So, in the middle of grading this week, I’ve been interviewing research assistants for the summer. Each candidate had to come to the interview with a negotiation story and a lawyer joke (mostly for the purposes of cheering me up during grading!) The following joke is the winner and also a great argument for why … Continue reading Lawyer Jokes & Mediation Confidentiality
While certification and ethics for mediators continue to be hotly debated in the U.S., a new organization has come on the scene with the goal of offering a certification that will be accepted as the global mediator competency standard. International Mediation Institute (“IMI”) was created by the Netherlands Mediation Institute, Singapore Mediation Centre/Singapore International Arbitration … Continue reading International Effort to Certify Mediators
I am linking you here to a terrific blog post on a report of an incident that occurred last week at Knox College where John Ashcroft was speaking. During the questioning period after his speech (which was interrupted numerous times) a young woman (daughter of a friend of a friend) asked Ashcroft a terrific question … Continue reading Getting Yelled at by John Ashcroft
Jean Sternlight, Saltman Professor, UNLV Boyd School of Law & Director Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution, brought to my attention the Second Circuit’s recent decision in Ross v. Bank of America, — F.3d —-, 2008 WL 1836640 (C.A.2 (N.Y.). According to Jean: “[I]t is the most important victory in recent years for consumers seeking to … Continue reading Ross v. Bank of America: Important Victory for Consumers Subject to Arbitration Provisions
In Advanced Bodycare Solutions, LLC v. Thione International, Inc., No. 07-12309 (11th Cir. April 21, 2008), the Eleventh Circuit ruled that the Federal Arbitration Act could not be used to enforce the parties’ agreement to resolve disputes using mediation or nonbinding arbitration. The Court noted that while the FAA does not define “arbitration”, classic arbitration … Continue reading 11th Circuit Confirms that Mediation is not Arbitration
Andrew Daughety and Jennifer Reinganum, two economists from Vanderbilt, recently posted an article on SSRN titled, simply, “Settlement.” I don’t know how it works in the economics literature. In many areas of the law, insanely short article titles are typically reserved either for those who are unspeakably preeminent or who are the first to a … Continue reading What Economists Say to Each Other about Settlement
I have a good way to avoid grading exams on dispute resolution and, instead, have fun playing with disputes. Let me explain: a few weeks ago at the ABA Section on Dispute Resolution meeting, I participated in a panel on the use of videogames and dispute resolution with Professor Jean Sternlight and Kathleen Goodrich. I … Continue reading Play the News
My colleague, Ned Foley, contemplates an Amicus Court designed to assist in resolution of election-related disputes. Ned and another colleague, Steve Huefner, are contemplating whether ADR might be useful more broadly to provide mechanisms that would assist parties in avoiding election-related disputes and/or help resolve them more peacefully and with greater buy-in. Let’s Not Repeat … Continue reading EL-ADR (Election ADR): ADR of the future?
Divided We Fall is the title of Nick Kristof’s op-ed piece in the New York Times this past Thursday using the political debates as a lovely example of how we all like to view the world from our own little belltower. For those of us who have taught ladder of inference, partisan perceptions, and the … Continue reading Divided We Fall
If “conflict resolution” happened in a forest, and nobody was around to facilitate it, would it still be “conflict resolution”? In an article in the most recent Conflict Resolution Quarterly, Patricia Orr, Kirk Emerson, and Dale Keyes report on the development of an evaluation framework for conflict resolution practice in environmental and natural resource disputes. … Continue reading Defining Environmental “Conflict Resolution”
