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Roselle Wissler (Arizona State) and I have published our final article empirically examining aspects of initial joint sessions and initial caucuses. Participant Actions and Intermediate Outcomes in Initial Joint Sessions and Initial Caucuses recently appeared in the Journal of Dispute Resolution (here). The findings are based on the online survey responses of over 1000 civil and family mediators who conduct court-based and private mediation in eight states across the country.
We found that actions that traditionally took place during joint opening sessions and were thought to contribute to informational and relational benefits are still largely associated with those…
Continue Reading Participant Actions and Intermediate Outcomes in Initial Joint Sessions and Initial Caucuses – Final Article from Study of Over 1,000 Mediators

From RSI, with kudos to Judge Denlow who created a legal settlement database, helping to provide actual data about settlement versus litigation.  More below from the press release:
Resolution Systems Institute had the privilege of awarding its 2025 Harris H. Agnew Service to Community Award to the Hon. Morton Denlow (Ret.) on April 25 at JAMS’ offices in downtownChicago. The Hon. Geraldine Soat Brown (Ret.)presented the award. Celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2025,Resolution Systems Institute (RSI) is a Chicago based national nonprofit known for its cutting edge research on alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and issues impacting litigants and courtswith limited…
Continue Reading Resolute Systems Inc (RSI) Presents the Agnew Community Service Award to Judge Morton Denlow

This year the Lodestar Dispute Resolution Center at Arizona State is taking the Schiefelbein Global Dispute Resolution Conference on the road this year.  The conference will be on Thursday June 27th in Geneva, Switzerland in partnership with the Geneva Center for International Dispute Settlement.  This year’s keynote speaker is Professor Anthony Patt, Ph.D, Professor of Climate Policy at ETH Zurich.  As you might have guessed, the program’s theme is climate change with panels on Industry and Climate Dispute Resolution, Climate Change and Arbitration Institutions, and Climate Disputes in Domestic Courts.  To find out more about the conference and…
Continue Reading Schiefelbein Global Dispute Resolution Conference – Geneva June 27, 2025

The Divided Community Project’s new fourth edition of Leading a Divided Campus: Ideas and Illustrations (4th ed) offers ideas for supporting students during conflict. Feel free to forward the link, go.osu.edu/dcpcampus4, to those you know in your university’s counsel, student affairs, ombuds, and security offices. DCP’s Speaking Out to Strengthen the Guardrails of Democracy (2023) may help you convey how independent universities support our democracy.The fourth edition’s publication is timed to fit the planning time between academic years. If you forward it, feel free to emphasize that your university colleagues can adapt and re-brand the checklists within the…
Continue Reading Divided Community Project Publications – helping students in a time of conflict

FOI, Professor Stacie Strong will be publishing her groundbreaking article on Artificial Intelligence and Arbitration in an upcoming issue of the Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution. Here is the abstract and the link to download:https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5239069 Artificial Intelligence in Civil Justice Systems: An Empirical and Interdisciplinary Analysis and Proposal for Moving Forward (May 02, 2025). Emory Legal Studies Research Paper, 41 Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution (forthcoming 2026)

Artificial intelligence – particularly generative artificial intelligence – has become one of the leading challenges of our time. One particular area of concern involves the effect of generative artificial intelligence…
Continue Reading Stacie Strong on Artificial Intelligence and Arbitration in Ohio State’s Journal on Dispute Resolution

I just posted a document collecting publications about the RPS Negotiation and Mediation Coach (RPS Coach), an AI tool designed to support good decision-making and reflective practice in negotiation and mediation.
It includes brief descriptions and links to blog posts and articles about:

  • Introducing RPS Coach
  • Using Artificial Intelligence Tools
  • Writing with the Coach
  • Using Coach in Legal Education

It also includes links to videos and podcasts.
This document will be updated as new pieces are published.
If you’re curious about using AI in your practice, your courses, helping students reflect more deeply, or exploring practice theory with an
Continue Reading Collection of Resources about RPS Coach

Many of us teach mediation courses focused on preparing students to serve as neutrals.
Our courses don’t focus much on preparing them to represent clients in mediation, a role they are far more likely to perform soon after graduation.
I just posted my latest Theory Meets Practice column for CPR’s Alternatives magazine, The Art of Mediation Representation: Helping Clients Make Good Decisions.
It outlines the theory and practice of mediation representation, drawing on Real Practice Systems checklists, recent research, and techniques of practical lawyering.  It emphasizes how attorneys can help clients make informed, confident decisions before, during, and after…
Continue Reading New Article on Mediation Representation – and an Invitation for a Conversation at the ABA DR Conference

It is with sadness that I pass along news of the demise of Dispute Resolution Magazine as we know it.  ABA DR Section Chair Susan Guthrie made the announcement in a recent email sent to the Section’s membership tying the decision to funding restraints.  As Co-Chair of the Editorial Board (along w/ our very own Jen Reynolds), I can vouch for that – nobody wanted this to happen.  The Section, along with all of the ABA, is suffering from serious financial difficulties like many other professional organizations are.  What saddens me the most is that the magazine has been a…
Continue Reading The ABA’s Dispute Resolution Magazine is dead. Long live Dispute Resolution Magazine !!

Many of the people we admire for their work on dispute resolution aren’t formally part of the dispute resolution community.  They include lawyers, judges, law professors, and others whose work embodies the spirit of our field – even when they use different language, work in other disciplines, or serve in different roles.
Some time ago, I wrote a post, You Really Should Know About Kris Franklin, about a family law professor whose pedagogy and worldview reflect the deepest values of our field.  This post is in that same spirit.
You really should know about John Inazu.
John Inazu…
Continue Reading You Really Should Know About John Inazu

Despite being a card-carrying member of the if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it school of innovation, I dove headfirst into the world of AI.
Why?  Because it turns out to be amazingly useful.
In a short piece, Technology and Me and You:  Getting Comfortable with AI, I reflect on how I came to develop the RPS Coach AI tool.  I explain why I think many of us – even some folks who now are wary of AI – will regularly use AI tools in thoughtful ways.
My piece highlights a common misconception that AI simply spits out answers that we blindly accept, abdicating our…
Continue Reading Why This Tech-Wary Curmudgeon Went All-In on AI – And You Might Too

Alyson Carrel (Northwestern) asked me to post this message which she just sent on the ADR prof list serv.  It’s worth your time if you haven’t already read it, and if you have it’s worth a second read.
I’ve been reflecting deeply on my values over the past few weeks. As our institution and colleagues have come under attack, I’ve found myself asking how my values should guide my response—and whether I even have a role to play. 
Like many of you, I find comfort in serving as a neutral. I pride myself on my ability to see all sides…
Continue Reading The Roles We Play

In my last post, I described what it’s like to write with RPS Coach, the AI tool I trained using my own writing.  The process is unbelievably effective, sometimes eerie, and surprisingly enjoyable.
If you missed it, here’s the short version:  I upload what I’m writing and a style guide that describes my writing style.  Then Coach imitates my tone, and together we polish things until we can’t remember who wrote what.  See Writing with a Bot: I’m Pretty Sure I Wrote Most of This.
This post is about how you can use AI to improve your writing…
Continue Reading Using AI to Improve Your Writing (Without Losing Your Voice)

This year’s rankings have been released, with Ohio State leading the way once again.  Looking at the rankings, the schools in the top 10 look pretty familiar and there are a lot of ties.  Some schools made huge jumps – like Stetson (up 33 spots), Miami (up 22 spots), Houston (up 19 spots), and Pace (up 11 spots). Top 30 listed below.
Congrats to all !!

  • Ohio State
  • Pepperdine
  • Harvard and Texas A&M
  • Missouri and Cardozo
  • Northwestern
  • Mitchel Hamline
  • Arizona State, Maryland, and UNLV
  • Fordham, Oregon
  • Florida, Quinnipiac, Stanford, UCSF
  • Georgetown, McGeorge (Pacific), Pace, Stetson, Suffolk
  • Columbia, Houston, South Texas,

    • Continue Reading 2025 USNews ADR Rankings

    I’ve always enjoyed writing.  People accuse me of not really retiring from teaching.  But the truth is that I’m a writer who used to earn a living as a law professor.
    I like the sound, rhythm, and feel of a sentence.  I like making complicated things clear.  And I like that moment when something feels just right – the satisfaction of a line that says exactly what it’s supposed to say, ideally with a hint of mischief.
    So it’s strange to find myself writing things that … I might not have written.
    This post is about what it’s been like…
    Continue Reading Writing with a Bot:  I’m Pretty Sure I Wrote Most of This

    Watching the dismantling of much of what I have understood the United States to be and to stand for has left me questioning a lot of things, like it has with most everyone.  The one I want to noodle on here is what it means for us as a field.  Is this an existential crisis or not – both for the field and for us individually?  Presuming it is, what are we (individually and collectively) to do?
    Do we look inward and focus on:

    • Being good classroom instructors
    • Teaching lawyering skills
    • Resolving court cases
    • Keep working on our scholarship as

    …
    Continue Reading An Existential Crisis for the Field?

    These days, some faculty worry that students use AI to write papers without putting in much thought.  It’s not always easy to tell.  Some students write as if they were bargain-basement bots.
    Here’s one way to know for sure if students are using AI.  Require them to chat with an AI tool and submit their chats.  This is ideal for assignments where students write journal entries about simulations or other parts of the course.
    Teaching students to reflect on their experiences is one of the most important things we do.  They’re learning to learn.  It’s a habit they should carry…
    Continue Reading AI Can Help Students Learn.  You Get Better Papers.  And You Know It’s Theirs.