The Pull of Hate in Lawsuits (1/30/12)
Karin S. Hobbs
“Let no man pull you low enough to hate him.” Every year at this time, we are reminded of the great work of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. So often I encounter people who seem to “hate” each other. In a recent series of mediations, I encountered a number of people who began to “hate” each other.

Citizen Participation, Media Hype and… Dogs (1/02/12)
Aik Kramer
A while ago, I facilitated a public meeting about dogs in the municipality of Zandvoort (Holland), a fishermans village that, over the years, has transformed itself into a tourist beach resort. It houses approximately 16.000 inhabitants and, with the seasons, has a flow of millions of tourists each year. There are hotels, cafes, clubs, a race-circuit, and of course, there’s the beach itself.

Federal Circuit Ducks Question of Federal Mediation Privilege (12/27/11)
Dennis Crouch
Diapers have been the subject of numerous patents and patent infringement lawsuits. In this case, K-C is suing its competitor, First Quality, for infringing more than a dozen diaper related patents.

Jen Reynolds (Oregon) – How Commitments Shape Interests (12/05/11)
Jen Reynolds
How to negotiate durable agreements. People can want to change but may be committed to things that keep that change from happening. This is because interests are context dependent.

Some Unforgiving Implications of Forgiveness (12/05/11)
Taly Harel-Marian
Despite its obvious significance, research on conflict resolution has paid relatively little attention to the role forgiveness plays in addressing conflicts.

Evaluative and Directive Mediation: All Mediators Give Advice--Part 1 of 2 (10/03/11)
John Wade
Debates have arguably matured in other professions such as health care, where tensions, competition, limited funding and research exist, sometimes helpfully, between surgical, chemical, psychological, exercise and do-nothing interventions. The writer suggests that as these ongoing similar mediation debates are unpackaged, the debates become more helpful, rather than fog and noise.   2 Comments

Book Review: How Leading Lawyers Think (9/26/11)
Robert Creo, Monique McKay
“How Leading Lawyers Think” by Randall Kiser is a rare inside look at decision making, mediation, negotiation and case evaluation from the perspectives of leading attorneys who have successfully taken thousands of cases to trial. Their collective experience provides engaging, insightful perspectives about how cases are built from the initial client meeting, through settlement negotiations and the factors that impact the presentation at trial.   2 Comments

Incommensurability of Values and Conflict (9/19/11)
Milan Slama
In order to make comparisons intelligible requires that we apply some form of measure or utilize a unit of measurement. We need a uniform scale so that we know how to determine a higher or lower score.

I See Everything in Tie-Dye (9/18/11)
Clare Fowler
My upbringing, my training, and my default is to see everything in tie-dye. But sometimes when I define things in black and white, my clients find peace with flying colors.   1 Comment

You Don't Have to Settle for Less Than the Biggest Piece of the Pie (7/18/11)
A. M. Fink
You are a lawyer or a mediator and a client comes to you about a disputed piece of property. He thinks he is entitled to half of it. If you had a risk free way to guarantee that he gets at least half of it, would you use it?   1 Comment

Mediation in the Classroom: How Critical Thinking Can Facilitate Conflict Relsolution (7/11/11)
Donal O’Reardon
This article examines how critical thinking in the classroom can facilitate conflict resolution.

Using Cell Phone Voting to Facilitate Group Decision-Making (5/09/11)
Larry Susskind

ABA's Public Civility Initiative (5/09/11)
F. Peter Phillips
Business people negotiating a private deal are trained to listen to discover their counter-party’s interests, and to devise beneficial options that accommodate them. Yet listening is something one seldom observes in public legislative debate. Adjusting on the basis of what one hears, practically never.

The Seven Deadly Sins Of Collaboration (1/03/11)
Peter Adler
In the yin and yang universe of problem solving and decision-making, collaboration strategies have great appeal. They are friendlier, often more creative, and have the latent possibility of fashioning more enduring and tractable solutions. They also have limitations.   5 Comments

Singer, Linda: Dissatisfaction with Litigation - Video (9/07/10)
Linda Singer
Linda Singer describes how she became interested in mediation: her observance of the court and litigation system led to her dissatisfaction with how problems were being solved.

Larry Fong: Styles and Approach Controversy - Video (8/20/10)
Larry Fong
Larry Fong discusses the lack of research on the effectiveness of certain styles, but emphasizes that most mediators use a hybrid, eclectic approach that may combine styles.

Singer, Linda: Difficulty of Advertising - Video (8/04/10)
Linda Singer
Linda Singer shares her thoughts on why mediation is not as popular a service and field as it should be: difficult to advertise, people don't see benefits of negotiation, educational media not prevalent, and it is perceived as dull compared to litigation.

Group Decision Making: A Nonviolent Communication Perspective (5/30/10)
Ike Lasater, Julie Stiles
Making a group decision is a form of conflict resolution, whether a group of friends is deciding which movie to see or a community is deciding on public policy. In Nonviolent Communication (NVC) terms, people in the group advocate for a particular strategy based on the needs they are seeking to meet.   1 Comment

Stulberg, Joe: Trainers Should Be Clear About Approach - Video (4/28/10)
Joseph Stulberg
Joe Stulberg emphasizes the importance of the trainer disclosing what type of training approach and mediation style they are teaching.

Wheeler, Terry: Approach: Mostly Facilitative - Video (4/16/10)
Terry Wheeler
Terry Wheeler explains his approach to mediation mostly using a facilitative style with elements of other approaches that weave into his mediations.

Standing In The Fire: The Inner Art Of Facilitation (3/29/10)
John Folk-Williams
Facilitation is too often an underrated art. Both the practice and its practitioners are often characterized with some disdain as all process, no substance. Yet, everyone knows facilitation is necessary for tough meetings when the room is expected to bristle with tension, and a lot of skill will be needed to get a good result. Larry Dressler has written a book about the inner experience of the facilitator stepping into those highly charged meetings.

Zena Zumeta: Spiritual Side to Mediation - Video (3/19/10)
Zena Zumeta
Zena Zumeta speaks to the spiritual dimension of the work she does - how helping people learn how to respectfully and effectively be a part their workplace and family is a sacred task.

Negotiating Prejudice At U.C. San Diego (3/01/10)
Victoria Pynchon
As the New York Times reports this morning, things are not going well at my old alma mater. Shades of my late-60's, early '70's campus life, students have actually "occupied" the Dean's office even though the trigger for the racial dust-up was not University policy but the activities of a few dunderheaded frat boys who staged a "Ghetto Night" to "mock" Black History Month.

Collaborative Rationality (2/22/10)
Larry Susskind
In their extraordinary new book, Planning With Complexity (Routledge, 2010), Judith Innes and David Booher make the case for a new way of knowing and deciding.

Saposnek, Don: Transcending Mediation Models - Video (12/29/09)
Donald T. Saposnek
Don Saposnek describes how the different mediation models seem to blend together for an experienced mediator.