Don't make me swear to it, but I believe it was Karl Slaikeu who first presented to me the four stages -- or, better, "declensions" -- of ending a conflict. If it was somebody else, my apology. Which, by the way, is the first stage....
Of the many skilled mediators I have been privileged to know, few are more insightful and articulate than Robert Creo. Bob recently shared a terrific perspective over a tasty lunch: That three discussions, or dances, inform a negotiated settlement discussion, and only one of them is acknowledged by the parties. ...
In preparation for next week's Annual Meeting of the American Bar Association, I have been delighted to get to know a group of judges who will be offering a program on Saturday afternoon, August 7, on the use of ADR in Business Courts. One of them, Judge Steven I Platt...
Many parties in mediation -- and many of their counsel -- consider that a "win" is a deal that gets them the number they asked for, or close to it. In fact that's not so, and a mediator provides important value to disputants by assisting them to determine, in a...
I had a good chuckle at an article that appears in the current issue of Dispute Resolution International, the journal of the Dispute Resolution Section of the International Bar Association. Daniele Cutolo and Mark Alexander Shalaby discuss a case brought in Italy to test whether an Italian statute requiring mediation...
Even those who find American baseball deadly dull will acknowledge the grip the sport has had on the American imagination. Its impact on the American language alone is beyond cavil, and students of the sport have been moved to profound philosophical observations. Now it has contributed to our understanding of...
A recent article has been making the rounds of ADR professionals. The current issue of the American Psychological Association’s publication Psychology, Public Policy and Law (Vol. 16, No. 2, at 133-57) features a report of a study conducted by a group of scholars from Australia, Sweden and the United States....


