Searching for Director of Stanford’s Gould Center Program on Negotiation and Mediation

From Stanford Professor Jane Schacter: I am chairing the search committee to replace the retiring Jan Martinez as Director of Stanford’s Gould Center Program on Negotiation and Mediation.  Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit their applications by December 1, 2022, but applications will be considered on a rolling basis until the position is filled. Click here for … Continue reading Searching for Director of Stanford’s Gould Center Program on Negotiation and Mediation

Slices of Conflict in Life

Question:  Where does conflict come from? Answer: Normal, unconflicted life. Building on Felstiner, Abel, and Sarat’s classic article describing the genesis of disputes, Naming, Blaming, Claiming, this overgrown blog post uses memoirs to analyze how people develop “perceived injurious experiences” (PIEs), some of which become grievances (when they blame others), and some of which become … Continue reading Slices of Conflict in Life

The Normal New Normal in the US, Circa September 2022

President Biden caused a little brouhaha when he said that the pandemic is over. I think that he was trying to convey that what I called the “crisis new normal” had given way to a “normal new normal.” Indeed, life is very different than March 2020, when we didn’t know much about the virus.  Remember … Continue reading The Normal New Normal in the US, Circa September 2022

Stacia Jones to Deliver Moritz’s 2022 Lawrence Lecture – hybrid event

On Monday October 31, beginning at 12:10 EST, Stacia Jones will deliver The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law’s Lawrence Lecture on Dispute Resolution titled A Better Way to Negotiate That Drives Towards Equity and Justice. Stacia is lululemon’s Global Vice President & Head of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Action – she graduated from … Continue reading Stacia Jones to Deliver Moritz’s 2022 Lawrence Lecture – hybrid event

Would you like to read a WIP draft?

I will present a draft of my article, Real Mediation Models to Help Parties and Mediators Achieve Their Goals, at the Works-in-Progress conference next month and I am posting it now so that you can read it before then if you like. People can attend the conference in person or by video – and I … Continue reading Would you like to read a WIP draft?

Mediators Help Save the Economy

The news media have a well-known bad-news bias.  If something bad is happening or – better yet – threatening to happen, the headlines scream of impending disaster. Good news, not so much coverage. If something good happens, including averted potential disasters, ho-hum.  There is much less coverage and it’s much less prominent. Such was the … Continue reading Mediators Help Save the Economy

How Can We Reduce Hyper-Polarization?

Heidi and Guy Burgess have long focused on how society – and our field – can deal with intractable conflicts.  They publish a newsletter, Beyond Intractability, that includes lots of thoughtful articles about this. The latest issue features an article they co-authored with Sanda Kaufman, Applying Conflict Resolution Insights to the Hyper-Polarized, Society-Wide Conflicts Threatening … Continue reading How Can We Reduce Hyper-Polarization?

Problem Resolution Lawyering Across the 21st Century Law Curriculum

Kris Franklin and Peter Phillips of New York Law School just wrote an excellent article that people who care about teaching dispute resolution in law schools should read:  Pass the Salt: Problem Resolution Lawyering Across the 21st Century Law Curriculum. Here’s the abstract: Attorneys work with clients to resolve problems. Legal education can help prepare … Continue reading Problem Resolution Lawyering Across the 21st Century Law Curriculum