It’s indisputable that preparation before mediation sessions is very important – both for the participants and the mediators. This can make a huge difference in the process and outcome. Parties (and their lawyers, if any) need to be prepared to discuss the facts, law, interests, and/or negotiation approaches etc. This is hard enough when they … Continue reading The Critical Importance of Pre-Session Preparation in Mediation
