Everyone in the mediation community needs to know the story of Gary Karpin, a disbarred lawyer from Vermont who moved to Arizona and started advertising his services as a divorce mediator. Karpin made a habit of striking up romantic relationships with isolated, lonely, and vulnerable women in order to swindle them out of lots of money. In … Continue reading Con Man Posing as a Mediator Convicted of Fraud and Theft
From Scientific American website, http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=no-peace-for-science-international-2008-10-10L Martti Ahtisaari takes the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize “for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts.” A former President of Finland, Ahtissari mediated conflicts ranging from apartheid South Africa’s occupation of Namibia in the 1980s to Kosovo in the 2000s and … Continue reading Nobel Peace Prize goes to International Mediator
I am copying here the announcement that I just received from Ethan Katsh about Cyberweek (with his contact information should you have any questions.) It’s a great opportunity for students, professors, and practitioners to explore new software and technology dealing with conflict resolution. Enjoy! National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution Conference Announcement … Continue reading Cyberweek Announced
The winners of the ABA’s 2008 James B. Boskey Dispute Resolution Essay Competition for Law Students were recently announced, and awards the winners are [drum roll please]: First prize went to Adam Gregg from Drake University School of Law for his paper entitled Contractual Expansion of the Scope of Judicial Review After Hall Street: … Continue reading 2008 Boskey Essay Competition Winners Announced
Discover Bank v. Vaden will have oral arguments today — this case will address: 1. Whether a suit seeking to enforce a state-law arbitration obligation brought under Section 4 of the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. § 4, “aris[es] under” federal law, when the petition to compel itself raises no federal question but the dispute … Continue reading Penn Plaza to be argued 12/1; Vaden to be argued today!
The University of Texas has received a $500 Million pledge from Moncrief Oil, but as the Chrolincle of Higher Education reports it, the gift is conditional on Moncrief prevailing in pending litigation over the ownership of a Russian gas field. The conditional gift raises a number of interesting questions. For example, Rob Recih of Stanford’s … Continue reading $500 Million Gift Pledge (… if I win this lawsuit…)
In anticipation of tonight’s debate between the vice-presidential candidates Sarah Palin and Joe Biden, much has already been written about the Palin Effect and what impact nominating Sarah Palin has had on the McCain campaign. At first, many commentators thought that her nomination would convince former Hillary Clinton supporters to switch parties and vote Republican. It’s … Continue reading The Mythical Palin Effect–Women Focus on the Message rather than the Messenger
In an earlier post, I mentioned that my colleagues at Ohio State are working on a new form of ADR — Election ADR or EL-ADR. Readers may be interested to know about an Oct. 20 (at 10:00 a.m.) event co-sponsored by Election Law @ Moritz, the AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project, and Georgetown’s Supreme Court Institute. … Continue reading Upcoming Election ADR Event
The comic strip Non Sequitur has had several good mediation related cartoons, and this one from last week continues that tradition. Enjoy.
Two interesting things happened this weekend that led me to think a bit about sports, the need for identity, and conflict. Part One: As we are on our way this weekend to a baseball game between the Nationals and Padres (neither of which is a particularly important team to my Brewers-Mets-Pirates family), my three … Continue reading Sports Identity (and Why I Have to Take Down my Steelers Banner)
