Tag Archives: For Teachers and Students

Washington State Follows Oregon and Wisconsin by Approving Alternatives to Bar Exam

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“The Washington Supreme Court has adopted alternative pathways to a law license, becoming the second state to do so in a little more than four months,” according to this ABA Journal article.  The Court approved three ways to bypass a bar exam in Washington state, with different standards for law school graduates, law students and … Continue reading Washington State Follows Oregon and Wisconsin by Approving Alternatives to Bar Exam →

Annual Resource Share at ABA Conference

From Sharon Press and Noam Ebner: Dear Colleagues We are pleased to announce that the Resource Share will take place on Friday, April 12 from 4:30 – 5:30 pm at the Section of Dispute Resolution Conference in San Diego.  We are looking forward to seeing everyone and sharing resources!  For those of you who are … Continue reading Annual Resource Share at ABA Conference →

Helping Mediators Do the Best Mediation They Can

Helping You Do the Best Mediation You Can is Part 2 of a two-part series presenting action research about factors affecting mediators’ individual practice systems and how they can improve their systems. Part 1 describes a study of mediators at well-received educational programs to help them learn why they developed their particular practice systems and … Continue reading Helping Mediators Do the Best Mediation They Can →

Why Do Mediators Mediate the Way They Do?

Psychologist Kenneth Kressel argued that mediators’ mental models of mediation are largely unconscious mixtures of formal models and “personal ‘mini-theories’ of conflict and role of mediators.”  He defined mental schemas or models as “ideas the mediator holds about the role of the mediator; the goals to be attained (and avoided), and the interventions that are … Continue reading Why Do Mediators Mediate the Way They Do? →

Law Students Can Use Portfolios to Plan Their Practice Systems

It’s not exactly breaking news that a major function of American law schools is to train an upper stratum of students for jobs as associates in elite law firms and as judicial clerks.  Parsing appellate case opinions and ace-ing closed-book exams are tasks especially well designed for this purpose. Although these activities reflect some important … Continue reading Law Students Can Use Portfolios to Plan Their Practice Systems →

Helping Law Students Define and Pursue Success

On the AALS listserv, Gabe Teninbaum (Suffolk) asked, “[H]ow do we teach students to define successful outcomes in a given scenario?  And how do we help them understand how to communicate with clients about defining their own success?  As a former litigator, I remember balancing clients’ varied goals (their definition of “winning” didn’t always comport … Continue reading Helping Law Students Define and Pursue Success →

Real Lawyering Practice Systems

So far, my pieces in the Real Practice Systems Project have focused on mediation.  The theory is not limited to mediation, and this post applies it to lawyering. In the mediation context, the theory argues that mediators have unique practice systems that grow out of their personal histories, values, goals, motivations, knowledge, and skills as … Continue reading Real Lawyering Practice Systems →

Practitioners Tell Why Real Practice System Checklists Are So Useful

The Real Practice System Menu of Mediation Checklists received many rave reviews.  People said 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!” I identified numerous ways that the checklists could be used by practitioners, program administrators, and faculty, … Continue reading Practitioners Tell Why Real Practice System Checklists Are So Useful →

Tom Valenti:  Using Real Practice Systems Checklists in Practice and Teaching

Tom Valenti is a Chicago-based conflict resolution specialist offering mediation, arbitration, and facilitation services and training.  He also is a humanitarian activist who is a co-founder of Mediation Beyond Borders.  He co-leads the Athens Migration Dialogue Project, which helps local communities to design, organize and conduct dialogues that address difficult and dangerous issues, such as … Continue reading Tom Valenti:  Using Real Practice Systems Checklists in Practice and Teaching →

Brian Farkas: Using Checklists in My Course on the Law of Settlement

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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 →