Dilyara Nigmatullina just published an article entitled, Planned Early Dispute Resolution Systems and Elements: Experiences and the Promise of Technology, in the Journal of International Dispute Settlement.  She is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Antwerp (Belgium) Faculty of Law, Law Enforcement Research Group. Here’s the abstract: The COVID-19 outbreak has severely impacted global business communities. Experts predict a tsunami of disputes.  In this unprecedented situation, rational, cost-effective and quick dispute resolution is no more an option but a need.  This need may be met by Planned Early Dispute Resolution (PEDR) and technological tools.  Although the uptake of…

Out of my work on an article for the upcoming symposium issue of the Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution on the use of informal resolution mechanisms in resolving campus Title IX complaints came the following op-ed, published today in the Cleveland Plain-Dealer.…

Our friend, Rick Bales, has a new article on SSRN examining the ways in which Canada handled workplace issues during Covid. Novel Issues in Canadian Labour Arbitration Related to COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-21 changed working conditions for millions of Canadians quickly and dramatically. Employers responded by requiring employees to quarantine, implementing workplace COVID policies, disciplining employees who violated those policies, changing work schedules, cancelling leaves or vacations, and furloughing or laying off employees. Unions have challenged many of these actions, raising a variety of novel issues that are now being resolved through labour arbitration. This article surveys those…

The theme for the 2021 ABA Section of Dispute Resolution Conference is “Agility, Disruption and Reinvention: ADR in a New World.”   The virtual conference will take place April 4-17. Registration will close at 5 pm ET on April 13. The conference is the largest gathering of the dispute resolution professional community.  Participate in “ADR in a New World”-themed educational programs.  Socialize and network with colleagues and earn CLE credit both live and on-demand, all from the convenience of your home.  This is an excellent chance to update your ADR skillset at a fraction of the cost of the in-person event.…

The Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS), the Chicago Bar Foundation, the ABA Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services, and the Self-Represented Litigation Network (SRLN) are hosting a three-day virtual event that will focus on the major hows and whys of supporting and implementing the practice of unbundled legal services both during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Co-hosted by Natalie Knowlton, director of special projects, and Michael Houlberg, manager, of IAALS, along with Jessica Bednarz and Samira Nazem of the Chicago Bar Foundation and Sarah Glassmeyer of the ABA Center for Innovation and Standing…

This morning The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law’s Divided Community Project (DCP) released a dispute systems design-centered guide for communities advancing racial equity initiatives. Titled “Planning Initiatives for Working Together To Advance Racial Equity”, the guide was developed in partnership with OSU’s Mershon Center for International Security Studies, and with input from those who have worked and are working on truth and reconciliation-style commissions, domestic and international mediators and peacemakers, deliberative democracy practitioners, and advocacy and community leaders. DCP hopes to continue to learn from prior and emerging initiatives focused on transformation and racial healing, both in the…

I am delighted to announce Russell’s new book to all.  The Five Tool Negotiator: The Complete Guide to Bargaining Success officially ships as of yesterday and I am looking forward to getting my hands on this in print!  Having seen this grow from a kernel of an idea to now having a full book is very exciting.  And, as a baseball fan, I love the concept of using five tools to organize your thinking before a negotiation.  As the book notes, Baseball scouts prowl the globe for what are known as “five-tool” players: athletes with superior ability to hit for…

A quarter century ago, Professor Len Riskin published an article describing a grid of mediator orientiations including a facilitative-evaluative dimension.  Despite critiques of this framework, including by Len himself, many mediators, trainers, and teachers still use these concepts as mediation models, expressing strong feelings that one model is good and the other is bad. These models are very misleading because they are based on false assumptions, and they provide counterproductive concepts to guide mediators’ behaviors and set parties’ expectations.  This post outlines a unified conceptual framework using clearer, practical concepts and omitting the problematic assumptions.  It is an outline…

Bill Marsh, a UK mediator and editor of the Kluwer Mediation Blog, wrote a good post about key characteristics of mediators: Warmth and Competence. He suggests that these are related to mediators’ self-reflection, authenticity, cultural competence, and timing. It’s a good, concise post you might share with your students. Take a look. [Click the title of this post to see Bill’s post.]…

Delighted to announce that Marquette will be virtually hosting the last of our spring series where we get to hear and learn from some phenomenal new scholars in our field.  It has been a great way to build our community so I invite you to join us for the final session of the season over the lunch(ish) hour. DISPUTE RESOLUTION WORKS-IN-PROGRESS CONSORTIUM SERIES: DISCOVERING NEW VOICES IN DISPUTE RESOLUTION Friday, April 30, 2021 1:00 – 2:30 pm Eastern, 12-1:30 pm Central, 10:00 – 11:30 am Pacific REGISTER NOW The Dispute Resolution Works-in-Progress Consortium presents: Rose Rameau, Managing Partner, Rameau International Law…

The New York Law School ADR Skills Program and American Arbitration Association will present the Steven C. Bennett Annual Program, Cutting Edge Issues in Commercial Arbitration, on Thursday, April 27, 2021, from 5:00 – 6:40 p.m. Eastern Time. Six experts return for their annual and provocative discussion of some of the most pressing challenges facing arbitrators and mediators. Topics include: Challenging Diversity Issues that Make Some Uncomfortable to Discuss The Most Controversial Topics from the NYSBA Resolution Roundtable Blog Civility Among Members of a Tribunal The program will take place on zoom and is free. Click here for more information …

The Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State is excited to have Alex Carter (Columbia) deliver the 4th Annual Bruce E. Meyerson Lecture on Wednesday April 7th at 6pm PT / 9pm ET.   As you presumably know, Alex’s book Ask for More is both a bestseller and quite good.  I believe that it adds nicely to the negotiation cannon. Go here to register.  The program is free and may qualify for 1.5 hours of Arizona CLE credit.  If you want to consider it for another state, just let me know. Hope to see you there !…

As you may have heard, Dwight Golann will receive the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution’s scholarship award this year. This has prompted a chorus of congratulations, and I join in the accolades for his work. For many reasons.  Here are some of them. He continues to practice mediation and his mediations clearly inform his work.  His ideas are realistic and pragmatic, helping us move toward more sophisticated understandings.  Several recent examples describe common patterns of loss and grief, mediators’ subtle expressions that don’t neatly fit into the traditional facilitative-evaluative typology, and a study about when lawyers and litigants …