Brian Farkas has been deeply involved in our field since he was a student at Cardozo, where he was the editor-in-chief of the Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution. He is an attorney at ArentFox Schiff LLP, a prolific author and speaker, and a regular adjunct professor at Cardozo. He is one of the people who … Continue reading Brian Farkas: Using Checklists in My Course on the Law of Settlement
I received many enthusiastic responses to my menu of mediation checklists, including that they are “interesting,” “informative,” “so very useful,” “really helpful,” “great,” “excellent,” “wonderful,” “fantastic,” “invaluable,” “impressive,” “very thorough,” “brilliant,” and “utterly awesome” resources. “Just wow!” No kidding. The checklists are part of the Real Practice System Project. Although it has focused particularly on … Continue reading How Do You Want to Use the Real Practice Checklists?
Gary Doernhoefer, the founder of ADR Notable, suggested that I produce a bibliography for its users. ADR Notable is an app providing case management software to help mediators handle case intake, bill clients, manage client documents, develop checklists and task reminders, take notes, build documents, and manage client relationships generally. Gary recognized that our respective … Continue reading Real Practice Systems Project Annotated Bibliography
Gary Doernhoefer, the founder of ADR Notable, suggested that I produce checklists for its users. ADR Notable is an app providing case management software to help mediators handle case intake, bill clients, manage client documents, develop checklists and task reminders, take notes, build documents, and manage client relationships generally. Gary recognized that our respective work … Continue reading Real Practice Systems Project Menu of Mediation Checklists
Randall Kiser just published another great book relevant to our community, Professional Judgment for Lawyers. Randy is the principal analyst at DecisionSet®, which consults with lawyers and law firms to improve their effectiveness. This earlier post describes his background and his book, Soft Skills for the Effective Lawyer. That book presents research showing that legal … Continue reading Randy Kiser’s New Book on Professional Judgment for Lawyers
At this year’s excellent AALS ADR Section Works-in-Progress conference, I invited people to share their perspectives about how we can take advantage of the NextGen bar exam to stimulate changes in legal education. This short article suggests how reformers can do this, and it includes colleagues’ ideas from the conference. Starting in July 2026, the … Continue reading Taking Advantage of the NextGen Bar to Stimulate Changes in Legal Education
Until recently, the University of Oregon Law School graciously hosted the website of the Legal Education, ADR, and Practical Problem-Solving (LEAPS) Project. This short article describes the history of the project and presents the materials it developed. The project promoted “practical problem-solving” (PPS), which was defined as including interpersonal skills, general lawyering skills, dispute resolution … Continue reading The LEAPS Project
When Someone You Love Is Upset, Ask This One Question, writes New York Times “wellness columnist” Jancee Dunn. It’s a helpful question for almost anyone – including colleagues, students, and clients – even if you don’t love them. This question can give people a sense of control, which they may really appreciate, especially when they … Continue reading Do You Want to Be Helped, Heard or Hugged?
From Donna Shestowsky: On behalf of the AALS Section on ADR, I hope you will join us in DC for the AALS Annual Meeting. Registration is open. Here is some information about our section’s program, which will also serve as our section meeting: In the spirit of the AALS’s recognition of the need for “Defending … Continue reading AALS Program on Difficult Conversations in Polarized Times
So…my youngest son graduated this spring (yay!) and moved home (yay!) and we needed another car (boo!) This was made even sadder by the fact that there was very little negotiation to be done–if you’ve tried to buy a car since the pandemic, you know the market is still quite wonky with a very limited … Continue reading DSD at its Best?
