When relevant to DR issues, I have noted things in our political life such as President Obama’s lectures on listening and compromise, Republican nominee Donald J. Trump’s book, The Art of the Deal, and the applicability of an arbitration clause in Gretchen Carlson’s suit against former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes. In her acceptance speech … Continue reading A History Lesson in Negotiation
GFOI Bernie Mayer has a wonderful blog, Staying with Conflict – the Election Edition 2016. Our political discourse is a far cry from what we learned in high school civics class. Past elections have displayed serious problems of misrepresentation, fearmongering, and evasion of serious discussion of critical issues. But it is so much worse this … Continue reading Bernie Mayer’s Great Blog – Staying with Conflict During this Crazy Election
My friend, Lisa Renee Pomerantz, a New York lawyer and neutral, wrote an article on consumer arbitration in ACResolution that you might want to check out. It chronicles a history of efforts to regulate and improve consumer arbitration, leading up to the recent study and proposed rules issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It … Continue reading Pomerantz and DR Section on Consumer Arbitration
Last week I announced the Divided Community Project housed at OSU’s Moritz College of Law. Today—in the second of three posts—I wanted to share the Project’s first publications. Key Considerations for Community Leaders Facing Civil Unrest: Effective Problem-Solving Strategies That Have Been Used in Other Communities, provides background information and expertise for local community leaders … Continue reading Addressing Community Division and Civil Unrest – Divided Community Project Part 2
In November, John asked “How can we help in major social conflicts, if at all?” I was dying to respond with an idea we’ve been working on here at Moritz, but the Divided Community Project wasn’t quite ready. Today—in the first of a series posts about the project—The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law’s … Continue reading Announcing the Divided Community Project at Moritz – Part 1
Here’s an account of the negotiations leading up to the international climate change agreement. Apparently, there was an accidental change of the word “should” to “shall” in one passage, which almost sunk the deal. A lesson to law students and lawyers everywhere. The story of this extremely complex negotiation really is fascinating, especially following the … Continue reading One Word
As I mentioned in a recent post, the University of St. Thomas Law School held a terrific symposium on November 13, entitled Dispute System Design: Justice, Accountability and Impact. They have posted a video of the symposium as well as powerpoints from most of the presentations. Kudos to Mariana Hernandez Crespo, Heidi Van De Berg, … Continue reading Video and Powerpoints from Fabulous St. Thomas DSD Symposium
I have gotten emails from dispute resolution colleagues asking what we, in Missouri’s dispute resolution center, might do (or might have done) to help manage the conflict at our university more constructively. For years, some folks in our DR community have noted despairingly that we aren’t engaged in major conflicts like the one that has … Continue reading How Can We Help in Major Social Conflicts, if at All?
As you may know, the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS), is a “national, independent research center dedicated to facilitating continuous improvement and advancing excellence in the American legal system.” It is an impressive, high-powered organization based in the University of Denver. It just released a new report entitled, Change the … Continue reading PEDR is Important for Culture Change in Courts
A short piece in the New York Times by Harvard economists and Yale psychologists has a suggestion that may surprise you – or maybe not – about people’s motivation to cooperate. The authors focus on the “tragedy of the commons” which is the situation “where individuals acting independently and rationally according to each’s self-interest behave … Continue reading Why Cooperate?
