From Jen Shack, the director of research for Resolution Systems Institute (RSI), which is a fabulous organization doing great work in our field: RSI is looking for a new PhD researcher to join our expanding research and evaluation department. We’re looking for someone who is interested in qualitative research, including focus groups, interviews, mediation observations, … Continue reading RSI is Hiring a Researcher
From our dear FOI Brian Pappas (North Dakota): Ava Abramowitz recently published an interesting article in Cardozo’s journal describing how consultative selling research can be used to expand a mediator’s effectiveness. I highly recommend it and my summary here does not do the piece justice. Essentially, the research demonstrates that people go through multiple stages … Continue reading Reinventing the Wheel
I am the the world’s biggest fan of Indisputably.org, and I am delighted to be able to serve as the “team nerd” helping with some of the WordPress configuration and editorial management (and maybe put in a few posts here and there along the way). Thanks for welcoming me in to the Indisputably community.
The first paragraph of the Ninth Circuit’s decisions says it all:“California enacted Assembly Bill 51 (AB 51) to protect employees from what it called “forced arbitration” by making it a criminal offense for an employer to require an existing employee or an applicant for employment to consent to arbitrate specified claims as a condition of … Continue reading No Surprise Here: Ninth Circuit Rules that California’s AB51, Criminalizing “Forced” Arbitration is Preempted
In honor of Valentine’s Day, our wonderful ADR community produced two wonderful sonnets about mediation and circulated them on the DRLE listserv. I am sharing both here, with permissions. From Kristen Blankley (Nebraska), who asked ChatGPT to write a sonnet about the benefits of mediation: I can’t imagine a better way to let go, Mediation … Continue reading Sonnets About Mediation
The word of the month for February is “ussie.” (I’ll try to get on a better schedule with these words of the month, like closer to the actual start of the month.) You’ve heard of a selfie, of course. But do you know what an ussie is? An ussie is a group photo, often taken … Continue reading February: Ussie
New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote a touching essay about his reactions to a lifelong friend’s struggle with depression and ultimate suicide. Mr. Brooks gave Pete advice about how to deal with his depression – and found that his efforts were counterproductive. It’s only later that I read that when you give a depressed … Continue reading The Gift of Really Listening
Some of you know John Stephens, a colleague at the University of North Carolina School of Government, who has focused on conflict resolution for his long career. Like many of us, he was intrigued by ChatGPT and gave the following prompt and got the following response. Describe and contrast three main models of mediation for … Continue reading A Mediator and a Bot Walk into a Bar …
I am sharing the very sad news that Prof. David Lipsky of Cornell University, luminary in the world of labor and employment ADR and personal mentor to me earlier in my career, passed away last week at the age of 83. His obituary describes his many achievements both in our field and for Cornell University’s … Continue reading In memoriam: David Lipsky
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
