Isn’t there a better way? Those words of former Chief Justice Warren Burger reflect the aspirations of our community for innovation and improvement of traditional processes of dispute resolution. Although he was not generally lauded for his jurisprudence, people in our field remember his early support for our ideas. In a 1982 speech to the … Continue reading What’s Your Theory of Change for Dispute Resolution? – Part 1
Alert readers know that I am worried about the future of DR in US law schools. There is a large cohort of senior law school faculty who are aging toward retirement with limited prospects of replacement with new faculty. It would be nice if, in the next 10-20 years, we could expect that law schools … Continue reading Infect a Colleague Today – and Next Year and the Year After That!
“Mediators equalize the power between the parties.” Have you heard that claim? I used to hear it with some frequency, though (fortunately) not much lately. Considering this idea even for a nano-second, obviously it is wildly optimistically untrue as a generalization – and it doesn’t even make sense in individual cases. Some of the discussion … Continue reading For Pragmatic Romanticism About ADR, Understanding Why the “Haves” Come Out Ahead
This post includes a variety of reflections from the Appreciating our Legacy and Engaging the Future conference in June. The conference was co-sponsored by the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, and the Aggie Dispute Resolution Program, Texas A&M University School of Law in cooperation with a ton of law school … Continue reading Reflections from the Past-and-Future Conference
From Melissa Buckley at the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution: The ABA Section of Dispute Resolution is now accepting proposals for programs for the 2020 Spring Conference in New Orleans on April 22-25, 2020. Program proposals must be submitted by Monday, September 2nd at 5 pm ET. The 2020 conference will be an excellent opportunity … Continue reading The ABA DR Section is now accepting program proposals for New Orleans
The “Appreciating our Legacy and Engaging the Future” conference was very rich, with a wonderful collection of presenters in our field covering a wide range of issues. We could only scratch the surface of the subjects considering the wide scope of issues we addressed and we would like to continue the conversation on the blog. … Continue reading Let’s Continue the Great Conversation from Pepperdine
At the upcoming Past-and-Future Conference at Pepperdine, much of the discussion will be about engaging the real world of dispute resolution. This post recommends that to help do this, we develop a common language of dispute resolution and increasingly use qualitative research methods. We Should Set a Top Priority to Develop Clearer Common Language of … Continue reading Understanding Actual DR Practice and Communicating Clearly About It
This sounds like another one of my dumb questions. It arose again for me at the ABA conference when many folks affectionately said that I am one of the busiest retired people they know. The question reflects a common assumption of a false dichotomy between working and not working. Rather than being a simple binary … Continue reading What is Retirement?
Continuing my tradition, I took photos of folks at the recent ABA Section of Dispute Resolution conference. You can click here to see the photo collections I previously posted, along with an explanation of what they represent. Below are pictures from the conference, which are limited to shots (1) of people with whom I happened … Continue reading Photo Album: 2019 ABA SDR Conference
I just came back from the ABA conference, which I thought was great. Unfortunately, the weather prevented some people from getting there on time or at all. Next year, it will be April 22-25 at the Sheraton in New Orleans. I predict that there will not be more than five inches of snow nor a … Continue reading Mark Your Calendars: ABA Conference Next Year April 22-25 in New Orleans
