Ken Fox’s new book, Perspectives on Conflict: Insights for Professional and Personal Practice, is a beautifully-written volume that provides a wide-ranging, interdisciplinary look at the nature of conflict. It invites readers to understand conflict itself and not simply consider how to manage it. The book is organized into three parts. Part 1 explores foundational concepts. … Continue reading A New Mosaic of Insights About Conflict
That’s the question that Nancy B. Rapoport and Joseph R. Tiano, Jr., discussed in Fighting the Hypothetical: Why Law Firms Should Rethink the Billable Hour in the Generative AI Era. This article provides a deep analysis, summarized in the abstract (with added blank lines to enhance readability): As the legal profession continues to grasp the … Continue reading How Will AI Affect Legal Practice and Education?
At the recent AALS ADR Section WIP Conference, I led a focus group to explore how faculty are using – and thinking about using – AI in their courses. The participants shared a range of thoughtful insights, revealing both enthusiasm and caution. Their responses offered a snapshot of what experimentation with AI looks like now, … Continue reading Teaching with AI: Faculty Reflections and a Preview of Professors’ Dilemma
Many colleagues at the AALS ADR Section Works-in-Progress Conference focused on various aspects of artificial intelligence (AI). Their papers included the following: The Bots are Coming: How Can Law Professors Stay One Step Ahead?, Hal Abramson (Touro) Detecting and Challenging AI Drafted Arbitration Awards, Rishi Batra (McGeorge) Data Resolution: How AI Agents Change Conflict, Simon … Continue reading AI at the WIP
By now, you know that students are using AI. Some faculty express concern, and they hope that AI tools will just go away – or that students won’t use them. Not gonna happen. One recent study found that 86% of university students occasionally, frequently, or very frequently use general artificial intelligence tools. About 70% of … Continue reading What Do AI and Sex Have in Common?
We’ve all used the terms “facilitative” and “evaluative” to describe mediation as if everyone knows what they mean. Earlier this year, I surveyed experts about how they understand these terms – and how they think others understand them. Spoiler alert: This study found that people are hopelessly confused about these terms, including experts in our … Continue reading Seriously, You’re Really Still Saying “Facilitative” and “Evaluative” Mediation in 2025?
Artificial intelligence is already transforming the ways lawyers, educators, students, scholars, and dispute resolution professionals work. The pace of change is accelerating. How should we respond collectively? How will you respond to help your students and/or clients deal with this new world? To help figure this out, you can read a concise new article, Responsible … Continue reading Responsible Realism About AI in Law and Dispute Resolution
Many of the people we admire for their work on dispute resolution aren’t formally part of the dispute resolution community. They include lawyers, judges, law professors, and others whose work embodies the spirit of our field – even when they use different language, work in other disciplines, or serve in different roles. Some time ago, … Continue reading You Really Should Know About John Inazu
This year, I wrote a lot of blog posts and short SSRN articles about the Real Practice Systems (RPS) Project, particularly about attorneys’ real practice systems and legal education. The Project is designed to improve understanding about how dispute resolution practitioners think and act and to help practitioners act more consciously and intentionally. I updated … Continue reading Updates to Collections of Real Practice Systems Project Publications
At this year’s AALS ADR Section WIP Conference, I presented data showing that more than 90% of law school mediation courses and more than 90% of the coverage in popular mediation texts focus on the mediator’s role. I asked people what they think the emphasis generally should be in generic mediation courses, and here are … Continue reading If You Will Teach Mediation (or Other DR Course) Next Year, Read This
