ADR

On January 11, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved a rule change to its Codes of Arbitration Procedure and Mediation Procedure — proposed by FINRA — to bar individuals who are not attorneys from representing parties in the FINRA Dispute Resolution forum. Before the rule change, FINRA banned non-attorney representation in its arbitration and mediation proceedings “only if: (1)state law prohibits such representation; (2) the person is currently suspended or barred from the securities industry in any capacity; or (3) the person is currently suspended from the practice of law or disbarred.”

The newly-approved rule expands the ban to
Continue Reading Compensated Non-Attorney Representation Banned in FINRA Arbitrations and Mediations

Bringing this back to the front as a friendly reminder of the Schiefelbein Conference on Thursday January 11th starting at 8am MT / 10am ET.  You can find the agenda here.  Of particular interest to this blog’s readers (particularly students) is the session titled Breaking In: Careers in International Dispute Resolution scheduled at 12:30pm MT / 2:30 ET.  Also of interest – the panel titled Arbitration 2050: Facing the Future starting at 8:10am MT / 10:10am ET will include a panelist appearing via hologram from Amsterdam.
You can find the agenda here and go here for registration.
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Continue Reading Back to Front – Schiefelbein Global Dispute Resolution Conference Thursday at 8am MT / 10am ET

The Real Practice System Menu of Mediation Checklists received many rave reviews.  People said that they are “interesting,” “informative,” “so very useful,” “really helpful,” “great,” “excellent,” “wonderful,” “fantastic,” “invaluable,” “impressive,” “very thorough,” “brilliant,” and “utterly awesome” resources.  “Just wow!”
I identified numerous ways that the checklists could be used by practitioners, program administrators, and faculty, and I asked people to describe how they might use them.  I am very grateful to current and former practitioners Peter Benner, Graham Boyack, Gary Doernhoefer, Brian Farkas, Clare Fowler, Laura Kaster, Randy Kiser, Jim McGuire, Paul Monicatti, John Sturrock, Jeff Trueman, Tom Valenti,
Continue Reading Practitioners Tell Why Real Practice System Checklists Are So Useful

From BFOI Peter Reilly (Texas A&M):

Let me open this edition with gratitude for Quinnipiac-Yale’s wonderful Works-in-Progress conference that took place in October…huge thanks again to Charlie Pillsbury, Carrie Kass, and Jen Brown for an excellent, fun, and productive conference!!!

Ava Abramowitz (GW Law), Ken Webb (Kenn Webb Consulting, LLC) and Jennifer Shack (RSI)

This is the fourth update on our research into what verbal communication behaviors mediators actually use in the course of helping disputes settle. 

We’re pleased to announce that we will soon launch Phase I of the project, which is coding small claims court Zoom-mediated cases. We expect to have coded
Continue Reading ADR Scholarship Projects (Jan. 2024)

In November, OSU’s Divided Community Project responded to a request from the AAA-ICDR Foundation to provide student- and campus-focused resources for campus leaders dealing with the effects of the violence in the Middle East.  The project’s first deliverable from their #CampusBridge initiative is a guide, Leading a Divided Campus: Ideas and Illustrations, accessible at https://go.osu.edu/dcpcampus. The ideas in this guide emerged from campuses across the country.  DCP invites you to use, share or distributed this guide using this link: https://go.osu.edu/dcpcampus.

Believing that the most meaningful support that can be provided for most students will come from their friends, DCP
Continue Reading New Divided Community Project Resources for Campus Leaders

Tom Valenti is a Chicago-based conflict resolution specialist offering mediation, arbitration, and facilitation services and training.  He also is a humanitarian activist who is a co-founder of Mediation Beyond Borders.  He co-leads the Athens Migration Dialogue Project, which helps local communities to design, organize and conduct dialogues that address difficult and dangerous issues, such as migration and violence in schools.  He has worked to help manage conflicts and train people in the Middle East, India, and Afghanistan among other places.  He is a mediation trainer and adjunct professor teaching mediation. 
He’s also one of the people who responded to my
Continue Reading Tom Valenti:  Using Real Practice Systems Checklists in Practice and Teaching

Brian Farkas has been deeply involved in our field since he was a student at Cardozo, where he was the editor-in-chief of the Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution.  He is an attorney at ArentFox Schiff LLP, a prolific author and speaker, and a regular adjunct professor at Cardozo.
He is one of the people who responded to my request for people to describe how the Real Practice System checklists can be helpful.  I said that people could write as little as a paragraph, and a bunch of people have done so.  Brian wrote a longer response, which he agreed
Continue Reading Brian Farkas: Using Checklists in My Course on the Law of Settlement

Jeff Trueman is a Maryland mediator who you may recall from my post, Jeff Trueman’s Study on Nightmares of “Positional” Tactics in Mediation.  He is one of the people who responded to my request for people to describe how the Real Practice System checklists can be helpful.  I said that people could write as little as a paragraph, and a bunch of people have done so.  Jeff wrote a longer response, which he agreed to let me post separate from the analysis of the various responses I will write. 
If you want to give your thoughts about using
Continue Reading Jeff Trueman:  Checklists Are More Important Than I First Thought

I received many enthusiastic responses to my menu of mediation checklists, including that they are “interesting,” “informative,” “so very useful,” “really helpful,” “great,” “excellent,” “wonderful,” “fantastic,” “invaluable,” “impressive,” “very thorough,” “brilliant,” and “utterly awesome” resources.  “Just wow!”
No kidding.
The checklists are part of the Real Practice System Project.  Although it has focused particularly on mediation, the same principles apply to other processes.  For example, many attorneys have their own regular practice systems for the way they advocate in mediation or engage in unmediated negotiation.  Many of the items in the mediation checklists would be relevant in those
Continue Reading How Do You Want to Use the Real Practice Checklists?  Response Requested by December 22

Gary Doernhoefer, the founder of ADR Notable, suggested that I produce a bibliography for its users.  ADR Notable is an app providing case management software to help mediators handle case intake, bill clients, manage client documents, develop checklists and task reminders, take notes, build documents, and manage client relationships generally.
Gary recognized that our respective work complements each other’s.  I wrote a series of publications leading to what I call the Real Practice Systems (RPS) Project.  RPS theory holds that practitioners’ systems are based on their personal histories, values, goals, motivations, knowledge, and skills as well as the
Continue Reading Real Practice Systems Project Annotated Bibliography

Gary Doernhoefer, the founder of ADR Notable, suggested that I produce checklists for its users.  ADR Notable is an app providing case management software to help mediators handle case intake, bill clients, manage client documents, develop checklists and task reminders, take notes, build documents, and manage client relationships generally.
Gary recognized that our respective work complements each other’s.  In recent years, I wrote a series of publications leading to what I call the Real Practice Systems Project.  I became dissatisfied with traditional dispute resolution theories, which are greatly oversimplified and don’t provide realistic portrayals of actual practice.  Part
Continue Reading Real Practice Systems Project Menu of Mediation Checklists

The word of the month for December is kintsugi.
Kintsugi is the Japanese art of fixing broken pottery with lacquer. You can see an example of the process here, and this is an example of what the finished product looks like:

In kintsugi, the repairwork is not supposed to be hidden and the item is not restored to “good as new.” Rather, the cracks are highlighted, often with gold or silver.
The evidence of cracks in the mended piece—depicting the history of the breakage, as it were—is part of what makes the mended object so beautiful. As Tiffany Ayuda
Continue Reading December: Kintsugi

After 30+ years of service to AFCC, Executive Director Peter Salem will be stepping down next June 2024. AFCC’s search is officially launching. The search is being lead by Viewcrest Advisors and they would like to connect with anyone you believe would be a potential candidate or network “source.” Kathleen Yazbak is reachable at: [email protected] AFCC’s announcement:The incoming ED will have the opportunity to: build on a talented team’s outstanding work; step into an organization in a strong financial position (with an annual operating budget of over $2 million and assets of $5 million); and drive programmatic impact and growth
Continue Reading AFCC (Association of Family and Conciliation Courts) is looking for a new Executive Director!

Donna Shestowsky, chair of the Association of American Law Schools ADR Section, received the following announcement from the AALS.
Congratulations! Based on your outstanding submission, the AALS Committee on Sections has selected the Section on Alternative Dispute Resolution as the winner of the 7th annual Section of the Year.
The section will be formally recognized at the AALS Awards Ceremony on Thursday, January 4, 2024, 1:15 – 2:30 PM and during the Section Leadership Information Session and Continental Breakfast on Saturday, January 6, 2024, 7:00 – 8:00 AM.
Continue Reading AALS ADR Section Is Named “Section of the Year”

Randall Kiser just published another great book relevant to our community, Professional Judgment for Lawyers.
Randy is the principal analyst at DecisionSet®, which consults with lawyers and law firms to improve their effectiveness.  This earlier post describes his background and his book, Soft Skills for the Effective Lawyer.  That book presents research showing that legal clients especially value these skills in lawyers.
Here’s the publisher’s description of his latest book:
Written by the leading authority on legal decision making, Professional Judgment for Lawyers integrates empirical legal research, cognitive and social psychology, organizational behavior, legal ethics, and neuroscience to illuminate
Continue Reading Randy Kiser’s New Book on Professional Judgment for Lawyers

As we all know and appreciate, the war in the Middle East is affecting our students deeply, yet unevenly. The Divided Community Project has worked with students at Moritz to create a simple, relatable checklist that encourages students to extend support to other students. Please utilize this checklist, share it throughout your university, or to work with your dispute resolution students so that they contribute a derivative or new checklist and brand it with your university. The checklist is here: https://go.osu.edu/dcpexs
Continue Reading DCP at Moritz Offers Further Guidance for Universities during a Time of Conflict