Tag Archives: Real Practice Systems

How Can Courts – Practically for Free – Help Parties Prepare for Mediation Sessions?

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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? →

Teaching Students How Practitioners Really Think and Act

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How cool would it be for your students to interview lawyers, mediators, arbitrators, or other practitioners about how they really think and act in their work? Practitioners generally develop their own categories of routine and challenging situations in their work, and they develop regular practices and strategies for dealing with them.  In mediation, this involves … Continue reading Teaching Students How Practitioners Really Think and Act →

Party Self-Empowerment from Preparation for Mediation Sessions

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In The Critical Importance of Pre-Session Preparation in Mediation, I explained why parties’ preparation for their mediation sessions can produce many significant benefits.  This post suggests that preparation before mediation sessions is an important opportunity for parties to empower themselves. People have used the concept of “empowerment” in mediation in various ways, as I described … Continue reading Party Self-Empowerment from Preparation for Mediation Sessions →

Bush’s and Lande’s Differing Perspectives of Mediation Theory

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Thanks to Andrea Schneider, the Cardozo Journal on Dispute Resolution’s faculty advisor, and its editors, the Journal just published articles by Professor Robert A. Baruch Bush and me expressing differing perspectives about basic mediation theory.  I appreciate this opportunity to publish our perspectives and share them with readers. Prof. Bush’s article is Beyond the Toolbox: … Continue reading Bush’s and Lande’s Differing Perspectives of Mediation Theory →

Would You Like to Get the Benefit of the Real Practice Systems Project and Share Your Experiences?

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I am doing a research study entitled “Assessment of Real Practice Systems Experience” to assess how well Real Practice Systems assignments and exercises have worked in courses, trainings, and continuing education programs as well as for individual practitioners.  I’m writing to invite you to participate in this study. In this document, I describe how faculty … Continue reading Would You Like to Get the Benefit of the Real Practice Systems Project and Share Your Experiences? →

More Ways to Help Students Understand Dispute Resolution Practice

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I developed a variety of assignments that faculty can use to help students better understand mediation, advocacy in mediation, negotiation, or other regular procedures. The assignments grow out of my article, Real Mediation Systems to Help Parties and Mediators Achieve Their Goals in the Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution. You might assign students to read … Continue reading More Ways to Help Students Understand Dispute Resolution Practice →

Real Practice Systems Project

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This post collects and summarizes the posts in the Real Practice Systems Project.  I began by focusing on mediation systems, which are the combination of factors affecting what mediators do before, during, and after mediation sessions.  These systems include their routine procedures and strategies for dealing with recurring challenging situations.  Practitioners develop systems for other … Continue reading Real Practice Systems Project →

The Critical Importance of Pre-Session Preparation in Mediation

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It’s indisputable that preparation before mediation sessions is very important – both for the participants and the mediators.  This can make a huge difference in the process and outcome. Parties (and their lawyers, if any) need to be prepared to discuss the facts, law, interests, and/or negotiation approaches etc.  This is hard enough when they … Continue reading The Critical Importance of Pre-Session Preparation in Mediation →

Ten Real Mediation Systems

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This short article presents accounts of ten mediators about the factors affecting how we handle continuing streams of mediations – our mediation systems.  These systems are the combination of factors affecting what mediators do before, during, and after mediation sessions.  The systems include their routine procedures and strategies for dealing with recurring challenging situations. The … Continue reading Ten Real Mediation Systems →

Shifting the Central Paradigm to Dispute System Design

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There is no good definition of ADR, as described in a recent post. This post suggests that it’s time for a paradigm shift in our field.  Instead of identifying our field as ADR, we should use dispute system design (DSD) as our central theoretical framework. Time for a Paradigm Shift Thomas S. Kuhn’s classic book, … Continue reading Shifting the Central Paradigm to Dispute System Design →