Another post in our series on arbitration evolution in China. This post explores the question of how far should a system move toward internationally familiar arbitration norms while retaining domestic institutional choices? China’s New Arbitration LawSong Lianbin and Huang YiChina’s first comprehensive rewrite of its Arbitration Law in thirty years changes more than technical rules. It expands party autonomy, gives formal recognition to the arbitral seat and online proceedings, cautiously opens the door to ad hoc arbitration, and broadens the preservation measures available while a dispute is pending.The amended law was adopted on September 12, 2025, and took effect on…
Continue Reading Arbitration in China – How Distinct Should It Be From Existing Norms

Another blog in our series on Chinese arbitration!Can the Arbitrator Also Mediate?Jialin LiMany mediators and arbitrators are trained to keep those roles separate. A mediator may hear confidential information, test weaknesses, and float possible compromises; an arbitrator must decide on the record and remain visibly impartial. China has long been more willing to combine those functions, including allowing the arbitral tribunal itself to mediate a dispute before returning to adjudication if settlement fails.That practice can make Western neutrals uneasy. But its persistence in China is not simply a cultural curiosity. It offers a useful test of a broader ADR question:…
Continue Reading Can the Arbitrator Also Mediate?

My colleague, Renee Henson, wrote an important new article, My Negotiation Chatbot Toby and Pedagogical Governance, about a chatbot that she developed for her first-year Lawyering: Problem-Solving and Dispute Resolution course at the University of Missouri Law School.Her article provides a thoughtful analysis of how faculty can use AI to improve legal education.  It also illustrates something broader:  AI can be used in a “centaur” mode in which humans and AI contribute complementary capabilities.  Working together, they can produce better results than either could produce independently while humans retain judgment and responsibility.Meet TobyRenee created Toby to give students practice…
Continue Reading Meet Toby: Teaching and Learning with AI in Centaur Mode

This weekend, I returned home from the fabulous AALS ADR Section Works in Progress conference at the University of Missouri.  (Not a long trip for me.)As always, I really enjoyed the presentations and conversations with friends and colleagues.  By all accounts, Carli Conklin and Rachel Wechsler did an outstanding job planning and hosting the conference.After I presented my short article, Beyond AI Slop: Preparing Law Students for Responsible Practice in the AI Era, an associate dean asked for my thoughts about developing an AI strategy for her school.  We didn’t have enough time to discuss it, and I thought…
Continue Reading Does Your Law School Have an AI Strategy?

And here is the next (very timely!) post in our Chinese arbitration series:AI Inside Arbitration InstitutionsGuan YunbiaoMuch of the current discussion about artificial intelligence and dispute resolution focuses on individual users: whether lawyers should use generative AI to draft briefs, whether arbitrators may use it for legal research or award drafting, and what disclosure should be required. Developments in China point to a different question: what happens when AI is incorporated into the arbitration institution itself?Several leading Chinese arbitration centers already are incorporating AI into the infrastructure through which cases are filed, administered, heard, and decided. Their experience offers an…
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Here is the next installment in our China and ADR Design Series:China’s Arbitration InstitutionsLiu Zihe and Ren ZhongIn much of the world, arbitration is concentrated in a relatively small number of major institutions. China has 285 local arbitration centers. That difference is not simply a matter of scale. It reflects a distinctive approach to dispute-system design: government-supported institutional creation followed by increasing competition, differentiation, and movement toward organizational independence.The growth has been extraordinary. In 1995, 11 Chinese arbitration centers handled 107 cases involving roughly RMB 300 million (approximately US$44.7 million). By 2025, the Ministry of Justice reported 285 centers,…
Continue Reading China’s Arbitration Institutions

Reading this morning’s discussion about AI and legal education on the DR Listserv brought to mind an old debate that many ADR academics will recall.In 1984, James J. White published his well-known review of Getting to Yes, titled The Pros and Cons of Getting to YES, in the Journal of Legal Education. My recollection is that White argued, among other things, that the Getting to Yes framework did not fully capture how negotiation often operates in the real world. Roger Fisher’s response, as I recall, was more about advocating for how the world should be.What has always struck me…
Continue Reading AI, Teaching, and Lessons from an Old Negotiation Debate

Indisputably is proud to host a new series of weekly posts on developments and innovations in arbitration in China. The brainchild of Richard Bales (ONU), these posts raise questions not only for arbitration, but for our broader ADR community.China and ADR DesignRichard BalesMany of the most interesting developments in Chinese arbitration concern questions familiar to mediators and other ADR professionals: when neutrals should facilitate settlement, how technology should be integrated into dispute resolution, how institutions should balance efficiency and party autonomy, and whether dispute systems should be designed differently for different legal cultures. China is a particularly useful…
Continue Reading Introduction to Series: China and ADR Design

Remember when parties developed unrealistic expectations all by themselves?  Now they have AI to help.These days, mediators may have to work through expectations that have hardened around an AI-generated assessment.  Lawyers may have to explain why the AI analysis is wrong, incomplete, or wildly overconfident.  And imagine the client’s surprise when the other side may get to read their AI chats – embarrassing information and all.The problem of AI slop is bigger than just hallucinated cases.  People can use AI in ways that omit inconvenient facts, reinforce dubious assumptions, and expose confidential information.When unreliable AI-generated material enters a dispute, the…
Continue Reading What Are We Going to Do About AI Slop?

Many of you know our colleague Ava Abramowitz, long time mediation expert and professor at GW.  Ava is still teaching us–and this time about a new subject.  As she wrote to me to share with our community “if Alzheimer’s runs in your family, you will want to read this piece by Ava Abramowitz who has early onset Alzheimer’s symptoms. As she has learned and as she writes, the disease may not be curable, but, if you catch it early enough, it may be slow down-able, sufficiently to live comfortably with it.  Her bottom line? Get tested.”  Ava’s full post on…
Continue Reading Still teaching and advocating–now about Alzheimers

Remember when we thought ADR law prof hiring would pick up once the NextGen Bar started being administered? Ah, the good old days of . . . 3 years ago.Over at PrawfsBlawg, Sarah Lawsky, who has been tracking entry-level law professor hiring for years, posted about what schools were looking for this hiring cycle:Hiring Committee Topics of Interest, 2026–27With the NextGen Bar having been administered for the first time this past summer, ADR ended up on the list for only five schools. Out of nearly 200 law schools, that’s about 2.5%.So . . . not exactly the…
Continue Reading Help Wanted: ADR Law Prof Hiring