Tag Archives: Student Assessment and Grading

Teaching Students to Focus on Party Decision-Making

I was thrilled that my recent post, Focus on Party Decision-Making, prompted a stimulating conversation on the DRLE listserv, including thoughtful comments by Mary Bedikian, Doug Frenkel, Dwight Golann, Deborah Hensler, Charlie Irvine, Andrew Mamo, Cash Nickerson, Peter Philips, Jim Stark, Jean Sternlight, Nancy Welsh, and Roselle Wissler. This post discusses some issues in the … Continue reading Teaching Students to Focus on Party Decision-Making

More Ways to Help Students Understand Dispute Resolution Practice

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

Resources for Using Real Practice Systems Materials in Teaching

This post describes how faculty can use ideas and materials from the Real Practice Systems Project to help students get realistic understandings of practice.  I initially focused 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 … Continue reading Resources for Using Real Practice Systems Materials in Teaching

Teaching Students to Think Like Practitioners

People often say that dispute resolution processes aren’t “one size fits all.”  When practitioners are asked to opine about hypothetical problems, they often say “it depends” and they make “case by case” decisions. They are telling the truth.  Lawyers make complex decisions as negotiators, litigation advocates, and mediators based on a lot of factors, so … Continue reading Teaching Students to Think Like Practitioners

Merging Mediation Models – And Other Lessons

Imagine that you just stared into the neuralyzer in Men in Black.  It wiped out all your memory of the traditional bundled of models of mediation and negotiation.  You know – facilitative and evaluative mediation, interest-based and positional negotiation, etc. etc.  The neuralyzer also vaporized all references to them in texts and teaching materials. You’re … Continue reading Merging Mediation Models – And Other Lessons

Building a Better Bar Study Suggests Need to Restructure Bar Exams

Deborah Jones Merritt, co-author of the report, Building a Better Bar: The Twelve Building Blocks of Minimum Competence, wrote a post, Could We Create a New Bar Exam?  She writes: Neither states nor the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) have ever validated the current exams; that means we have no evidence that the skills … Continue reading Building a Better Bar Study Suggests Need to Restructure Bar Exams

You Really Should Know About Kris Franklin

Kris Franklin is a kindred spirit to folks in our community.  I hadn’t heard of her until I was wowed by her conversation with Peter Phillips, which you can see in this 42-minute video. She’s a professor at New York Law School and here’s an excerpt from her webpage: An academic innovator, Kris Franklin brings … Continue reading You Really Should Know About Kris Franklin

Inter-School Negotiation Practicum in the Fall

From GFOI Debra Berman: As you begin to prepare your syllabus for next semester, please consider incorporating our Inter School Negotiation Practicum. Last year, I organized a nationwide “Inter-School Negotiation Practicum” that included 623 students from 23 law schools.  And we are gearing up to offer it again this fall. If you choose to involve … Continue reading Inter-School Negotiation Practicum in the Fall

Readings and Resources for Teaching

Now as an annual tradition, here’s a reminder of some of my favorite things you might require or recommend that students read as you gear up for the new year. My short “Letter to Kelly” provides advice for new 1Ls.  If you teach a 1L course, you might assign it even though it doesn’t focus … Continue reading Readings and Resources for Teaching

Another Year’s Wonderful Resource Share

From TGFOI Sharon Press and Bobbi McAdoo:       Dear Colleagues, It is with great pleasure that Bobbi and I (finally) post the 2019 Legal Resources Share.  The document has gotten so large and chock-filled with great ideas that we added this year, we split it into 2 documents: one containing the ideas and … Continue reading Another Year’s Wonderful Resource Share