I’d love your help.
Mediate.com created a terrific new webpage for RPS Coach, with information about its core values, suggestions for getting the best results, descriptions of the topics it covers, and links to the publications incorporated into the tool.  Take a look at the homepage.

Now I’d like to add a Testimonials page.
Many people have told me they find RPS Coach useful in their work, but I’ve never systematically collected those reactions.  If you have used it, I would love to get a few sentences from you describing how you used it and how it helped.
You…
Continue Reading Have You Used RPS Coach?  I’d Love Your Testimonials and Feedback – by Friday, June 26

I’m delighted to post the new call for applications for this terrific program!  Apply now!!
AALS SECTION ON ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTIONCALL FOR APPLICATIONS2026-2027 NEW VOICES IN DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROGRAM
The AALS Section on Alternative Dispute Resolution announces the call for applications for the 2026-2027 mentorship program entitled “New Voices in Dispute Resolution.”
New Voices in Dispute Resolution is a year-long mentorship program in which junior scholars will be paired with senior mentors in the field for the purposes of obtaining feedback on their current scholarship. During the fall semester, the mentor will be available to discuss one academic project related…
Continue Reading New Voices in Dispute Resolution–Call for Applications!!

Many dispute resolution practitioners would answer that question with a simple “no.”
Until recently, I would have answered the question the same way.
When I thought about online dispute resolution (ODR), I thought about specialized online platforms like eBay.  ODR seemed like a distinct corner of the dispute resolution field that was completely disconnected from my own work.
In researching a profile of Colin Rule, I read his 2016 article, Is ODR ADR?: A Response to Carrie Menkel-Meadow.  He wrote that ODR is “the use of information and communications technologies to help parties resolve their disputes.”  He said…
Continue Reading Do You Know That You Use ODR?

Just over 40 years ago, Owen Fiss wrote his famous article Against Settlement, arguing that settlement was bad public policy.  While the article has long served as a foil for dispute resolution academics, it is a good read — especially if you disagree with it, as do some of the commenters in the first volume of Discussions in Dispute Resolution: The Foundational Articles.  The article also spawned a number of law review articles adopting the “against something” format, my favorite of which is likely Michael Moffitt’s Three Things to Be Against (“Settlement” Not Included).
Fiss’s article came…
Continue Reading Fiss Was Right – At Least About This One

If you want to learn how you can benefit from RPS Coach, check out the new Mediate.com webpage.
RPS Coach is a free AI tool offered as a public service.  It is designed to help mediators, attorneys, parties, educators, students, trainees, and ADR program administrators prepare for and participate in negotiation and mediation.  It reflects Real Practice Systems (RPS) Theory and emphasizes helping people make good decisions through careful preparation, realistic analysis, and thoughtful reflection.  RPS Theory provides a more detailed and accurate understanding of negotiation and mediation than traditional theories do.
The Mediate.com webpage explains how to get…
Continue Reading Mediate.com Hosts RPS Coach

Many people fear that artificial intelligence (AI) will undermine human skills, making them less capable of exercising independent judgment.  They worry that machines take control and humans lose control.
Sometimes that’s exactly what happens.
This problem, in my view, is not primarily that AI is too powerful.
The problem is that some people don’t recognize and exercise their power in deciding whether and how to use AI tools.  The key issue is how people manage the relationship between human judgment and AI capabilities.
Humans sometimes use AI passively – accepting outputs uncritically, contributing little independent thought, and surrendering responsibility for…
Continue Reading Are You Afraid of Becoming a Zombie If You Use AI?

You’re hallucinating if you think AI won’t hallucinate.
Reports of fake citations, fabricated quotations, manipulated images, and AI-generated misinformation now appear regularly.  Lawyers using generative AI have submitted fictitious cases in court filings and have been sanctioned.
These developments understandably alarm legal and dispute resolution professionals.  They should.
My article, The Surprising Value of AI Hallucinations, argues that the discussion about AI hallucinations may be missing something important:  hallucinations may produce unexpected benefits.
To be clear, I’m not suggesting that hallucinations are desirable.  They create serious risks, and the prevalence of hallucinations highlights the importance of careful verification.  Those…
Continue Reading Could AI Hallucinations Improve Professional Thinking?

I have known Colin Rule for more than twenty years.  During that time, I knew that he had done a lot of impressive things in ODR and that he’s a real mensch.
What I didn’t appreciate until recently was the extraordinary breadth of his work, the depth of his thinking, and how much he has helped shape modern dispute resolution.
That changed when Carli Conklin invited me to introduce Colin as the keynote speaker at Missouri’s great AI symposium last month.  Preparing those remarks sent me down a fascinating rabbit hole.  I read a small fraction of Colin’s many publications,…
Continue Reading I Knew Colin Rule Was Impressive.  But I Didn’t Know the Half of It.

The State Bar of California has proposed amendments to comments accompanying several Rules of Professional Conduct addressing lawyers’ use of artificial intelligence (AI).
The proposed comments do not create new ethical duties.  Rather, they elaborate how existing rules apply to lawyers’ use of AI.  Although the proposed comments would apply only in California, they make explicit duties that are implicit in professional conduct rules in most jurisdictions.
The proposed comments repeatedly emphasize themes that should surprise no careful lawyer:  lawyers must understand the risks and benefits of relevant technology, protect confidential information, supervise subordinate lawyers and staff, communicate appropriately…
Continue Reading California’s Proposed Ethics Rules Emphasize Duty to Avoid AI Hallucinations

The AALS and West Academic sponsored a great CLE on AI tools for law faculty on April 15.  Here’s the description of the program and a link to the video.
How can artificial intelligence streamline course preparation, enrich classroom engagement, and support student learning?  This webinar brought together experienced legal educators who shared practical strategies for using AI to support law teaching.  They described how AI can assist with day-to-day teaching tasks such as generating hypos, refining rubrics, organizing course materials and presentations, and designing formative assessments, as well as how to evaluate AI outputs with a critical, professional…
Continue Reading AI Tools for Law Faculty

Marc Galanter, a giant in the field of dispute resolution scholarship, passed away on April 14 at the age of 95.
Here is an excerpt from the announcement by University of Wisconsin Law School Dean Daniel P. Tokaji (reprinted with permission):
As many of you know, Marc was the John and Rylla Bosshard Professor of Law and South Asian Studies, the author of many books and articles, and a treasured member of the Law School community.  Marc was a legendary scholar and teacher, to such a degree that it’s hard to know where to begin in summarizing his life’s work. …
Continue Reading Marc Galanter

The ABA Dispute Resolution Section, AAA and ACR are exploring potential updates to the Model Standards of Conduct for Mediators (“Model Standards”) (2005). They invite your input to help identify areas that may need clarification, modernization, or further guidance based on today’s mediation practices. Your responses will remain confidential and will directly inform the review process. Thank you for contributing your voice to this important discussion.
As a member of the Advisory Committee for the revision of the Model Standards of Conduct for Mediators, I would invite anyone with a perspective on the Model Standards to fill out the following brief…
Continue Reading Model Standards of Conduct for Mediators (update – survey)

A lot of people are bummed about AI.  Are you?
Me too.
That may not be what you expected me to say.  I have been writing quite a bit about how to use AI effectively and responsibly.  I use it regularly.  I encourage others to learn how to use it.
And still, there are plenty of reasons why I feel bummed, as I describe in this short new article.
A small group of companies and countries have enormous control over AI.  The economic system is being disrupted, aggravating inequality.  Whole categories of jobs are disappearing.  AI systems use…
Continue Reading Bummed About AI?  So Am I.  Now What?