Featured Blogs Section
Featured Blog Posts
Can We Learn to Have More Empathy?
Thursday (10 June) was Empathy Day. Schools up and down the UK are running activities around what empathy is, why we need to be able to listen and understand each other’s experience and perspective.
Face and Mediation
We’ve all heard the phrases “saving face” or “losing face.” How does the concept of FACE play a role in conflict?
Being Offended is a Choice
Taking offense at even minor things is a phenomenon that has been growing steadily over the last several decades.
Proposal for Standard Explanation in Mediation
Since writing my recent short article, Courts Should Make Mediations Good Samaritans Not Frankensteins, I have been thinking about how to maximize the substantial benefits of court-connected mediation while minimizing the risks of coercion.
City Commissioner Commends ISCT Staff Member for Work on Police Reform Initiative
"I know much of our work is done privately in mediation rooms or with groups and we rarely get this level of public acknowledgement so I thought it was important to share!"
Global Voices Highlight: A Path to Mediation in the Middle East
Most of the old generations in the Middle East witnessed arranged marriages, which escalated into disputes and conflicts afterwards due to the lack of love. This is why I spent most of my childhood mediating between family members, friends, and neighbors so they can solve their issues, and reach collaborative solutions, without knowing that this can be a profession one day.
A Lot of Common Sense and a Little Mazel Can Go a Long Way
This article illustrates how a combination of common sense and good luck can produce a positive outcome in mediation.
Decline of Dialogue? Galton, Love, and Weiss on Joint Sessions, Caucuses, and the State of Mediation
If the point of mediation is to get parties together to discuss and thereby resolve their problems, why is the distinct trend to keep the parties apart?
A Mediator’s Guide to Claims Reserves in the Insurance Industry
Mediators may encounter a reluctance to settle by one or both parties during the course of a mediation session, but understanding the underlying realities of each party’s position may help break logjams.
"Yes, But....." Hypocrisy in Conflict
Conflict situations frequently revolve around people who have gotten very set in their beliefs and very intolerant of others who do not hold those same beliefs.
“Noise” is not Bias!
I learned a new term recently: noise. Not “noise” as in a room full of people talking loudly, but “noise” as opposed to “bias”.
A Mediator’s Take on: Thinking in Bets, by Annie Duke
I recently came across a 2019 book about poker that has given me new insights into how I can help parties make good decisions in mediation
Mediators Like Online Mediation And Other Verifiable Facts
This post provides an overview of some findings from an empirical study on online mediation. Nearly 500 mediators from around the world answered questions about advantages, obstacles, best practices, and settlement rates. The post provides an overview and analysis of English-language responses.
“A Community for All”
You may have seen this recent New York Times story about the failure of Marathon County, Wisconsin, to declare itself “A Community for All.”
An AAPI Neutral’s Perspective on Culture and Contract Interpretation
Something interesting has happened to me in the past year or so: I started seeing many more cases where two or more parties were Asian, a term I will use to mean both “Asian-American” and “from Asia.”
You Might Have more in Common with Bill and Melinda Than You Think…
Bill and Melinda Gates recently announced that they are divorcing after 27 years. Besides having to address their billions of dollars and their enormously influential foundation, this has brought attention to issues of a mature (or “gray”) divorce.
In the Wake of COVID-19, Hawaii Legislature Passes Bill Requiring Mediation Before Eviction
In April 2021, the Hawaii legislature passed legislation to amend the state’s landlord-tenant code in the wake of COVID-19 and encouraged use of ADR.
Abstract Strokes: Mediator as an Artist
Reality, to us, is expressed through Language.
How Can We Understand Everything?
Miles Davis once said, “If you understood everything I said, you’d be me.”
The Power of Story to Shift Conflict
When I work with clients, I first listen carefully and empathically to their story. They need to tell it and I need to hear it.
Reaching the Finish Line: Using a Neutral Facilitator Can Help Lead the Path to Resolution
In my 25 years of running marathons, I have learned a few critical lessons: Don’t go out too fast.
Effective Disagreement
If we listen to the main stream media, it can often seem as if there is no hope for people of different beliefs, races, religions, politics, gender etc. to be in the same room together much less get along.
Imbalance of Power!
When negotiating, think about the power dynamics at play and especially where lies the balance of power.
Courts Should Make Mediation Good Samaritans not Frankensteins
Using a recent California appellate decision as a jumping off point, it identifies problems with mandatory mediation and recommends that courts use good dispute system design procedures to reduce risks of creating Frankensteins – mediation that produces injustices.
Online Dispute Resolution: Mediating in the Time of COVID-19
It’s clear that COVID-19 has catapulted Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) into the spotlight. In this universally stressful year, there is great promise for online mediation.
Preparing Clients for Productive Mediations
Even seasoned mediators and trial lawyers, may not be aware of participants’ reaction to one aspect of the mediation process—the bargaining.
Eviction Mediation Insights from Two Successful Programs
As efforts ramp up to address the impending eviction crisis, I thought I’d revisit studies of two existing eviction mediation programs (in Minnesota and St. Louis) that were published last year.
Conflict Resolution Professionals as Politicians – Gary Friedman's Experience
Have you ever thought about how different things would be if high level conflict resolution professionals were more involved in politics?
Mediation and Co-Parenting: Why It Works
As difficult as a divorce can be for a married couple, it can be just as upsetting and confusing for the children of the relationship.
Diversity and Inclusion: Where Process Equals Purpose
For many, campuses of higher education institutions are where students will develop their identities.
We Should Replace Mediation Models with a Unified Conceptual Framework
A quarter century ago, Professor Leonard Riskin published an article describing a grid of mediator orientations including a facilitative-evaluative dimension.
The Mediation Process
The Harvard Program on Negotiation published an article worth discussing on April 19, 2021 on “The Mediation Process and Dispute Resolution”.
Expectations and Conflict
It seems to me – based on my work as a conflict management coach and, well, just as myself – that one of the things that leads to interpersonal conflict is when we have expectations of another.
Progressive Discipline, the Misunderstood Frontier - Part 4
Larger companies in the industry have access to formalized systems including human resources departments--what about others?
Consensus Instrument for Work Relationships
In view of this article’s theme, which concerns the management of labor conflicts, we will focus in particular on the legal institute of mediation and its effectiveness.