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
The New York Times headline, Trump’s Legal Team Is Enmeshed in a Tangle of Possible Conflicts, is a gross understatement – and that was before the indictment in Georgia. According to the article, “Former President Donald J. Trump’s growing cast of lawyers is marked by a web of overlapping interests encompassing witnesses, co-defendants and potential … Continue reading What a Tangled Web
I was thrilled that my recent post, Focus on Party Decision-Making, prompted a stimulating conversation on the DRLE listserv, including thoughtful comments by Mary Bedikian, Doug Frenkel, Dwight Golann, Deborah Hensler, Charlie Irvine, Andrew Mamo, Cash Nickerson, Peter Philips, Jim Stark, Jean Sternlight, Nancy Welsh, and Roselle Wissler. This post discusses some issues in the … Continue reading Teaching Students to Focus on Party Decision-Making
If there’s anything approaching unanimity in our field, it’s that it’s important to prepare in dispute resolution processes like mediation. So it’s almost boring to write about it. But I found some things that should be interesting and helpful for parties, practitioners, and mediation program administrators. Last December, I wrote a short article, The Critical … Continue reading How Can Courts – Practically for Free – Help Parties Prepare for Mediation Sessions?
I just saw that two very impressive people in our field, Kris Franklin and Peter Phillips, wrote an excellent article, Pass the Salt: Problem-Resolution Lawyering Across the Twenty-First Century Law Curriculum, 23 Pepp. Disp. Resol. L.J. 1 (2023), building on the work that many of us have done. Here’s the abstract: Attorneys work with clients … Continue reading Problem-Resolution Lawyering Across the Twenty-First Century Law Curriculum
It may be a weird time to suggest getting rid of bar exams considering that bar exams will soon include questions about client counseling and advising, negotiation and dispute resolution, and client relationship and management. Inclusion of these subjects on the bar exam could lead to welcome changes in legal education to better prepare law … Continue reading Should We Get Rid of the Bar Exam?
Black’s Law Dictionary definition of “smoking gun” could be Dominion Voting System’s brief supporting its motion for summary judgment against Fox “News.” Dominion’s argument is summed up in a Washington Post headline, “Fox News feared losing viewers by airing truth about election, documents show. ‘Everything at stake here,’ billionaire founder Rupert Murdoch wrote to a … Continue reading Fox’s Smoking Gun
Forrest (Woody) Mosten, Elizabeth Potter Scully, and Lara Traum’s book, Effectively Representing Clients in Family Mediation, was just published by the ABA. This is particularly valuable because many parties rely on lawyers to represent them in mediation, and there probably are many more lawyers who act as advocates in mediation than those who mediate. The … Continue reading New Book on Effectively Representing Clients in Family Mediation
Kris Franklin and Peter Phillips of New York Law School just wrote an excellent article that people who care about teaching dispute resolution in law schools should read: Pass the Salt: Problem Resolution Lawyering Across the 21st Century Law Curriculum. Here’s the abstract: Attorneys work with clients to resolve problems. Legal education can help prepare … Continue reading Problem Resolution Lawyering Across the 21st Century Law Curriculum
For a long time, Donna Shestowsky has conducted empirical studies of litigants’ perceptions about dispute resolution processes. CPR’s Alternatives to the High Cost of Litigation magazine just published an article summarizing her study about parties’ expectations about the process used to resolve their cases. The article is Why Client Expectations of Legal Procedures Must Be … Continue reading Shestowsky’s Study Supports Value of Lawyers’ Early Education of Clients About Their Procedural Options
