I just finished writing a short story, What Happened? A Mediation Story Featuring RPS Coach, and I bet you would enjoy spending an hour to read it.

What Happened? tells the story of a promising business relationship that gradually unravels into a serious commercial dispute.  As the implementation of a software system goes seriously awry, two companies, their executives, their lawyers, and a mediator must navigate legal uncertainty, business realities, organizational pressures, and strained relationships.  Rather than focusing only on the mediation session, the story follows the participants from the origins of the conflict through preparation, the mediation session, settlement, implementation, and reflection.  It illustrates how thoughtful professionals can make decisions throughout the life of a dispute.

The story has three purposes.

First, I hope you will enjoy a plausible story about conflict and resolution.  Unlike the freakish caricatures of mediation in popular culture, this story depicts mediation as experienced practitioners know it:  a process involving uncertainty, strategic choices, relationships, organizational pressures, legal risks, and thoughtful professional judgment.  The five main characters embody personalities, experiences, values, and professional responsibilities that practitioners encounter every day.

Second, the story illustrates several ideas that have shaped my work over the years.

It illustrates Real Practice Systems (RPS) Theory, which views mediation as much more than what happens during a mediation session. RPS Theory highlights the importance of understanding processes before, during, and after mediation sessions and other dispute resolution processes.  It also illustrates that people are more than the roles they occupy, whether as mediators, lawyers, executives, or clients.  They bring their own histories, habits, assumptions, fears, and aspirations to every dispute.  Understanding disputes often requires understanding the particular people and systems that produce them.

What Happened? also illustrates the litigation interest and risk assessment (LIRA) framework, which encourages lawyers and clients to evaluate not only expected court outcomes but also the tangible and intangible consequences of continued litigation, combining these considerations to help people make good decisions.

It also describes how artificial intelligence can serve as a thoughtful collaborator throughout the life of a dispute, helping people prepare, organize information, identify issues, analyze risks, generate options, and reflect on important decisions.

Third, I hope you’ll consider whether it might be useful in your classes if you’re teaching mediation, an ADR survey course, or a related subject this fall.  Students can read the whole story in about an hour, with optional scenes and documents providing additional depth.  You might assign it early in a semester to provide an overview of the mediation process and then return to particular chapters, scenes, and documents as different topics arise.  Or you might prefer to use it near the end of a course as a capstone experience or assign selected portions independently.

Here’s a teacher’s manual containing background information, suggestions for dealing with challenging issues, discussion questions, and classroom exercises.

Considering the optional scenes and sample mediation documents,  you can adapt the materials for anything from a single class to an entire semester.

I just finished writing the story and would normally wait to circulate it publicly until I got some private feedback.  Because many faculty are planning their fall courses now, I am circulating the story now, so you can consider using it next semester.  I plan to circulate a revised version in early August.  I may refine it based on readers’ suggestions, and I don’t anticipate making major changes.

If you have an opportunity to read some or all the materials, I’d appreciate your thoughts about the following issues:

  • What parts of the story felt most authentic?
  • What parts, if any, seemed implausible or unconvincing?
  • Which aspects of the story or teacher’s manual would generate the richest educational experience for students?
  • Which aspects, if any, might teach lessons that you would not want students to learn, or should be presented differently?
  • If you were teaching a mediation or ADR survey course, would you assign students to read this story? Why or why not?

Even a brief reaction about the story, the teaching materials, or value as a teaching resource would be greatly appreciated.

In any case, I hope you’ll enjoy the story.