Law Commons^™

Newsroom: Logan On Volkswagen Emissions, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

The Center Of The Center For Alternative Dispute Resolution, Wayne Brazil

Wayne Brazil

Hawaii was one of the first states to establish within its judiciary a Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution. The Center's mission is: to mediate major public policy disputes and to facilitate policy formulation dialogues, to design and help implement mediation and other ADR programs for state and local governmental agencies, to provide education about and training in mediation for the public and for employees of state and local government, and to oversee the extensive network of community mediation centers that provide grass-roots mediation services throughout the Islands. In November of 2005 the Center celebrated its 20th anniversary by sponsoring various …

Pedr Is Important For Culture Change In Courts, John Lande

Faculty Blogs

This post highlights a report by the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, Change the System, Change the Culture: Top 10 Cultural Shifts Needed to Create the Courts of Tomorrow. One of the recommended cultural shifts is “Dig Deep, Earlier: Lawyers need to develop a deep understanding of their case early in the process.”

C-Drum News, Fall 2015

The C-DRUM News

No abstract provided.

Von Fischen Im Wasser Und Andere Mediationserzählungen [Of Fish In Water And Other Mediation Stories] (In German), Nadja Alexander

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This essay offers an international and cross-cultural perspective on mediation. It builds on the contributions to this journal issue and extends the conversation to include (1) the role of culture in mediations models and (2) the taboo topic of directive, evaluative approaches. After reviewing various taxonomies of mediation models, the author’s mediation meta model is used as a framework to analyze diverse approaches of mediation including those presented in this issue. Historical-cultural perspectives provide further layers of depth and nuance that thicken the already complex storylines of the human mediation narrative. If mediation is to succeed in attaining truly global …

What Makes Lawyers Happy? – And How Can You Help?, John Lande

Faculty Blogs

This post summarizes Lawrence Krieger and Kennon Sheldon’s impressive study, What Makes Lawyers Happy?: A Data-Driven Prescription to Redefine Professional Success. They write, “[T]he current data show that the psychological factors [related to subjective well-being] seen to erode during law school are the very factors most important for the well-being of lawyers. Conversely, the data reported here also indicate that the factors most emphasized in law schools – grades, honors, and potential career income, have nil to modest bearing on lawyer well-being.”

Dr Ethics Book Brings It All Together, Jonathan R. Cohen

Jonathan R. Cohen

Dispute resolution practice has changed dramatically over the past several decades. The traditional litigation model has increasingly given way to a “multi-door” vision of varied dispute resolution practices. With that functional change in how we process disputes has come a pressing need to address the varied ethical challenges of these varied practices. Dispute Resolution Ethics is a marvelous contribution toward that effort.

Tips For Lawyers Who Want To Get Good Results For Clients And Make Money, John M. Lande

Faculty Blogs

This post suggests that lawyers do the following to help clients achieve their goals: Understand your clients’ interests. Pay attention to what’s really important in your cases, not just the law or winning. Recognize the importance of emotions – especially yours. Get to know your counterpart lawyer. Make a habit of preparing to resolve matters at the earliest appropriate time. Be prepared to negotiate more than you might expect. Get help from mediators when needed. Be prepared to advocate hard and smart.

Why Mediators Should Be Regulated, Art Hinshaw

Art Hinshaw

In the United States consumers engage mediators on a caveat emptor basis. The regulatory scheme for mediators is a patchwork of mediation referral organizations which allows unscrupulous mediators to exploit consumers with little to no recourse. One egregious example is that of Gary J. Karpin, a disbarred lawyer turned divorce mediator, who used the mediation process to con forty people into giving him approximately $250,000 before taking up residence in prison. In an age when everyone from doctors to cosmetologists is subject to occupational regulation, why are mediators virtually unregulated? Mediators have long been divided on the question of regulation. …

Mediating A Family: The Use Of Mediation In The Formation And Enforcement Of Post-Adoption Contact Agreements, Sophie Mashburn

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This comment will discuss how and why adoption law has evolved into a preference for open adoption, provide a brief history of post-adoption contact agreements, and discuss the current and best practices for utilizing post-adoption contact agreements. Finally, this comment will explore the use of mediation in various states to assist adoptive parents and birth parents in forming and maintaining an agreement they both accept and that furthers the best interests of the children being adopted. Using mediation to further the interests of children, adoptive couples, and birth parents is a positive trend in adoption law that should be encouraged …

Planning Is Critically Important For Early Dispute Resolution, John Lande

Faculty Blogs

This post pushes back against a complaint by lawyers that early mediation is a waste of time. Attempts to settle cases early in litigation can be wasteful if the lawyers haven’t properly prepared and planned the process. Some people think that “early” means that lawyers should try to resolve the ultimate issues right after all the parties have appeared in litigation. This post uses the term “early” as a shorthand for “earliest appropriate time.” To be ready to settle at the earliest appropriate time, lawyers should promptly learn the parties’ interests and the critical facts, reasonably anticipate the likely decision …

Decision-Making In Mediation: The New Old Grid And The New New Grid System, Leonard L. Riskin

Leonard L Riskin

This Article reviews the author's previous mediator-orientation models and proposes a new system for understanding the range of mediator orientations based on substantive, procedural, and meta-procedural decision-making grids.

The Represented Client In A Settlement Conference: The Lessons Of G. Heileman Brewing Co. V. Joseph Oat Corp., Leonard L. Riskin

Leonard L Riskin

This Article sets out various perspectives that litigants, lawyers and judges commonly bring to settlement conferences, perspectives on lawyer-client relations, negotiation, and the role of the judicial host. In examining the opinions in the Heileman case, along with other materials, the Article attempts to uncover the underlying assumptions about the settlement conference that informed the behavior of the judges and lawyers in that case, arguing that Heileman's explanation lies in the lawyers' and judges' tendency to embrace one of two radically different visions of the settlement conference. The Article then catalogs the advantages and disadvantages of involving clients in settlement …

Mindfulness: Foundational Training For Dispute Resolution, Leonard Riskin

Leonard L Riskin

This Article addresses the problem of mindlessness in counseling, negotiating, and mediating, and offers potential solutions and recommendations for developing foundational capacities through training in mindfulness meditation.

Teaching And Learning From The Mediations In Barry Werth's Damages, Leonard L. Riskin

Leonard L Riskin

This essay is based primarily on materials the author developed for courses taught at the University of Missouri-Columbia, School of Law, in the winter 2002 and 2003 semesters, based on Barry Werth's book, "Damages."

Understanding Mediators' Orientations, Strategies, And Techniques: A Grid For The Perplexed, Leonard L. Riskin

Leonard L Riskin

This Article begins with a review of previous efforts to categorize mediation and their shortfalls, including the lack of any widely-shared comprehensive method for describing the various approaches to mediation practice. The Article then offers a new "grid" system for classifying mediator orientations, strategies, and techniques and describes the potential utility of the grid, particularly its effectiveness in selecting mediators.

Great Value Of Students Playing Clients In Multi-Stage Simulations, John Lande

Faculty Blogs

This post describes the great results when I used multi-stage simulations in negotiation and family law dispute resolution courses. To simulate real life, I developed several simulations that started from the first client interview. I included other stages, such as (1) negotiating retainer agreements, (2) identifying additional information needed, (3) getting to know counterpart lawyers, (4) researching and negotiating about the law, (5) negotiating dispute resolution clauses, (6) preparing for negotiation with clients and counterpart lawyers, and (7) negotiating the ultimate issues. Students playing lawyers got especially valuable experiences because the students playing clients identified so strongly with their roles.

Everything I Know About Dispute Resolution Is Wrong – Especially What You Say About It, John Lande

Faculty Blogs

This post describes an extremely provocative discussion in a session at the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution conference.

Book Review: El Conflicto Honduras - El Salvador Y El Orden Juridico Internacional. James Rowles. Editorial Universitario Centroamericana (Educa). Costa Rica, 1980., José R. Pagés

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Role Of International And Regional Organizations In The Peaceful Settlement Of Internal Disputes (With Special Emphasis On The Organization Of African Unity), His Excellency Radha Krishna Ramphul

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Mediation, Seng Onn Loong, Dorcas Quek Anderson

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The mediation movement in Singapore was actively revived in the 1990s. Currently, mediation is not only used for private disputes but forms an integral part of the Singapore legal system. It is widely used as a mechanism of dispute resolution in courts, government departments, businesses and other specific industries.

La Vida Es Un Conflicto, Pero Hay Que Llevar Soluciones: La Resolución De Conflicto En Comunidades Rurales De San Ramón Nicaragua A Través De Facilitadores Judiciales Rurales Y Mediación, Marlee Raible

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In rural parts of Nicaragua historically there has not been a lot of access to the justice system. Conflicts have been going unresolved for years leading to a high amount of violence as people take justice into their own hands. The recent implementation of the Rural Judicial Facilitators Program (RJFP) is an effort to provide access to justice directly in rural communities. These facilitators are trained to use mediation as their principal method to resolve conflict.

This study exposes perceptions of mediation and the RJFP from community members, facilitators, and judiciaries. It discusses the key role of the facilitator in …

Illusions Of Competence, John Lande

Faculty Blogs

This post riffs on BARBRI’s “State of the Legal Field Survey” reporting that “71 percent of 3L law students believe they possess sufficient practice skills. In contrast, only 23 percent of practicing attorneys who work at companies that hire recent law school graduates believe recent law school graduates possess sufficient practice skills.” Making it personal, I asked readers if they would be confident that a recent law graduate would do a good job in handling a garden-variety legal case of theirs. I wouldn’t.

Product Liability Law In Japan: An Introduction To A Developing Area Of Law, Younghee Jin Ottley, Bruce L. Ottley

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Regulating Mediators, Art Hinshaw

Art Hinshaw

Currently consumers engage mediators on a caveat emptor basis. The regulatory scheme for mediators is, at best, a disjointed patchwork of organizations that make mediation referrals which allows unscrupulous mediators to exploit consumers and hide in the system’s holes. One egregious example of abuse comes from Gary J. Karpin, a disbarred lawyer turned divorce mediator, who is believed to have used the mediation process to con hundreds of people into giving him an estimated $1 million before taking up residence in prison. His con was so successful in part because there was no natural place for his victims to turn …

Beyond Fairness: The Place Of Moral Foundations Theory In Mediation And Negotiation, Jonathan M. Hyman

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Minimizing Unnecessary Violence In Litigation And Other Dispute Resolution Processes, John Lande

Faculty Blogs

This post responds to a response to my post, Litigation as Violence. My fellow-blogger Jen Reynolds argued, “We in ADR should not undervalue, when analyzing the dispute resolution landscape, the regulatory function of litigation in the United States.” I agreed with Jen’s statement, noting that we sometimes too-glibly criticize the legal system without acknowledging the benefits it produces, which we often take for granted. This post provides a balanced assessment of litigation from Professor Cardi as well as my writing.

Litigation As Violence, John Lande

Faculty Blogs

The article describes the “litigation response syndrome” – adverse consequences merely from being engaged in litigation. Sometimes lawyers and law professors treat litigation as if was just a game, insensitive to the pain it causes to litigants and others swept up in it, possibly including the lawyers themselves. Cardi argues that before proceeding in litigation, lawyers and litigants should be prepared for the toll it may take.

We Need A Better Consensus About Negotiation Theory, John M. Lande

Faculty Blogs

This post advocates redefining the scope of negotiation to include the interactions leading up to the final negotiation. Legal matters often involve a stream of negotiations, not merely a single event at the end of a process. It also recommends focusing on the process of reaching agreement, not only the process of resolving disputes, including processes of reaching agreement where there is little or no dispute. It also suggests disaggregating traditional models and analyzing key variables separately instead of thinking in terms of two discrete, coherent models.

Problems With The System Of Negotiation Models, Part 2, John M. Lande

Faculty Blogs

This part describes two actual negotiations to illustrate problems with the traditional system of two negotiation models. These cases don’t fit neatly into either model.