Arbitration & Mediation

For mediators, negotiators: recommended social and brain sciences blogs

Posted on November 20, 2009
If you’re fascinated by the role that science plays in exploring and illuminating human behavior and decision making, the internet offers outstanding choices for the discerning reader and dedicated negotiator. I highly recommend the following sites: Brains on Purpose...

One reason why mediation trainers should use Twitter

Posted on November 20, 2009
For those of you still on the fence about whether or not to join Twitter, the popular social media and networking site, there’s one reason why you might want to sign up, at least if you’re a mediation trainer: you’ll find out what the participants really think about the program...

Twitter, LinkedIn, and blogging: 3 mistakes to avoid as you negotiate social media

Posted on November 17, 2009
A compellingly attractive aspect of all forms of social media ? whether blogging, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, or others ? is their relative ease of use. Within moments, anyone with internet access and no technological ability whatsoever can leap confidently into the driver’s seat of social media...

Fallacious Argument of the Month: in pursuit of the red herring

Posted on November 16, 2009
Each month I dedicate a post to the discussion of a different fallacious argument. It’s part of my ongoing effort to help the world bicker better. Here, friends, is this month’s installment. ******************* That diverting entertainment, magic, depends upon distraction to delight and mystify an audience...

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Top ADR site Mediate.com reaches milestone: 300th issue of weekly newsletter

Posted on November 16, 2009
Year after year, Mediate.com remains at the top of its game, the very best resource bar none for news, information, and high-level thinking about conflict resolution and negotiation. Features that make this site outstanding include: A vast library of articles organized by Section or searchable by Topic, Term or Author An archive of over 100 video interviews featuring [...

The why?s have it: teaching curiosity for effective negotiation and mediation

Posted on November 15, 2009
What makes Deepak Malhotra?s and Max H. Bazerman?s 2007 Negotiation Genius: How to Overcome Obstacles and Achieve Brilliant Results at the Bargaining Table and Beyond so highly readable are the memorable anecdotes of real-world negotiations it contains...

Do you tell your mediation clients about neuroscience? A poll at Brains on Purpose

Posted on November 13, 2009
Mediator, lawyer, writer, and all-around Renaissance woman Stephanie West Allen needs your help as she prepares to write an article on neuroscience transparency. What is neuroscience transparency? It’s what conflict resolution professionals tell their clients about neuroscience...

Ethics and best practices for mediation provider organizations: 7 years after Georgetown

Posted on November 11, 2009
As readers of this blog know, the private practice of mediation in the United States remains unregulated by government.  Arguably, this absence of formal regulation, licensing, and credentialing does not diminish mediation?s standing as a profession...

The future of conflict resolution: preaching to the choir or negotiating with tea partiers?

Posted on November 09, 2009
I often find myself wishing I lived in California, if only to be able to regularly attend the magnificent events the Southern California Mediation Association plans and presents each year. These programs showcase the talents and intellectual achievements of some of the greatest thinkers and leaders that the field of conflict resolution can boast...

From the archives: Mediation Channel classics for November

Posted on November 04, 2009
At the start of each month, I highlight some selected posts from prior years. November’s trip in the wayback machine yields these articles: November 2008 To err is human: how do we keep our feet out of our mouths in the first place? Testing for negotiation skills, creativity: an LSAT for the 21st century November 2007 Lawyers, Pakistan and democracy: [...

Justice for all: battling bias in the courts

Posted on November 02, 2009
Bias does its greatest damage undetected, operating beneath the radar of our awareness or even contrary to our conscious intentions. Bias can be costly, imposing what researchers have described as a “stereotype tax“, affecting everything from negotiating to hiring decisions...

A look in the mirror: seeking self-awareness

Posted on November 02, 2009
Conflict resolution work can be demanding, asking much of those who practice it. Among other qualities, practitioners must ideally bring to the table an openness and curiosity to learn more about how others see and experience the world; respect and compassion; the humility to acknowledge an error and express regret for an unintended outcome; and [...

In search of a better argument

Posted on November 01, 2009
Conflict. There’s certainly plenty of it to go around. Daily life is made up of discord, debate and disagreement. I for one would hate to see conflict vanish. Not only would it put me and all the other mediators out of work, but life would be far less interesting...

Public licensing and regulation of mediators: the arguments for and against

Posted on October 18, 2009
One of the issues hotly debated in the ADR field is whether it’s time for state licensing and regulation of the practice of mediation. The following are summaries of the arguments that each side to the debate has marshaled. In the comments below, I’d welcome readers to add arguments that I’ve overlooked...

Only connect: the advantages of reading or writing blogs for the ADR professional

Posted on October 18, 2009
Four times each year, the American Bar Association Section on Dispute Resolution publishes Dispute Resolution Magazine, covering trends and news that affect ADR practitioners and scholars. An article I wrote about blogging appeared in the Summer 2009 issue...

Fallacious Argument of the Month: the confusion of cause and effect

Posted on October 13, 2009
To do my part to improve argument and discourse everywhere, each month I feature a different fallacious argument.  I launched the series in July with the straw man; discussed the false analogy in August; and in September explored the misused ellipsis...

More like guidelines: ethical standards of conduct for mediators considered

Posted on October 12, 2009
Some of you, particularly those with children, no doubt remember “Pirates of the Caribbean“, a 2003 movie based upon a Disneyland theme park ride. In one scene, the movie?s heroine attempts to parley with the villainous pirate captain, invoking the protection of the Pirate Code, a kind of seafaring Model Rules of Professional Conduct...

What?s in your agreement to mediate? Confirming confidentiality before the mediation starts

Posted on October 11, 2009
Confidentiality stands as a cornerstone of mediation practice. It encourages the resolution of disputes by allowing those in conflict to candidly discuss the issues they face, secure in the knowledge that what they say in the mediator’s presence cannot be held against them later...

The right stuff: morality resources, articles, studies, and a course, all online

Posted on October 09, 2009
Great minds – and wits – have considered the difficulties of moral choice. Influential activist and thinker Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy...

From the archives: Mediation Channel classics for October

Posted on October 01, 2009
When you’ve been blogging for as long as I have – almost five years – you accumulate a lot of written material in your archives. Back in July I began to spotlight posts from the past that generated reader response or are simply my favorites...

Cognitive errors to watch for as the mediation profession discusses the important issues

Posted on September 27, 2009
Momentum seems to be building for mediator credentialing in the United States.  Change is no doubt coming. What form that may ultimately take remains to be seen — whether public licensing by the state (least likely) or the adoption of credentialing mechanisms by major ADR membership organizations that dominate the national scene (most likely)...

New owner sought for ADRblogs.com, online directory tracking ADR blogs world-wide

Posted on September 25, 2009
At ADRblogs.com, I have monitored blogs from around the globe that discuss alternative dispute resolution in its many manifestations. Started three years ago, today the World Directory of ADR Blogs tracks over 220 blogs from 30 countries, bringing together the world of blogs covering mediation, arbitration, negotiation, conflict resolution, and people-focused innovations in justice and law...

New and recommended: ADR blogs to add to your reading list

Posted on September 24, 2009
From time to time I select noteworthy blogs from recent additions to ADRblogs.com, the site tracking alternative dispute resolution blogs world-wide, and highlight them here. Here is my latest selection, four blogs that stand out in different ways: Mediation Strategies, published by San Francisco mediator and lawyer Michael Carbone, discusses techniques for resolving civil lawsuits and [...

Grain of salt: how much does mediator behavior influence the outcome of mediation?

Posted on September 23, 2009
Those of us who mediate like to believe that our skills and temperament influence parties who are poles apart to move toward resolution, reconciliation, or settlement. But how influential are we really? My colleague, attorney and mediator Stephanie West Allen, steers readers toward an article by ADR academics James A...

Mediator certification: quality assurance or caveat emptor?

Posted on September 16, 2009
As my readers know, the private practice of mediation remains unregulated in the United States.  Some view this fact with consternation, others with relief. Meanwhile, in the absence of public licensing of mediators in private practice, private organizations have stepped in to fill the void left by the state, offering private credentialing mechanisms...

Fallacious Argument of the Month: misusing the ellipsis

Posted on September 11, 2009
To contribute to the improvement of public discourse and debate, I feature a different fallacious argument each month.  I kicked off the series in July by spotlighting the straw man, a perennial favorite of lazy minds, and in August discussed the false analogy, including its most popular and persistent form, the Hitler/Nazi comparison...

A dispute resolution quote of note

Posted on September 10, 2009
Here’s something for all of us, regardless of political persuasion, to think about as America debates the big issues: …when any government measure, no matter how carefully crafted or beneficial, is subject to scorn; when any efforts to help people in need are attacked as un-American; when facts and reason are thrown overboard and only timidity [...

Mediation Channel hacked: a cautionary tale about security, safety online

Posted on September 08, 2009
Mediation Channel got hacked. While I was enjoying a much-needed vacation earlier this summer, hackers broke into my Wordpress-based sites, including this site and ADRblogs.com. They left no immediately detectable trace that alerted me like the first attack this blog sustained in April 2008...

Mediation Channel will be undergoing maintenance today

Posted on September 07, 2009
Don’t adjust your settings. It’s just time for site maintenance here at Mediation Channel. We’ll return to your regularly scheduled programming shortly.

Hello world!

Posted on September 07, 2009
Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

From the archives: Mediation Channel classics for September

Posted on September 01, 2009
After over four years of blogging, in July I began to spotlight posts that generated significant traffic, commentary or controversy, or just happened to be my favorites. Here are my selections for September: September 2008 Judaism, media literacy and U...

?make that 24 alternative dispute resolution blogs to follow?

Posted on September 01, 2009
Yesterday I published a post recommending 21 ADR blogs to follow. I knew that as soon as I hit the “publish” button, I’d remember a few others to add. I’ve amended the post to include three more worthy blogs. Go check it out.

Recommended reading: 21 alternative dispute resolution blogs to follow

Posted on August 31, 2009
Recently Mediator Blah…Blah…, one of my favorite ADR blogs, sadly ceased publication. I will miss friend and fellow blogger Geoff Sharp’s intelligent, emotionally honest writing and wit. Fortunately there are other blogs, written by talented, insightful practitioners, that can fill the void that Geoff’s absence has created...

The legal profession has a PR problem: one sad reason why

Posted on August 26, 2009
Lawyers have a PR problem. A recently released Gallup survey indicates that only 25% of Americans view lawyers favorably. The public likes lawyers even less than they do banking, the airline industries, and the federal government, none of which is particularly popular these days...

Interview with new ABA Section on Dispute Resolution chair Homer LaRue at Enjoy Mediation Blog

Posted on August 26, 2009
NYPD detective and ADR professional Jeff Thompson has posted an interview with new ABA Section on Dispute Resolution chair Homer LaRue at his blog, Enjoy Mediation. LaRue discusses the Section’s priorities for the coming years (but alas, does not reveal which blogs he reads regularly).

Negotiating social media: the sequel

Posted on August 23, 2009
Last week I posted “It’s a jungle out there: words of caution for negotiating social media“, an article with my recommendations about using social media wisely and courteously.  What spurred me to write it were some unpleasant and fortunately isolated experiences with shameless marketers on social media sites...

Of death panels, Hitler, and the healthcare controversy: media literacy, now more than ever

Posted on August 22, 2009
Eighteen years ago, on a brilliantly sunny day, I attended a Fourth of July barbecue in a pleasant suburb a few miles outside of Boston. I was sitting at an umbrella-shaded table by the pool, watching my son splashing happily in the water with the other kids, when one of the guests nearby turned to [...

It?s a jungle out there: words of caution for negotiating social media

Posted on August 18, 2009
Twitter. LinkedIn. Facebook. Chances are you’ve set up a user account on at least one of these sites or maybe others besides these popular three. Learning how to navigate these social media sites can be overwhelming,  but with the right approach they can be well worth the time you spend building your profile or your portfolio...

Mediate.com proves there is indeed such thing as a free lunch

Posted on August 18, 2009
What’s not to love about free? Mediate.com, the premier web site for news, resources, ideas, tips, and information on ADR and negotiation, reminds me of just how good free can be. Available at Mediate.com are all kinds of goodies including: A vast library of articles organized by Section or searchable by Topic, Term or Author An archive of over [...

The log in your eye: eliminating gender bias in mediator performance evaluations

Posted on August 14, 2009
The hot-button issue of mediator credentialing and credentialing seems to be on the minds of many folks in the ADR field these days. It has generated discussion, here and on other blogs (including Tammy Lenski’s, Vickie Pynchon’s and Philip Loree’s)...

Simply the best: good-bye to Geoff Sharp and Mediator Blah?Blah?

Posted on August 13, 2009
Sad news today, friends. One of the very best of the ADR bloggers is closing up shop. Geoff Sharp has announced today that Mediator Blah…Blah… has ceased publication for now. Other projects beckon, and time with family matters. Geoff writes, We’ve had fun, you and me...

Fallacious Argument of the Month: the false analogy

Posted on August 03, 2009
With the aim of improving public discourse and combating sloppy thinking, I continue with the next installment of my series, Fallacious Argument of the Month. This month’s fallacious argument is a particular favorite of mine: the false analogy.  A false analogy is an effort to claim similarity between two items that even a desultory glance will [...

From the vault: Mediation Channel classics for August

Posted on August 01, 2009
I realized recently that I’ve been blogging for over four years. During that time I’ve produced quite a bit of writing - over 900 posts.  That realization prompted me last month to institute a new feature: Mediation Channel Classics, since I thought it might be worth a look back in time...

To certify or not to certify: that is the question as the mediation field struggles with professionalization

Posted on July 27, 2009
One of the burning questions the U.S. mediation profession faces is a difficult one: is it time to professionalize the field and establish more formal mechanisms for credentialing? As of today, the private practice of mediation in the United States is unlicensed and unregulated by the state...

Mediation channel surfing: nosh on these idea snacks in a round-up of links

Posted on July 27, 2009
Every few weeks for the benefit of my non-Twittering readers, I round up the articles, posts, and news stories I?ve microblogged about on Twitter. It’s time once again to dish out a collection of finger-licking good links that I think you’ll enjoy...

Getting to yes with blogging: even the big guys can learn something about social media

Posted on July 15, 2009
Some of us in the dispute resolution blogosphere have noticed but perhaps have been too polite to say anything…that is, until now… One of the major players in the negotiation world is blogging. These folks may know a lot about negotiating…but it looks like they could use a little help getting to yes with their blog...

Top 5 Tuesdays at National Arbitration Forum Blog this week highlights 5 new ADR bloggers

Posted on July 15, 2009
My long-time pals over at the National Arbitration Forum Blog have launched “Top 5 Tuesdays“, a terrific new feature to be hosted each week by a different member of the ADR community. They were nice enough to invite me to host this week’s edition, and I used it to showcase five blogs I’ve recently added [...

Mediation career myth-busting: 5 urban legends it?s time to debunk

Posted on July 15, 2009
Ever since the publication of a Forbes article that named mediation to its list of “America’s Most Surprising Six-Figure Jobs“, I’ve been inundated with emails from mediator-hopefuls eager to stake a claim to all that cash. Troubling to me, many of them hold mistaken notions about mediation as a profession and about qualifications to mediate...

Out of the archives: Mediation Channel classics

Posted on July 06, 2009
Today I announced a new feature, Fallacious Arguments of the Month. I figured that as long as I’m looking ahead, it’s not a bad time to look back - back to posts that appeared in previous years on this site. At the start of each coming month, I’ll highlight posts that appeared during that month in [...

Fallacious Argument of the Month: meet the straw man

Posted on July 06, 2009
There’s nothing like a good argument, as any fan of Monty Python knows. Having a good argument, however, demands diligence, attention to detail, self-awareness, and practice; it’s all too easy to have a bad one. The bad kind, alas, abounds in political discussion, particularly during an election season, makes frequent appearances in conference rooms and at [...

Mediation channel surfing: in a round-up of links, some tasty ideas to snack on

Posted on July 03, 2009
From time to time for my non-Twittering readers, I round up the articles and news stories I’ve microblogged about on Twitter. Here’s the latest batch of tasty thought-snacks: Georgia court “deregisters” mediator for serious ethical lapses, including violation of confidentiality, thanks to mediator and blogger Chris Annunziata...

Do Generation Y and Baby Boomer lawyers need a mediator?

Posted on July 03, 2009
I’ve written often here about the fault lines in the ADR profession - the deep rifts dividing facilitative and evaluative mediators, the line in the sand between attorneys who mediate and professional mediators who are not lawyers. These dividing lines damage our collegiality and pose harm to our credibility as dispute resolution professionals; if we [...

Mediation: not meditation, not medication, and definitely not arbitration

Posted on July 03, 2009
Yesterday the New Jersey Star-Ledger reported that the state’s Supreme Court “OKs mediation in custody disputes“. The problem with the story is that the New Jersey Supreme Court did nothing of the kind. Instead, it held that parties to a matrimonial action can submit questions relating to child custody and parenting time to binding arbitration (PDF)...

Common courtesy should not be an oxymoron

Posted on July 02, 2009
A recent article in the New York Times about the decline of manners in a Blackberry age prompted one executive coach to write to the Times editor to share an anecdote drawn from his own experience working with professionals. He wrote, I was told by a client, who is a former board member of a large [...

Please contact me?but kindly read this first if you need advice

Posted on June 30, 2009
I’ve been blogging for over four years now. During that time I have gotten more emails than I could begin to count from readers asking for advice, looking for help, offering criticism or praise, passing along stuff they knew I’d enjoy, or just getting in touch to say hello...

Mediation credentialing: what about mediation trainers?

Posted on June 24, 2009
Much discussion has taken place of late about credentialing or certifying mediators or what it means to prepare mediators for competent practice. All too often, number of hours of mediation training serves as proxy for proficiency and skill.  That is certainly the case in Massachusetts, which has a law protecting mediation communications from disclosure in [...

ADR practitioners to follow on Twitter

Posted on June 22, 2009
Yesterday I offered some tips on using Twitter for ADR practitioners. I promised to follow it up with a post pointing you to members of the dispute resolution community you might like to follow on Twitter. The following are names no doubt familiar to Mediation Channel readers...

Twitter tips for mediators: how ADR professionals can get the most from this social media tool

Posted on June 21, 2009
It’s almost impossible these days to pick up a newspaper or turn on the nightly TV news or your favorite radio station without reading or hearing something about Twitter. Twitter is a free (at least for now) communication and social networking utility that allows you to post brief messages, known as “tweets” to others...

Remembering Morad: thoughts on Iran and US relations

Posted on June 21, 2009
Hour by hour, print, TV, and web sources bring news, narratives and dramatic images from Iran of protests and violence as Iranians take to the streets to voice opposition to the results of the recent presidential election. The news from Tehran has brought back memories from a summer long ago...

Site tracking mediation, dispute resolution blogs world-wide, ADRblogs.com, turns three

Posted on June 14, 2009
The World Directory of ADR Blogs, at ADRblogs.com, turned three on June 5. ADRblogs.com grew out of a project I began in 2005 to track and catalog dispute resolution blogs world-wide. Today it tracks over 200 blogs from 30 countries around the globe. Recent additions to ADRblogs...

Just launched a dispute resolution blog? Here are 6 things effective bloggers do

Posted on June 14, 2009
As a blogger who’s been at this now for over four years, I have been fortunate enough to know first-hand the impact of blogging on the way ADR professionals practice.  As a social media tool, blogging has transformed the way I network, helping me forge ties around the world with dispute resolution professionals and others [...

Dispute resolution job posting: Meta-Culture seeks trainer, facilitator and mediator

Posted on June 08, 2009
I am honored to call friend the visionary entrepreneur and international dispute resolution professional Ashok Panikkar, who is the executive director of Meta-Culture, the only integrated dispute and relationship management consulting group in the Indian subcontinent...

Negotiation teaching 2.0: new book rethinks current approaches, considers culture

Posted on June 08, 2009
“But we’ve always done it this way” all too often stifles fresh thinking or bars the way to needed change. That’s why now and again it doesn’t hurt to shake things up. And shaking things up in the world of negotiation training and teaching is a new book, Rethinking Negotiation Teaching: Innovations for Context and Culture, [...

Lawyers are from Mars, clients from Venus: differing perceptions of mediation documented in new book

Posted on June 05, 2009
After attending a breakout session at the 2009 ABA Section on Dispute Resolution Spring Meeting titled  “What Do Litigators Want from Mediation?”, I decided it was high time to ask “What about clients?“, writing a post that called for much closer attention to the needs of those directly affected by disputes...

Conflicts of interest in the age of Twitter and Facebook: neutrals must find right balance

Posted on June 05, 2009
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn - if you are active on any of those sites or on the many others like them - then you no doubt have frequent opportunities to connect. But what happens for ADR professionals - mediators, arbitrators, and others - when clients are the ones who invite you to connect, follow you, or seek [...

Mediation certification back on track at Association for Conflict Resolution, but bumps in road ahead

Posted on June 03, 2009
In its June 2009 Update (PDF), the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR) reports that it’s full steam ahead for the ACR Certification Task Force, resuscitated after a three-year break. According to Nancy Gardner, Co-Chair of the ACR Mediator Certification Task Force, a 2008 survey indicated support for certification from ACR member, providing the impetus for [...

In praise of joint sessions: mediator Geoff Sharp pays tribute to face-to-face negotiations

Posted on June 01, 2009
Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack in everything That’s how the light gets in - Leonard Cohen The past couple of years have brought energetic debate within the mediation profession, pushing mediators to confront questions about practice, professional identity, and the nature of mediation itself...

Law like love: thoughts on a Supreme Court nomination, ADR, and jurisprudence

Posted on May 29, 2009
Earlier this week President Obama announced the nomination of Federal Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court. Predictably her nomination produced swift reaction: cheering accolades from some quarters and harsh condemnation from others...

Mediate.com CEO responds to questions about new Mediator Certification Program

Posted on May 22, 2009
The following interview is reprinted with permission from the Mediate.com web site, with thanks to Mediate.com CEO Jim Melamed. No enhanced interrogation methods were used in the making of this interview. Please feel free to add your comments at the end of this post...

Preparing mediators for practice: mediation training or mediation education?

Posted on May 22, 2009
Recently the alert I set up to monitor appearances of the keyword “mediation” in Twitter posts pointed me to the following message: “Just got back from Civil Mediation Training (30 hrs) to be a Qualified Neutral”. The message took me aback...

Negotiating online relationships: a marketing mistake to avoid

Posted on May 22, 2009
As much I have been enjoying Twitter, the social media and instant messaging tool, it has one black mark against it: some followers try to sell you stuff you don’t want. I have quickly learned who not to follow back to avoid an influx of messages that are little more than shameless self-promotion or snake-oil [...

Mediation and negotiation link roundup: good stuff worth reading

Posted on May 21, 2009
Every couple of weeks I round up here at Mediation Channel the links to articles I’ve shared with my followers on Twitter. (For those of you not familiar with this popular social media tool, you may wish to read “Negotiating Twitter: a mediator test drives the hot social media craze“, an article I recently wrote...

Mediate.com announces mediator certification program

Posted on May 21, 2009
After over a year of planning and development, Mediate.com, the world’s best known resource for information and news about alternative dispute resolution and negotiation, announced today that it has taken the wraps off a Mediator Certification Program for well trained and highly experienced mediators...

Law has a PR problem: too often, lawyers viewed as instigators not healers of disputes

Posted on May 10, 2009
I spent Mother’s Day weekend in the town where I grew up, visiting my folks. On the drive eastbound home to Boston this morning along the Massachusetts Turnpike, I spotted the sign, hanging from an overpass somewhere past the Charlton service area...

On Mother?s Day, every mother deserves a little peace?and justice

Posted on May 07, 2009
An organization committed to promoting social justice, Inter Pares, whose name means “among equals” in Latin, has launched a campaign to take back Mother’s Day and rededicate it to the causes of peace and reconciliation that its early proponents worked for...

Mediators pull plug on efforts to enact Uniform Mediation Act in Massachusetts

Posted on May 07, 2009
In 1985, the Massachusetts legislature enacted a statute creating a privilege for mediation communications. As it turned out, despite the good intentions of its makers, it proved to be a deeply flawed statute. It fails to specify exceptions to privilege or identify how or by whom the privilege could be waived...

Mediation Channel round-up: good stuff online for mediators and negotiators

Posted on May 04, 2009
From time to time I round up the links to articles I’ve been sharing with my followers on Twitter, where I’ve been microblogging for the last couple of months. I’m passing some along here to my non-Twittering readers, along with other stuff that you just don’t want to miss...

Mediation and negotiation blog tracking site ADRblogs.com reaches 200 mark, updates its look

Posted on May 01, 2009
Shortly after I began blogging in January 2005, I became interested in inventorying and tracking the slowly increasing number of blogs devoted to ADR.  In 2006 I created and launched ADRblogs.com, a site that catalogs blogs that discuss ADR, negotiation, consensus building, negotiation, conflict resolution, and human-centered innovations in law and justice...

Mediate.com launches interview series with mediation bloggers

Posted on April 30, 2009
Over the years the terrific folks at Mediate.com - the premier online source for the latest in news and ideas related to dispute resolution and negotiation -  have shown tremendous support for ADR bloggers. They were kind enough to give us a home on their site with a Featured Blogs page that posts the best [...

What about clients? Time at last to consider what they want from mediation

Posted on April 30, 2009
At the recent ABA Section on Dispute Resolution spring meeting, I attended one program whose title promised an answer to the fascinating question “What Do Litigators Want?” when it comes to mediator practices. All well and good, but the question I was most interested in was very different: “What do your clients want? ” Alas, I never [...

Connecting at the ABA Section on Dispute Resolution Spring Meeting

Posted on April 20, 2009
Surmounted by an image of a righteous Old Testament god, the frieze above the entrance to the GE Building in New York City bears the words, “Wisdom and Knowledge shall be the stability of thy times“, chiseled into stone. Along with collegiality and connection, these were no doubt the objectives of those who attended last [...

Gorilla in the room: the dividing lines in mediation practice

Posted on April 20, 2009
Last week’s annual spring meeting of the ABA Section on Dispute Resolution was endowed with an optimistic title: “ADR: Building Bridges to a Better Society”. Despite the noble sentiment it carried, something else - unwelcome and ignored - was present...

Facilitative? Evaluative? The struggle to define the practice of mediation

Posted on April 13, 2009
Recently I criticized a call by Stephen Erickson of the Association for Conflict Resolution to establish a certification system for mediators.  (Lively discussion ensued, and people have continued to weigh in, so please feel free to contribute.) According to Erickson, facilitative mediation is “good” and evaluative mediation, by inference, is bad, since evaluative mediation undermines self-determination, [...

Meet ADR bloggers at ABA Section on Dispute Resolution Annual Spring Conference

Posted on April 13, 2009
The 11th Annual Spring Conference of the American Bar Association Section on Dispute Resolution gets underway this Thursday, April 16, in New York City. ADR professionals and scholars from throughout the US and elsewhere around the globe will gather to explore this year’s theme, “ADR: Building Bridges to a Better Society“...

10 ways to botch a mediation

Posted on April 13, 2009
One of the latest arrivals on the mediation blogging scene is The Strategic Mediator, published by Florida-based ADR firm Upchurch Watson White & Max. A recent post that caught my eye was this one: “Top 10 Ways to Botch a Mediation“, a comprehensive list of surefire ways to sink any assisted negotiation that includes one surprise [...

Getting out of neutral: a fresh look at mediator impartiality

Posted on April 06, 2009
Efforts here in Massachusetts to enact the Uniform Mediation Act have run aground. Deadlocked over one vexing question - how to define a mediator  - the MassUMA Working Group (as those of us involved most directly in those efforts  call ourselves) is poised to take some time off to regroup and rethink...

Another round-up of articles for negotiators, ADR professionals

Posted on April 06, 2009
Since February I’ve been microblogging at Twitter, a social media tool ( and recently sharing my experiences and lessons learned). As I’ve come to appreciate, Twitter can be a great way to keep your ear to the ground and gain access to the latest news and ideas that the world is discussing...

Interviews with ADR giants: Mediate.com opens video archive for month of April

Posted on April 02, 2009
Mediate.com, the world’s premier source for news, information, and articles about mediation, has opened its video archive to the public during the month of April. Available at no cost are over 100 fully searchable video interviews with leaders in the field of dispute resolution - notable names like Roger Fisher, Carrie Menkel-Meadow, Len Riskin, Margaret Shaw, [...

Defending the caucus: the benefits for parties in facilitative mediation

Posted on April 01, 2009
Recently the mediation caucus - meetings in private between the mediator and one side to a dispute - has come in for some harsh criticism. Dismissed as “shuttle diplomacy” that keeps parties in the dark about each other’s interests and places full control over the flow of information in the hands of the mediator, [...

30 countries now represented at ADRblogs.com with addition of Swedish blog

Posted on March 26, 2009
Since 2006 I’ve been cataloging blogs around that world that discuss ADR, negotiation, consensus building, and conflict resolution, at the site I created to track them, World Directory of ADR Blogs @ ADRblogs.com. With the addition of Hantera Konflikter - a blog covering conflict resolution with a special focus on workplace issues - and also the [...

Thinking outside the pie: using mediation is no compromise

Posted on March 23, 2009
Yesterday I discussed an article on mediation that appeared in USA Today, dismayed by its depiction of mediation as a free service provided by volunteers. But that was not the only problem that caught my attention. The article also quoted a critic of mediation who mistakenly charges that mediation “is a ‘terrible idea’ because it presumes [...

Negotiating Twitter: a mediator test drives the hot social media craze

Posted on March 23, 2009
Since February, I’ve been test-driving Twitter, the social media tool that everyone these days seems to be talking about.  It’s a social and business networking, instant messaging, and microblogging service, all rolled into one. Twitter invites users to respond to the question “What are you doing?” Every day, thousands of users log in, eager to [...

In mediation we trust: time to stop devaluing our services as mediators

Posted on March 22, 2009
I recently stumbled across “Mediators help in neighborly dog disputes“, an article in USA Today extolling the virtues of mediation to resolve tricky neighborhood conflicts. Although I suppose we should welcome the publicity, the article did our profession no favors, creating the impression that mediation is largely a free service, one that non-profit mediation programs and [...

Recommended books for mediators, ADR professionals: a brief bibliography

Posted on March 20, 2009
The latest issue of the weekly Mediate.com newsletter links to an article by mediator Barbara Brown which provides a “A Practical Bibliography of Books for the Mediation Practitioner“. It is a comprehensive list of influential texts for ADR professionals, and I salute Brown for taking the time and thought to compile what is plainly a labor [...

Outwitting the leopard: deception at the negotiating table

Posted on March 17, 2009
The other day a friend emailed me the following joke, which has circulated widely on the internet: A wealthy old lady decides to go on a photo safari in Africa, taking her faithful aged poodle, Cuddles, along for company. One day the poodle starts chasing butterflies and before long, Cuddles discovers that he’s lost...

Time for mediation certification in the U.S.? Not this way, thanks

Posted on March 17, 2009
The Association for Conflict Resolution’s Family Section released the latest edition of its quarterly newsletter, Family Mediation News. A front page article insists in large typeface that “Certification of Mediators Needed Now More than Ever” (PDF)...

Is it time for a No Asshole Rule for Blawg Review?

Posted on March 17, 2009
In 2007 management science expert Bob Sutton wrote The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn?t, a book that dared name the toxic problem that bedevils the modern workplace. His book described ways to identify and neutralize assholes and ultimately immunize your business against them...

Negotiating disability

Posted on March 09, 2009
Last summer an online magazine for entrepreneurial women elevated form over substance when it advised its audience to accessorize for that big negotiation and mimic the “look” of the person on the other side of the table. I responded with a post criticizing the undue focus on physical appearance: Behind it lurks a whole array of [...

Round-up of noteworthy articles for mediators, negotiators

Posted on March 09, 2009
For the past month, I’ve been test-driving Twitter, a Web 2.0 microblogging, messaging, and social media tool. I’ll be discussing those experiences later this week, but in the meantime, I thought I’d pull together a sampling of articles I’ve been sharing with my followers on Twitter...

Voodoo economics: seeking psychic advice for financial decision making

Posted on March 09, 2009
Pick up a newspaper these days or tune in to your local TV news station, and there it is — another story about the consequences of bad decision making. Meanwhile, publishers fill bookstore shelves with texts prescribing remedies for poor judgment, warning us that we are predictably irrational or nudging readers toward wiser choices, while excellent [...

What old-school trial lawyers really think about mediators

Posted on March 04, 2009

Is this the end of blogging?

Posted on February 24, 2009
If you’re a member of either the legal or ADR blogging community (or both, like me, who stands with one foot in each of those worlds), maybe you’ve noticed it. Something feels different. It’s like a funeral in here. Last week, Robert Ambrogi marked the passing of two popular blogs...

Articles, videos, and exercises online for the mediation trainer

Posted on February 24, 2009
This Thursday and Friday in Boston I’m teaching a program on the essentials of mediation training with Charles Doran, executive director of Mediation Works Incorporated. In preparation for the program, I’ve been pulling together materials on mediation and negotiation training, including the following articles, videos, web sites, and exercises available online...

Mediating between law and mediation: time for both sides to declare a cease-fire

Posted on February 22, 2009
Last week I got a phone call from a third-year law student interested in learning more about mediation. Toward the end of our conversation, she told me that her fellow students mocked her interest in mediation practice, dismissing it as “touchy-feely, Kumbaya-singing crap”...

Mediating on YouTube

Posted on February 18, 2009
It didn’t take long for mediators to leverage the power of YouTube.  A search on YouTube for “mediation” today yields almost 4,000 results, impressive even when you take into account the fact that some of those search results include “meditation” misspelled and “Mediate“, an INXS song from 1987...

More negotiation lessons from humor

Posted on February 18, 2009
Last fall, in “A negotiator walks into a bar“, I passed along a humorous story offering lessons in problem solving that a friend happened to email me. Over the weekend, this same friend emailed me another joke, which likewise serves double-duty as a cautionary tale for negotiators...

Blue for creativity, red for attention to detail: study shows effect of colors on brain

Posted on February 06, 2009
According to a study conducted by Juliet Zhu, professor of marketing at the University of British Columbia Sauder School of Business, colors can affect the brain, influencing our ability to attend to details or generate ideas. The study indicates that red increases attentiveness, and blue promotes creativity and brainstorming...

Twittering from the mediation table: social media come to ADR

Posted on February 05, 2009
I recently joined Twitter.  Twitter, for those of you not yet familiar with this social media tool, is a social and business networking, microblogging, and instant messaging service. Messages sent via Twitter are short, limited to 140 characters, demanding an economy of expression of its users...

Remembering wartime: photos of present-day city evoke violent past

Posted on January 29, 2009
To commemorate the 65th anniversary of the end of the Siege of Leningrad, photographer Sergei Larenkov overlay photos of present-day St. Petersburg with ghostly images of Leningrad during the blockade. In these grim images, the dead trudge silently along city streets, while modern-day passersby rush past, blind to their presence...

The Complete Lawyer: a new look, a new issue

Posted on January 29, 2009
The latest edition of The Complete Lawyer, a web-based magazine focusing on quality of life and career satisfaction for attorneys but with relevance for dispute resolution professionals as well, is now available. This month’s issue asks, “What Do Savvy Lawyers Do In An Uncertain Economy?”...

Girl Scouts get to yes with lessons in negotiating

Posted on January 28, 2009
Recognizing how important the acquisition of negotiation skills is for women for educational and career advancement, Carnegie Mellon University’s Program for Research and Outreach on Gender Equity in Society (PROGRESS) has developed a negotiation badge to be awarded to Girl Scouts in fourth through sixth grade who have participated in a curriculum that teaches them [...

A round-up of must-read articles for professional mediators

Posted on January 28, 2009
The following articles linked to below make essential reading for the professional mediator, addressing as they do three important topics in mediation practice — reaching settlement, making decisions, and what to do with those notes. Reaching settlement...

Mediation Channel, other ADR blogs make list of top legal blogs

Posted on January 27, 2009
Avvo Blog has pulled together an automatically updating list of the top 300 law blogs, ordered by their traffic ranking on Alexa, a web traffic information site. Mediation Channel made the cut, along with these outstanding ADR blogs: Settle It Now, Victoria Pynchon Idealawg, Stephanie West Allen Conflict Zen, Tammy Lenski Mediator Blah…Blah…, Geoff Sharp Civil Negotiation and Mediation, Nancy Hudgins Florida [...

Outlandish mediation techniques? Name yours

Posted on January 27, 2009
Last week ADR Prof Blog posted a zany request to mediators, asking them to share their most outlandish mediation techniques. It got me thinking. The most outlandish thing I’ve done during a mediation had to have been this: I was mediating a multi-party dispute involving a bunch of guys who towered enormously over me...

Online petition asks Obama to promote conflict resolution

Posted on January 27, 2009
Conflict resolution expert and social justice advocate Kenneth Cloke has created an online petition requesting that U.S. President Barack Obama promote the use of conflict resolution both domestically and internationally. Dispute resolvers, peacemakers, and ADR professionals are encouraged to add their signatures to a growing list of supporters...

January 20, 2009: The better angels of our nature

Posted on January 20, 2009
Change has come to the White House.  Among the signs: the new White House blog, which affirms the commitment of the Obama administration to three core principles: communication, transparency, and participation. Among its first posts was this one, proclaiming a National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation: We are in the midst of a season of trial...

No soap, radio: confronting our fear of asking questions

Posted on January 20, 2009
Those of you who grew up in the U.S. may be familiar with “no soap, radio“, a prankster’s joke.  When I was a kid, it was the kind of gag that older kids would pull on younger ones. The prankster and her accomplices — a group of sixth graders for example — would approach their [...

Mediation Train the Trainer Institute held in Boston Feb. 26-27, 2009

Posted on January 20, 2009
If you’re an experienced mediator who wants to master the essentials of effective mediation training, please join me in Boston for the Mediation Works Incorporated Train the Trainer Institute, on Thursday, February 26 and Friday, February 27, 2009...

Federal law would create negotiation training programs for women and girls

Posted on January 14, 2009
On January 9, 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives approved two bills that would remedy paycheck discrimination.  One, the Paycheck Fairness Act, would eliminate gender-based pay disparities. What is especially significant about this Act is that it would establish a grant program to fund training for women and girls in negotiation skills...

Latest additions to ADRblogs.com cover consensus building, healthy workplaces, personal injury mediation

Posted on January 14, 2009
I’ve just added three great blogs to the World Directory of ADR Blogs @ ADRblogs.com, my ongoing effort to track and catalogue blogs around the globe that cover ADR, negotiation, and conflict resolution. It’s my great pleasure to welcome: The Consensus Building Approach is published by the internationally renowned Lawrence Susskind, Ford Professor of Urban and [...

It pays to know the other side?s BATNA when you?re negotiating

Posted on January 14, 2009
Knowledge is power in any negotiation. Skilled negotiators prepare carefully, taking time to identify their key interests and their alternatives if no deal is reached (in negotiation parlance, their “BATNA” — their best alternative to a negotiated agreement)...

Mediation house calls for divorcing couples

Posted on January 13, 2009
Although I hate to admit it, I’m actually old enough to remember the days when the family doctor made house calls. Childhood ailments brought visits from our kindly, joke-cracking pediatrician who would arrive with his black bag, his stethoscope slung around his neck, as if he’d stepped straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting...

January 2009 Carnival of Trust

Posted on January 12, 2009
Welcome to the January 2009 Carnival of Trust, a monthly review of posts that explore the most essential ingredient in all our relationships, business and personal.  Charles H. Green, CEO of Trusted Advisor Associates, and an expert on trust in business relationships, is the creator of the Carnival of Trust, and I am deeply honored  [...

Mediation Channel begins a new season

Posted on January 11, 2009
I know that an unaccustomed silence has fallen here. The last two months have brought difficult challenges for my family and me to face. With regret I had to put so much on hold, including this blog. Many of you have contacted me to ask if I’m okay, and I am deeply grateful to [...

Highlights from the World Directory of ADR Blogs

Posted on November 21, 2008
Fellow mediator and blogger Geoff Sharp and I issued a challenge today to our fellow ADR bloggers: pick your best post from 2008 and submit it, then readers will choose the top three from all the submissions.  This friendly competition is open to any blog listed on the World Directory of ADR Blogs at ADRblogs...

Calling all ADR bloggers - is one of your posts the best in 2008?

Posted on November 21, 2008
ADR blogs Mediation Channel and mediator blah… blah… are combining in a quest to find the 3 best mediation and negotiation related posts written in 2008. Together we are asking all ADR bloggers to send us your very favorite mediation/negotiation related post that you have written this year for inclusion in the competition...

Master the geography of collaboration with the latest edition of The Complete Lawyer

Posted on November 20, 2008
The latest edition of The Complete Lawyer is now available, putting the focus on ?Doing Business Internationally.? The Complete Lawyer is a web-based magazine focusing on quality of life and career satisfaction for attorneys but with relevance for dispute resolution professionals as well...

Massachusetts Uniform Mediation Act: time to make your opinion count online or in person

Posted on November 20, 2008
Since 2006, a group of mediators in Massachusetts, designating itself the MassUMA Working Group, has met regularly to discuss the adoption of the Uniform Mediation Act (”UMA”) in the Commonwealth. The UMA protects communications made during a mediation and establishes a limited evidentiary privilege that prevents the use of those communications in subsequent legal proceedings...

To err is human: how do we keep our feet out of our mouths in the first place?

Posted on November 20, 2008
Last week, legal marketing guru Larry Bodine put his foot in it with a blog post describing the “Best ‘Elevator Pitch’ Ever…?”, courtesy of a “silver-haired senior-most litigator” who relies on a cheap joke about the Holocaust to woo business clients...

Testing for negotiation skills, creativity: an LSAT for the 21st century

Posted on November 11, 2008
In the U.S., thousands of graduate school applicants sit each year for one or more of the standardized tests that most universities require as part of their admissions process.  One of them, the Law School Admission Test, known as the LSAT, measures the reading comprehension and verbal reasoning skills of hopeful attorneys-to-be — yielding results [...

Conflict style inventory gets upgrade, free review copy available

Posted on November 11, 2008
Conflict resolution expert, mediator, and peacebuilder Dr. Ron Kraybill has asked me to let readers know that he has released a 2008 upgrade for Style Matters: The Kraybill Conflict Style Inventory through the company he founded, Riverhouse ePress. With over 120,000 users, Style Matters has helped business managers, organizational consultants, and conflict resolution trainers worldwide teach [...

Court-connected mediation in Massachusetts another casualty of tough economy

Posted on November 11, 2008
In news that has stunned the alternative dispute resolution community in Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Trial Court has terminated its mediation contracts with programs approved to provide services in courts throughout the Commonwealth. This move comes in response to the decision by Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick to order deep cuts in the state budget to offset a [...

Animated short celebrates 60th anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Posted on October 15, 2008
We dispute resolution professionals sometimes characterize the difference between mediation and litigation as one of focus: mediation is interest-based, focusing on the underlying needs and aspirations of the individuals involved in the dispute, while litigation is rights-based, concerning itself with the entitlements, claims, and remedies created by and available at law...

Jumping to conclusions, part 2: correct answers to the Cash Register Test

Posted on October 14, 2008
Last week I posed a challenge to my readers: to have a go at “The Cash Register Exercise“, an uncritical inference test. I promised to divulge the correct answers yesterday, but unfortunately circumstances intervened and prevented me from doing so, and so, with my apologies, I post them today...

Blawg Review #181

Posted on October 13, 2008
Welcome to Blawg Review #181, celebrating International Conflict Resolution Day. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Blawg Review, allow me a brief introduction.  Hosted each week by a different blogger, Blawg Review highlights noteworthy legal blogging, sharing the pleasure of discovery of insight, news, and commentary sampled across the spectrum of legal practice...

Government regulation or free market? Take the Policy Implicit Association Test

Posted on October 09, 2008
Mediators and negotiators must know themselves well — to guard against biases that can affect neutrality for the former or influence decision making for the latter.  I’ve therefore encouraged readers to get to know themselves better by taking one of the Implicit Association Tests (IAT) available at Project Implicit...

Attention mediation trainers: ADR scholar shares teaching technique for mediation and negotiation classes

Posted on October 09, 2008
Bond University professor and world-renowned authority on mediation John Wade generously shares a useful technique for teaching conflict resolution and negotiation in “Re-inventing the Pyramid: A Process for Teaching and Learning in Mediation and Negotiation Courses” (available as a PDF download)...

Disputant perceptions of gender: a challenge for women who mediate

Posted on October 08, 2008
Gender bias persists.  Its influence casts a shadow over the negotiating table, where social conditioning and cultural expectations produce significant economic costs for women, following them from their first paycheck to beyond retirement. But stereotypes and assumptions about gender may reach women on the other side of the negotiating table as well — the women who [...

Prevent conflict escalation: use Google?s new Mail Goggles email tool

Posted on October 07, 2008
As anyone knows who has awakened in the sober light of dawn to regret an email sent in haste the night before, electronic communications can be lethal. Be too quick on the trigger with the “send” button and you may find you’ve initiated DEFCON 1 in your workplace or personal relationships...

Mediation Channel to host Blawg Review, celebrate Conflict Resolution Day

Posted on October 06, 2008
On Monday, October 13, I’ll be hosting Blawg Review, the weekly review of the best in legal blogging. I’ll be taking the opportunity to salute International Conflict Resolution Day, celebrated this year on Thursday, October 16. This marks the fourth time I’ve served as a Blawg Review host — readers may recall that [...

Jumping to conclusions? Take the Cash Register Test to find out how much

Posted on October 05, 2008
For many years I have used the following exercise in trainings and workshops on conflict resolution, communication, and negotiation. Known as “The Cash Register Exercise”, it is adapted from “The Uncritical Inference Test” created by William V...

Where are all the female law bloggers? Hanging out in the ADR blogosphere of course.

Posted on October 05, 2008
C.C. Holland, writing for Legal Technology laments the lack of strong female voices among legal bloggers and asks, “Where Are All the Female Law Bloggers?” Holland may not have looked very hard. There’s a bunch of us — loud, proud, and outspoken — right here in the ADR blogosphere...

Judaism, media literacy and U.S. elections: reflections on the Jewish New Year

Posted on September 30, 2008
Last night marked the start of the celebration of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah. In anticipation, several days earlier, I began rereading a book I’d acquired several years ago, Nothing Sacred, a controversial work by media critic Douglas Rushkoff that seeks 21st century meaning in the traditions and texts of Judaism...

Expose yourself to ideas: celebrate Banned Books Week

Posted on September 30, 2008
As negotiators and mediators know from experience, knowledge and information are power. That’s true for all of the negotiations in life we face — the political, the transactional, and the personal. What better way to celebrate access to information than by honoring Banned Books Week, which celebrates the freedom to read, and is sponsored by [...

A negotiator walks into a bar: a joke teaches a lesson on problem solving

Posted on September 24, 2008
A friend recently sent me the following joke: During a visit to a mental asylum, a visitor asked the director how to determine whether or not a patient should be institutionalised. “Well,” said the director, “we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient, and ask him [...

Will mediate for beer: as times get tough, locals turn to bartering

Posted on September 16, 2008
At The Pigs, a pub in Norwich, England, locals can trade food — produce they’ve grown or game they’ve caught — for beer. According to the sign posted in the pub, “If you grow, breed, shoot or steal anything that may look at home on our menu, then bring it in and let’s do [...

New blog Settlement Perspectives puts spotlight on resolving disputes and getting the deal done

Posted on September 15, 2008
Attorney John DeGroote has hit the ground running with the launch of his blog, Settlement Perspectives. Although his blog is just five posts old as of today’s date, John has already demonstrated the exemplary writing and skillful storytelling that are the mark of the successful blogger...

Small Business Trends hosts Blawg Review 177

Posted on September 15, 2008
Anita Campbell, editor of Small Business Trends, an online publication covering trends and new directions that affect the small business owner, describes herself as “an entrepreneur at heart almost her entire life”. Anita really understands that small business owners have big ambitions and wants to help them succeed...

Envision word peace with Wordle, a word cloud generator

Posted on September 10, 2008
I was fascinated last week by the word clouds — graphic depictions — of the convention speeches of Senators Barack Obama and John McCain that appeared on so many web sites and blogs. Word clouds are visual representations of words. The larger the word in the image, the more frequently it appears on the site...

Learn easy tech tips to market, manage your mediation practice at November 14 workshop with Tammy Lenski, Diane Levin

Posted on September 09, 2008
If you’re in New England on Friday, November 14, 2008, please join me and mediation marketing expert Tammy Lenski, author of Making Mediation Your Day Job, for a fun, interactive afternoon as we share affordable, simple ways to put technology to work when you market and manage your ADR practice...

Judgment call: everyone benefits when decision making is improved

Posted on September 09, 2008
In a recently published paper, experts in decision making Dolly Chugh, Katherine L. Milkman, and Max Bazerman asked an important question, “How Can Decision Making Be Improved?” (PDF): We propose that the time has come to move the study of biases in judgment and decision making beyond description and toward the development of improvement strategies...

International Literacy Day celebrated at Blawg Review No. 176

Posted on September 09, 2008
My son graduated in June from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a double major in legal studies and philosophy.  As you might imagine, he’s an avid reader who enjoys the lively exchange of ideas, particularly around our family’s kitchen table during visits home...

Sidetaker lets bickering couples submit disputes to court of public opinion

Posted on September 06, 2008
If you seek proof of civilization’s decline, look no further than Sidetaker, a site that lets the public be the judge in spats between quarreling lovers. Don’t bother to seek nuance or middle ground here; there’s plenty of blame and fingerpointing for couples bickering over everything from toilet flushing habits to illicit affairs...

International Mediation Institute honors mediation blogs from across the globe

Posted on September 03, 2008
The International Mediation Institute (IMI), a public policy initiative creating international competency standards for certifying mediators, has conferred a great honor upon a select group of bloggers. IMI has created a special section on its web site to recognize the work of mediation bloggers from countries around the world...

New issue of The Complete Lawyer and its ADR column, The Human Factor, now available

Posted on September 03, 2008
Now available online is the latest edition of The Complete Lawyer, a web-based magazine focusing on quality of life and career satisfaction for attorneys, along with its special ADR column, ?The Human Factor?. This issue of The Complete Lawyer discusses “The Brave New World of Associates...

5 blogs and 5 blawgers

Posted on September 03, 2008
To meme or not to meme, that is the question. Memes are single units of culture — ideas, behavior, customs, or trends — transmitted virally from one individual to the next.  On the internet, memes often spread and propagate through blogs, whose very nature makes them ideal for the viral transmission that memes depend upon to [...

Daydreams lead to creativity, productive problem solving, contrary to popular belief

Posted on August 31, 2008
…proper daydreaming - the kind of thinking that occurs when the mind is thinking to itself - is a crucial feature of the healthy human brain. It might seem as though our mind is empty, but the mind is never empty: it’s always bubbling over with ideas and connections...

Don?t pee on my shoes and tell me it?s raining: more truth, less fiction, in debate on mandatory arbitration

Posted on August 29, 2008
Earlier this year, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s affiliate, the Institute for Legal Reform, cranked out a press release about a recent poll it commissioned that purported to prove that a majority of likely voters would overwhelmingly support mandatory arbitration...

Barack Obama: mediator to a divided nation

Posted on August 29, 2008
In the days after the towers fell on September 11, 2001, Americans everywhere came together to honor the dead and demand justice. The world stood beside us, sharing our shock and grief. That unity proved short-lived. “You’re either with us or against us” became U...

Channel surfing at MediationChannel.com: a round-up of links

Posted on August 28, 2008
A quick round-up of stories for your reading pleasure: They say that it’s better to give than to receive. In part that’s because of the pleasure we experience in giving to others. Science Daily reports that monkeys derive the same pleasure from giving that humans do...

Online Guide to Mediation has moved to its new home at MediationChannel.com!

Posted on January 01, 2008
It's official -- Online Guide to Mediation has a new home and a new name -- at Mediation Channel.com.After several months of technical difficulties with Blogger, the blog publishing platform I've relied on for the past three years, I decided it was high time to make the move to my own domain name...

2007 highlights: the year's best from Online Guide to Mediation

Posted on December 31, 2007
Year's end is a time for looking forward and also for looking back, as we take stock of where we've been, while we consider the journey ahead of us.As part of that annual tradition, I've pulled together the posts from 2007 that have been the most frequently visited, the ones that drew the most comments and emails, or that are simply my favorites...

A happy New Year message from Online Guide to Mediation

Posted on December 31, 2007
Please click here to view a New Year's Eve message from me to you.Best wishes to everyone!

New additions, New Year's updates for World Directory of ADR Blogs

Posted on December 29, 2007
Change is good.And change is coming to the World Directory of ADR Blogs, my online project tracking and cataloging blogs worldwide on mediation, negotiation, ADR, conflict resolution, negotiation, and people-focused innovations in the law.Beginning on the first of the year, the World Directory of ADR Blogs will itself become a blog, with its own RSS feed so that visitors can subscribe easily for news and updates...

Blawg Review Nominations

Posted on December 29, 2007
Blawg Review, acknowledged recently by the American Bar Association as one of the top 100 law blogs, is unique among blogs. Hosted each week by a different legal blog, no better source exists for current trends, new ideas, highlights of top news stories, and stimulating repartee for the legal community...

Lawyers Appreciate... democracy

Posted on December 29, 2007
Memes are ideas or units of cultural information transmitted, as viruses are, from one individual to the next. Blogs provide a rich medium for memes to flourish in, as bloggers invite (or incite) each other to comment on and disseminate them.Stephanie West Allen, who publishes Idealawg, a blog that honors the creative spirit within the practice of law, and Julie Fleming Brown of Life at the Bar, have announced the second annual celebration of Lawyers Appreciate...

In celebration of the ADR blogosphere: blogging transforms how we talk about dispute resolution

Posted on December 11, 2007
In less than a month I'll be celebrating Online Guide to Mediation's third anniversary. Looking back, I marvel at how radically things have changed since my early days of blogging.With all things web-related, change occurs rapidly and time accelerates...

Test your knowledge of world geography

Posted on December 11, 2007
Maybe you consider yourself knowledgeable about foreign affairs. Or count yourself a seasoned traveler with the passport stamps to prove it. Or perhaps you pride yourself on your cultural awareness.Put your internationally attuned wits to the test with the interactive Traveler IQ Challenge to see how well you know your world geography...

Out of the mouths of babes: a child's guide to the law

Posted on December 10, 2007
I have a confession. The obituaries are perhaps the part of the newspaper I enjoy reading most.Why? I can think of many reasons. Obituaries celebrate a life well lived. They return history to a human scale, reminding us that history is not shaped by emperors, generals, or queens alone, but also by ordinary people against the backdrop of large-scale events...

Blawg Review #138 honors Human Rights Day

Posted on December 10, 2007
De Novo hosts Blawg Review #138, this week's edition of Blawg Review, the weekly review of the best in legal blogging.This presentation of Blawg Review celebrates Human Rights Day, December 10, which commemorates the adoption of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly:All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights...

Online Guide to Mediation Link Round-up | December 7, 2007

Posted on December 07, 2007
Here's the latest round-up of conflict resolution and negotiation links for mediators:The Telegraph discusses the benefits of negotiation training in "The art of being a winning negotiator". Lessons learned include "Don't squander trust" and "build relationships with the other party"...

"The Point": web site leverages the power of numbers to solve problems

Posted on December 06, 2007
They say that there's strength in numbers. And that's the premise of a new web site, The Point, which bills itself as "a social platform for people to solve problems they can't solve alone."Visitors to the site can register and create campaigns to encourage others to join their cause...

Premier ADR web site Mediate.com adds new feature with global focus

Posted on December 06, 2007
Mediate.com, the world's leading online resource for news, information, and bleeding-edge thinking in the field of ADR, has added a new feature.Mediation Today highlights the importance of mediation, posting stories from around the globe that demonstrate the many ways in which men and women confront and address disputes -- and the continuing relevance of the work that the conflict resolution field is engaged in.

Optical illusions as a training tool for mastering negotiation and conflict resolution skills

Posted on December 04, 2007
As a trainer of negotiation and conflict resolution skills, I love using optical illusions to demonstrate the fallibility of our perception. They alert us that our senses can be unreliable and susceptible to influence. And they remind us that it is always possible to see things differently...

Divinely inspired Blawg Review #137

Posted on December 04, 2007
This week's Blawg Review, the weekly review of the best in legal blogging, is hosted by Colin Samuels at Infamy or Praise. Blawg Review #137 draws poetic inspiration from The Divine Comedy's third cantica, Paradiso. This edition of Blawg Review is Colin's third...

In weighing the Uniform Mediation Act, Massachusetts mediators may be poised to repeat mistakes of the past

Posted on November 27, 2007
In April 2006, I reported that the Boston Bar Association proposed an amendment to the Massachusetts mediation confidentiality statute, Mass. Gen. Law. ch. 233, s. 23C. That statute protects from disclosure in a judicial or administrative proceeding "[a]ny communication made in the course of and relating to the subject matter of any mediation and which is made in the presence of such mediator by any participant, mediator or other person...

Lawyers, Pakistan and democracy: is it time for a Nobel Prize in law?

Posted on November 16, 2007
I remain haunted by last week's images of lawyers protesting in the streets of Lahore. Their defiant response to Musharraf's declaration of martial law reminds us of how integral the rule of law is to a functioning democracy.How might we honor law's place in delivering justice and safeguarding human rights? How can we recognize the importance of law and its institutions?Garrett Epps, writing for The Nation, proposes that "We Need a Nobel Prize in Law"...

Online Guide to Mediation Link Round-up | November 16, 2007

Posted on November 16, 2007
Some good stuff on the web to round out the week:Language Log posts a cartoon on communication by omission about all the unspoken messages family members convey to each during the stress of the holidays (particularly mothers and their adult children), as well as a meditation on the use of diplomatic language to settle disputes in "The moral of losing your pants, your suit, and your job"...

Latest podcast from Harvard PON covers negotiation lessons from baseball's free agents

Posted on November 15, 2007
Red Sox fans like myself, while still basking in the afterglow of our team's recent World Series triumph, are grieving that baseball season has at last come to an end.But I can take comfort in the latest edition of PONCAST, which brings together two of my favorite topics, negotiation and baseball, in its latest podcast, "Negotiation Lessons from Baseball's Free Agents"...

Don't neglect emotions in negotiation and mediation

Posted on November 15, 2007
I often hear critics of mediation dismiss it as "touchy-feely".Yet as the results of one recent poll conclude, half of commercial disputes "get personal" as hearts win out over minds in business-related conflict. This suggests that it may be neither possible nor prudent to ignore the emotions that conflict triggers when it comes to successfully resolving disputes...

Myth or fact: Are attorneys the best divorce mediators?

Posted on November 15, 2007
While checking my daily Google alerts, I came across a press release from the PRWeb Newswire captioned, "Divorce Mediation: Myths & Facts, Internet Radio Talk Show, audience grows more than 221% in first 10 months and receives endorsement by the Association of Attorney-Mediators"...

Marathon edition of Blawg Review a winner

Posted on November 15, 2007
Runners and running have inspired poetry and literature, art and film.This week it serves as the inspiration for the magnificently marathon-themed Blawg Review #134, hosted by Eric Turkewitz at New York Personal Injury Law Blog.Blawg Review is the weekly review of the best in legal blogging hosted each week by a different blogger...

Against All Odds: online game builds awareness of refugees' plight

Posted on November 11, 2007
Conflict and persecution produce tragedy unimaginable to those of us who reside far from lands where gunfire sounds or where human rights are threatened.To raise awareness of the plight of the world's refugees -- the thousands who have fled their homes to seek asylum -- the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has created Against All Odds, an online game that seeks to build understanding of the grim realities that face the 1 out of every 300 people world-wide who are refugees today...

11 November 2007

Posted on November 11, 2007

How to turn a simple misunderstanding into all-out war: a mediator's advice

Posted on November 11, 2007
If public opinion is anything to go by, conflict resolution is for sissies. If that's the case, then maybe it's time to give the public what it really wants: advice on how to escalate conflict.I therefore offer 5 steps guaranteed to transform any molehill into a mountain:1...