10%. That percentage – or less – is the rough proportion of the mediation curriculum devoted to mediation representation in US law schools, including about: 6% of mediation clinic courses 9% of mediation simulation courses 3-9% of the coverage in some mediation textbooks 7% of the coverage in many mediation courses Is it too much … Continue reading Is 90% Too Much?
I recently published It’s Time to Make Important Upgrades to Our Mediation Curriculum, which notes significant changes in American mediation practice in the past five decades and suggests that law school faculty upgrade our mediation instruction accordingly. Modern Mediation Practice in American Legal Cases is a two-page summary of that article, which was published in … Continue reading Modern Mediation Practice in American Legal Cases
Many of us know Ava Abramowitz, a retired Professorial Lecturer in Law at George Washington. She recently gave a presentation at the Garibaldi Inn of Court, “Making Words Matter.” The communication behaviors discussed in her presentation can give mediators, lawyers, disputants and litigants more tools to communicate. and in the process, help them develop additional … Continue reading Ava Abramowitz on Making Words Matter
Because scholars have academic freedom, we can write about anything we want, without direction by deans or clients. So our choice of topics and perspectives is a good indicator of what we really care about. Over the years, I was struck by the eclectic mix of subjects that Elayne Greenberg wrote about. A common thread … Continue reading Appreciating Elayne Greenberg’s Scholarship
Randall Kiser just published another great book relevant to our community, Professional Judgment for Lawyers. Randy is the principal analyst at DecisionSet®, which consults with lawyers and law firms to improve their effectiveness. This earlier post describes his background and his book, Soft Skills for the Effective Lawyer. That book presents research showing that legal … Continue reading Randy Kiser’s New Book on Professional Judgment for Lawyers
Noam Ebner circulated the latest version of his ODR bibliography in June and this is a belated post to circulate it. It focuses mostly on books, book chapters, and journal articles on ODR. It also includes a less comprehensive collection of writing in trade and professional journals, conference proceedings, and other formats. Take a look.
Professor Kristen Blankley (Nebraska) recently published A Muddy Mess: The Supreme Court’s Jurisprudence on Jurisdiction for Arbitration Matters. This article considers the state of federal court jurisdiction to hear arbitration matters in the wake of the 2022 decision of Badgerow v. Waters. Here’s the abstract: The Supreme Court’s 2022 Badgerow v. Waters decision attempts to … Continue reading Blankley: A Muddy Mess: The Supreme Court’s Jurisprudence on Jurisdiction for Arbitration Matters
A major motivation in the modern dispute resolution movement has been to increase and improve parties’ decision-making in their legal disputes. Historically, parties often had little opportunity to exercise much control after they retained attorneys to handle their disputes. Attorneys often acted paternalistically, taking control over virtually every aspect of the cases. The legal system … Continue reading Focus on Party Decision-Making
From Dilyara Nigmatullina: Introduction In September 2022, a team of researchers from the Faculty of Law of the University of Antwerp (Law Enforcement Research Group) and Conflicool (a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the amicable resolution of disputes) conducted a large-scale empirical study on dispute resolution culture in Belgium. The study was undertaken via a survey … Continue reading A Study on Dispute Resolution Culture in Belgium: An Invitation to Share Your View on Key Results
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?
