Law Commons^™

Promoting Better Dispute Decision-Making With An Ai Tool Built On Rps Theory, John Lande

Faculty Publications

Traditional theories of negotiation and mediation rely on rigid models, false dichotomies, and confusing terminology that fails to reflect the complexity of real practice. This article critiques those theories and introduces Real Practice Systems (RPS) theory as a more accurate and practical alternative.

RPS theory conceptualizes negotiation and mediation as sequences of professional judgment shaped by context, experience, and goals, rather than as idealized or linear processes. It promotes a realistic and ethically responsible practice by encouraging reflection, intentional process design, and adaptability.

The article introduces “RPS Coach,” a free artificial intelligence tool built on the ChatGPT platform. It is …

Thinking Like Mediators About The Future Of Ai, John Lande

Faculty Publications

Some public discourse about artificial intelligence (AI) reflects the uncertainty and tension typical of high-stakes conflicts, where differing perceptions and strong emotions shape how people respond to change. This short essay suggests that dispute resolution professionals are well-positioned to apply our tools to this emerging and complex issue, though we don’t always do so.

The essay calls for a balanced analysis of AI’s risks and benefits, drawing on familiar dispute resolution practices like careful consideration of situations, interests, and options. It highlights the differences between individual and societal impacts of AI use on the environment and education. It encourages the …

Louisiana's Ten Commandments Statute: With Litigation Updates From Arkansas And Texas, Carl H. Esbeck

Faculty Publications

Legislators in conservative states are drawn to a belief that the Ten Commandments [“10/Cs”] underscore American’s moral, jurisprudential, and historical heritage. First the State of Louisiana, and thereafter Arkansas and Texas, enacted legislation requiring the posting of the 10/Cs in every public school and university classroom in the state. This quickly brought on legal challenges by students and their parents, along with a smattering of local clerics, together contending that these laws were unconstitutional, most prominently violations of the Establishment Clause. State attorney generals leaped to defend these statutes making the facial assertion that the 10/Cs are not so much …

A Video Guide For Teaching Law Students To Use Ai Wisely, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This article introduces a video that provides practical guidance about using artificial intelligence (AI) in legal education.  It presents a basic introduction to AI and describes how law students and faculty can benefit from tools like ChatGPT.  Because many students already use AI on their own, the video emphasizes the need to teach them how to use it wisely and responsibly.  The video also includes demonstrations showing how faculty can use AI to develop new simulations and how students can use it to prepare for them.  This article provides links to the video, PowerPoint slides, the chat transcript, and related …

Whose Right(S)?: Civil Rights Impact Of Cultural Conflicts In The Curriculum, S. David Mitchell

Faculty Publications

Statutes seeking to prohibit the teaching of certain curricular topics that are considered divisive infringe upon the civil rights of students, parents, and teachers. The conflict over what should be taught implicates the rights of students, specifically their right to receive and to learn information; the rights of parents, specifically the right to control the education of their children; and the rights of teachers, specifically the First Amendment and academic freedom. “Anti-Woke” legislation, as it is broadly termed, is designed to silence those who seek to engage in the critical analysis of the structural and systemic barriers that have prevented …

Teaching With Ai - And Teaching Students To Use It Well, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This article argues that the rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into legal practice creates an opportunity-and need-for legal educators to rethink and improve their courses. While some faculty fear that AI will erode students' skills or encourage academic dishonesty, thoughtful use of AI tools in legal education actually can promote deeper learning, improve student writing, and reveal how students actually think. The article distinguishes between summative and formative assessment and explains how AI can produce meaningful formative feedback. It offers specific examples of AI-based assignments that can help students build core professional skills, and it highlights the importance of …

Facing Faculty Fears About Ai, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This essay addresses a widespread but rarely voiced concern among faculty: the fear of appearing uninformed, unprepared, or even outmatched by students when incorporating AI into their teaching. While worries about cheating, hallucinations, de-skilling, and loss of control are legitimate, this essay encourages faculty to shift from fear to curiosity. It argues that acknowledging uncertainty can strengthen faculty–student relationships and model the curiosity and humility we hope to cultivate in students.

It outlines two general strategies for faculty: restricting AI use when students need to build foundational skills, and requiring it when students are ready to develop professional judgment using …

Getting Help From Ai To Update Your Syllabus (Even If You Think It's Just Fine), John Lande

Faculty Publications

Law school faculty often reuse the same syllabi from year to year, assuming that if a course "isn't broken," it doesn't need fixing. But with the upcoming NextGen Bar Exam, new lawyer licensing regimes, and the widespread use of artificial intelligence in legal practice, the context for teaching dispute resolution is changing rapidly.

This short article encourages faculty to reflect on their syllabi and consider how generative AI tools can support thoughtful, efficient updates. It offers practical strategies for adapting to bar exam and licensing developments, incorporating AI skills into courses, integrating representation and neutral perspectives, and redesigning assignments to …

Is Current “Repeat Player” Theory Much Ado Over Much Less—An Evidence-Based Overhaul, Edward P. Mcdermott

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This empirical study suggests that the existence and impact of the “repeat player effect” (“effect”) may be exaggerated. Legal and conflict resolution theorists suggest that the existence of repeat players is a process flaw. They opine that first time players (“one-shotters”) are at a disadvantage to repeat players. Stulberg extended this process flaw theory to mediation.

Arbitration: An Unstoppable Wave?, Matthew Boston

Journal of Dispute Resolution

In recent years, large companies have started favoring the use of compelled arbitration agreements. Arbitration is one of many mechanisms encompassed under alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”), a broad framework by which parties may seek alternatives to litigation. As a whole, ADR arose with the intent of avoiding the high costs of litigation. Arbitration became the “principal form of ADR” for a period of time, with cost savings in mind.

Cooperative Creativity: The Adr Foundations Of Modern Dance Copyright, Audrey O'Brien

Journal of Dispute Resolution

In the mid-twentieth century, the landscape of copyright was quickly changing, facing new technologies as well as cultural changes that would ultimately test the limits of the 1909 Copyright Act. Choreographic copyright protection changed immensely throughout the last half of the twentieth century, and one ballet company at the forefront of the changing tides of copyright law was the New York City Ballet (“NYCB”), led by choreographer George Balanchine. By the time Balanchine passed, the legacy of both his company, NYCB, and his body of copyrighted work was immense enough to determinatively color the way choreographic copyrights are handled under …

Using Ai To Promote Student Learning Through Preparation For And Reflection About Simulations, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This article provides model language for a course assignment in which students use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to prepare for and reflect on simulations. The assignment promotes deep learning and supports formative assessment by helping faculty see how students think, make choices, and develop insights. Students upload the simulation materials and the assignment to an AI tool, use it to plan for the simulation, and return to the same chat afterward to reflect. They then ask the AI to generate a draft paper, which they revise using the Track Changes feature in Word. Faculty can use the same feature to …

Catching Up To Technology: Mediation’S Role In The Era Of Driverless Cars, Kaitlyn Puyear

Journal of Dispute Resolution

An autonomous vehicle (AV), also known as a driverless or self-driving car, is a vehicle that can operate itself and perform necessary functions without human intervention. Autonomous vehicles have been under development since the midtwentieth century and operate with the use of cameras and radar systems to acquire information about road conditions—allowing them to choose the easiest path of travel.

Faculty List

Journal of Dispute Resolution

No abstract provided.

Description

Journal of Dispute Resolution

No abstract provided.

Masthead

Journal of Dispute Resolution

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Journal of Dispute Resolution

No abstract provided.

Introduction To The Symposium Issue, Allie Widick

Journal of Dispute Resolution

The following articles stem from the presentations at the 2024 Mizzou Law Center for the Study of Dispute Resolution 40th anniversary symposium. The symposium, titled Dispute Resolution at Forty: Looking Back, Looking Forward, featured some of the top legal scholars, including former Mizzou Law professors, and even a former Journal of Dispute Resolution Editor-in-Chief. The three panels discussed traditional and non-traditional dispute resolution forms, the NextGen Bar Exam, and emerging trends. A highlight of the event included a keynote address with Leonard Riskin, the first director of the Center for the Study of Dispute Resolution.

Looking Forward, Reflecting Back: The Promise Of Dispute Resolution To Reform The Criminal Legal System, Cynthia Alkon

Journal of Dispute Resolution

The criminal legal system in the United States is plagued by serious and systemic problems. There have been countless efforts at reform over the last many decades that have included changes in what is a crime, how crimes are punished, how prosecutors do their job, and changes in policing. Yet, despite these efforts, problems such as mass incarceration remain deeply embedded. It is easy to be swept up in pessimism when discussing the criminal legal system. Change is hard, at best incremental, and we seem to be in the beginning of an era of backlash against recent reforms. This is …

The Settlement Privacy-Transparency Matrix: Moving Beyond The Dichotomous Mindset In The Settlement Debate, Alyson Carrel, Peter K. Chan

Journal of Dispute Resolution

The philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer once wrote, “The first forty years of life give us the text; the next thirty supply the commentary on it.” Forty years after Owen Fiss’s seminal article “Against Settlement,” it is time to reimagine how we approach the settlement debate beyond traditional dichotomies. Just as Schopenhauer recognized that time and experience allow us to better understand our past, forty years of grappling with the settlement debate have given us the perspective to see its limitations, and now with emerging technologies, new possibilities. The ‘text’ of the debate—its dichotomous framing and distributive solutions—has shaped four decades of …

Psychology And Dispute Resolution: Looking Forward, Jennifer K. Robbennolt

Journal of Dispute Resolution

There is a long and deep history of interconnection between dispute resolution and psychology. Concepts like procedural justice permeate the literature. Psychologists have investigated and provided data about phenomena such as the fixed pie bias, impasse aversion, and reactive devaluation. Research drawing on the psychology of heuristics and biases has been influential, particularly in work on settlement decision making. Studies in this tradition have explored how framing, anchoring, anticipated regret, and different ways of considering options can influence the decisions made by disputants. Psychologists have explored the role of apologies in dispute resolution, the role of emotion in negotiation, and …

“America’S Peacemaker” Needs A Makeover: The Department Of Justice’S Community Relations Service Should Use Transformative Mediation And Restorative Justice In Today’S Black Lives Matter Movement, Julianna Leung

Journal of Dispute Resolution

On March 7, 1965, civil rights leaders John Lewis and Hosea Williams led hundreds of people across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. Their goal was to march to the state capitol of Montgomery in protest of racial segregation and the suppression of African American voters. On the other side of Pettus bridge, state troopers and spectators waving Confederate flags waited for them. When the protesters reached the end of Pettus, state trooper Major John Cloud ordered them to stop the march and leave. Williams tried to speak with Major Cloud, but Major Cloud rebuffed him. When the protestors …

Volunteered Or Voluntold: Effectiveness Of Good Faith Clauses On Court-Ordered Mediation, J. Michael Moore

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Mediation is the “process in which a mediator facilitates communication and negotiation between parties to assist them in reaching a voluntary agreement regarding their dispute.” There is a growing trend in many states and the federal government to allow courts to refer parties to mediation or other forms of alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”). However, one of the distinguishing elements of a mediation is that the parties come to a voluntary agreement. If the court has forced the parties to mediate, does that negate the voluntary nature of mediation? The answer to this question appears to be yes, but the real …

How Ai Can Help Mediators Say What They Really Mean, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This article critiques the widespread use of the terms “facilitative” and “evaluative” to describe mediation techniques. Despite their popularity in scholarship and practice, these labels are inconsistently defined, frequently misunderstood, and fundamentally flawed. Drawing on a survey of mediation experts, the article documents significant confusion about how professionals interpret these terms – and how they think that others interpret them. It builds on Leonard Riskin’s critique of the facilitative-evaluative framework, which shows that the language not only oversimplifies complex processes but also risks confusing parties and undermining informed decision-making.

As an alternative, the article proposes a behavioral vocabulary that reflects …

Copyright

Missouri Law Review

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Missouri Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Straw That Broke The Camel’S Back: How Expanding The Statute Of Limitations For Pre-Enforcement Challenges Filed Under The Apa Could Upset The Administrative System, Paige K. Harris

Missouri Law Review

Everyone has bad days. But certain days are the worst. The days where everything seems to go wrong. You set the alarm for 6:00 p.m., not 6:00 a.m. You didn’t set the coffee pot, and the café’s line was too long, so you walk into work with a severe lack of caffeine. Your project manager asks you a question you know you answered last week. That annoying co-worker talks over you in a meeting, the chips get stuck in a vending machine, and your rush hour commute takes forty-five minutes longer than expected. Finally, something happens that makes you snap. …

Faculty List

Missouri Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Obviousness Paradox: Should Design And Utility Patents Play By The Same Rules?, Brooks W. Fleischmann

Missouri Law Review

The standard American grading system recognizes an A as the best possible grade, while an F represents failure. To achieve an A, the typical benchmark is anywhere above 90%. Falling well below this mark, any grade below 60% constitutes failure. Accordingly, a higher percentage in class equates to a better GPA. Following this same logic in the world of sports, the greatest free-throw shooter in NBA history holds the record at 91%. The greatest field goal kicker in NFL history holds the record at 89.1%. However, the highest batting average in MLB history sits at .366, or 36.6%. According to …

Viability As Abortion-Rights Orthodoxy, Susan Frelich Appleton

Missouri Law Review

Borrowing a quotation from Justice Jackson's influential opinion in West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette, Professors Linda McClain and James Fleming have named their ambitious and illuminating new book "What Shall Be Orthodox" in Polarized Times. As Justice Jackson wrote in applying the First Amendment to protect school children with familial objections to a required flag salute: "lf there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act …