Lovely to see so many colleagues this past weekend at the ABA! And back to reporting from last month’s trip to Israel: We had started day three by visiting Kibbutz Urim with Julia Chaitin, which miraculously escaped harm from Hamas. We stopped in the middle of the day at Kibbutz Nirim, where we visited with … Continue reading Israel Reflections 2024–Day Three–Kibbutz Be’eri/Honoring Vivian Silver
A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of attending the Vis Moot in Vienna, Austria on behalf of my law school and arbitrating a few sessions. I used some of my “down time” to visit the Jewish Museum in Vienna (mainly to learn more about the history of Jewish life and persecution in the … Continue reading Conceptions of Peace
In between the visits to the kibbutzes, we also visited the Nova Festival Site. This is the only part of our visit south that is open to the public as most kibbutzes are trying to get back to normal or are uninhabited and locked for security reasons. This was an incredibly difficult experience for everyone … Continue reading Israel Reflections 2024–Day Three–The Nova Music Festival Site
On Day 3 of the trip we headed south to visit the destroyed kibbutzes near Gaza, see the sight of the Nova music festival, and speak with the people affected. This day was graciously arranged for us by law professor and colleague Roy Peled whose connections to the kibbutz movement made these visits possible. We … Continue reading Israel Reflections 2024–Day Three–Visiting the South/Contemplating Peace
It is the time of year for law schools’ yearly genuflecting to the USNews Rankings, and this year is no different – even for those of us in the Dispute Resolution community. With that in mind, here are the 2025 USNews rankings for law school Dispute Resolution Programs. Drumroll please. . . . . Ohio … Continue reading 2025 USNews ADR Specialty Rankings
The issue of hostage negotiation is front and center throughout Israel. Even when business or school appears to be operating “as usual”, it is clear that the focus of the Israeli people is on the hostages. Their photos are everywhere—bus stations, sides of buildings, even in the public seats in the Knesset. And banners—to free … Continue reading Israel Reflections 2024–The Law (and Strategy) of Hostage Negotiations
A trip about the law would not be complete without a visit to the Supreme Court and we were also very happy to fit in a visit to the Knesset (the Parliament ) as well on our second day of the trip. The comments from Justice Ruth Ronnen about how she decides cases was a … Continue reading Israel Reflections 2024–Day Two–The Law & Understanding Both Sides of a Case
One of the things that has been in my mind throughout the last six months in particular was for how long Jewish and Islamic culture thrived side by side over the past hundreds of years—hopefully this conflict is a short break in a longer story of coexistence. Our final stop of the day was at … Continue reading Israel Reflections 2024–Day One–Islamic & Jewish Texts in Conversations
I strongly think that starting in Jerusalem is such a good anchor for peacebuilding and so the middle of our first day was a proper tour of the Old City. As student Olivia Corn wrote, a key message of the Old City is the coexistence of the world’s three major religions. The Muslim Quarter, Jewish … Continue reading Israel Reflections–Day One–Old City of Jerusalem
As readers of the blog know, I have had the wonderful opportunity to take students on trips learning about dispute resolution. My most recent trip was to Northern Ireland in 2020 and I also did a trip to Cuba in 2016. But the “regular” trip has always been to Israel—examining the legal system, peacebuilding, and … Continue reading Israel Reflections 2024–Day One–Shared Society
