Dispute Resolution and Arbitration Commons^™

“Labels Suck”, John Lande

Faculty Blogs

Using Andrea Schneider’s pithy observation as a jumping off point, I noted confusion about the traditional terminology about lawyer- and client-centered counseling, positional interest-based negotiation, and evaluative and facilitative mediation. Many of us are pretty sloppy in our use of these terms. For example, people often think of client-centered counseling, interest-based negotiation, and facilitative mediation basically as being nice and the opposite approaches as being tough (if not naughty). So in my classes, I briefly defined the terms so that students recognize them and I described the problems with them. Then I warned them not to use the terms and …

What Is Negotiation?, Part 1, John M. Lande

Faculty Blogs

Conventional conceptions of negotiation often involve various elements that do not necessarily occur in the process of reaching agreement.

Mediator Certification: Should It Be Required In Montana?, Michelle Vanisko

Montana Law Review

Mediator Certification: Should It Be Required In Montana?

Lessons From Mediators' Stories, John M. Lande

Faculty Publications

This article is part of a symposium discussing the book, Stories Mediators Tell, edited by Eric Galton and Lela Love. The book consists of accounts of 31 actual mediations, followed by reflections of each mediator-author. Some of the chapters tell of extraordinary cases and others are more routine.

Guidelines For Child Protection Mediation, Kelly Browe Olson Co-Editor

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Mediated Settlement: Is It Always Just About The Money? Rarely!, Steven L. Schwartz

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

Since our legal system of dispute resolution tends to remedy wrongs only by payment of money, most settlements will eventually involve negotiations over the amount to be paid and received. Yet, in both the theory and actual practice of mediation that has lead this writer to conclude that it is never just about the money. Effective lawyer representation of clients in mediation requires a different kind of investigation and preparation than lawyers may be accustomed to conducting. Similarly, an effective mediator must be adept in identifying the clues that reveal the "below the water line" interests at work and which …

To Certify, Or Not To Certify: A Comparison Of Australia And The U.S. In Achieving National Mediator Certification, Mandy Zhang

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

This article aims to trace the progress of establishing mediation accreditation in Australia and the United States. Part II briefly describes how each country came to the decision of exploring the necessity of national mediator certification, and also illustrates the proposed designs for the Australian certification program and U.S. certification program recommended by the ACR. Part III suggests possible reasons for why the U.S. has failed to implement the mediator certification program proposed by the ACR while Australia is moving forward to establish their system. Part IV concludes with why the U.S. should continue to push for national mediator accreditation …

Joining Forces In Search For Answers: The Use Of Therapeutic Jurisprudence In The Realm Of Mediation Ethics , Omer Shapira

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

The Mediation process is part of the Alternative Dispute Resolution movement (ADR) whose modern history begins at the end of the 1970s. Therapeutic Jurisprudence (TJ) is a younger movement which has started to gain recognition in the 1990s. The two schools of thought share similarities, a fact which makes their study beneficial for both. This article explores some of those similarities in order to evaluate the possible contribution of TJ to mediation ethics. What is sought is a normative reading of the mediation process with the aid of the therapeutic lens. Such reading suggests, so it is argued, behavioral guidelines …

Show Me The Money: Part Two, Monetizing The “Value Added” Of Attorneys Who Serve As Mediators And Arbitrators, Elayne E. Greenberg

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

In the oft-told fable “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” the candid, uncensored observations of a young child that the Emperor’s “new clothes” weren’t clothes at all but actually the emperor’s nudity, freed the rest of the townspeople to finally acknowledge the jarring reality that their the emperor was naked. And so, “The Emperor’s New Clothes” has become a metaphor for having the courage to see things as they actually are, not for what we are incorrectly told they are. In Part One of this column, I began the discussion of how settlement-savvy lawyers might realistically use alternative fee paradigms instead …

Regulating Mediator Qualifications In The 2008 Eu Mediation Directive: The Need For A Supranational Standard, Ashley Feasley

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This paper will illustrate how the regulation of mediator training and the implementation of minimum qualification levels will help the Directive have a longterm impact in six parts. Part II will briefly examine mediation in an international law context. Part III will discuss the history of the Directive and pertinent provisions of the Directive. Part IV will address the recent situation in Italy, with a particular focus on the opposition to Legislative Decree 28, mandatory mediation, and the perceived lack of mediator qualifications. Part V will examine the current mediator trainings and qualification standards that are required in other selected …

Mediation Representation: Representing Clients Anywhere, Harold Abramson

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

You've Got Your Mother's Laugh: What Bankruptcy Mediation Can Learn From The Her/History Of Divorce And Child Custody Mediation, Nancy A. Welsh

Faculty Scholarship

Due to our current deep economic woes, growing bankruptcy filings, and apparent legislative unwillingness to expand the number of judges, bankruptcy courts are exploring the use of mediation to help resolve adversary proceedings, negotiate elements of reorganizations, and deal with claims that cannot be heard directly in bankruptcy proceedings. In addition, mediation advocates have been consistent in urging greater use of the process to reduce debtors’ and claimants’ costs, bridge the jurisdictional and standing challenges that bankruptcies can pose, and offer claimants the opportunity to be heard and determine their own resolution of claims. At this point, the relatively few …

Truth And Consequences: What Should A Mediator Ethically Disclose About Her Mediation Style? How Might A Mediator’S Style Compromise A Mediator’S Neutrality?, Elayne E. Greenberg

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

Transparency is fast becoming the buzzword of mediation. Part of that transparency includes the ethical obligation of mediators to disclose in a meaningful and comprehensible way precisely how that mediator will conduct the mediation. Yes, mediation consumers have an ethical right to such information so that they may then make informed decisions about which mediator to select. Isn’t that what the long-held mediation tenets of consent and self-determination are all about? Legitimizing this ethical entitlement, the revised 2005 Model Standards for Mediators guides:

A mediator shall conduct a mediation based on the principle of self-determination. Self-determination is the act …

The Jelly Beaner Challenge: How Attorneys Serving As Neutrals Identify And Coordinate The Ethical Mandates Of The 2009 Rules Of Professional Conduct With The Ethical Mandates Of Dispute Resolution, Elayne E. Greenberg

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

Many of us may remember as children trying to master the coordination game Jelly Beaner, a joust in which the player is challenged to pat his or her head up and down with one hand while simultaneously rubbing his or her belly in a circular pattern with the other hand. Competing movements, but with practice even those less coordinated can master how to synchronize their hands and play the game. So, too, those of us who are lawyers serving as neutrals are now engaging in a variant of the Jelly Beaner Challenge when it comes to discerning ethical behavior. …

How Can A Mediator Be Both Impartial And Fair: Why Ethical Standards Of Conduct Create Chaos For Mediators, Susan Nauss Exon

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This article focuses on newly developing Standards designed to regulate the mediation industry with respect to civil disputes. The particular focus is on the mediator's requirements of neutrality and impartiality and whether these requirements are impacted by assurances of a fair result and other fairness concepts such as a balanced process and informed decision making. The basic problem is that mediators are guided by Standards and stand-alone definitions of mediation, yet many Standards contain contradictory or vague provisions. Furthermore, the mediator's actual role may be dictated by her own personal style, values, and commercial needs in conjunction with the parties' …

Mediator As Peacemaker: The Case For Activist Transformative-Narrative Mediation, Christopher Harper

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This article proposes an approach to mediation encompassing aspects of both of these takes on mediation, something one might loosely think of as "activist transformative-narrative mediation." Essentially, this approach assumes the aspirations and ideology of Professor Gunning's "activist" take on transformative mediation and achieves those aspirations using techniques from narrative mediation. By employing this approach, mediators can actively assist parties to identify and achieve reconciliation, peace, and justice.

Assuring Excellence, Or Merely Reassuring - Policy And Practice In Promoting Mediator Quality, Charles Pou Jr.

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Mediation practice in the United States has grown substantially over the last two decades, as has the number of people offering to serve as mediators. This growth has led some to argue that competency standards are needed to protect consumers and promote the integrity of mediation processes. While professionals and researchers have tried over the past fifteen years or so to define "what mediators do" and better understand "how to do it well," alternative dispute resolution (ADR) programs, roster administrators, and parties seeking neutrals have had to make day-to-day choices.

Stepping Back Through The Looking Glass: Real Conversations With Real Disputants About Institutionalized Mediation And Its Value, Nancy A. Welsh

Faculty Scholarship

This Article describes what a group of real disputants perceives as most valuable about agency-connected mediation before, soon after, and eighteen months after they participated in the process. The Article is based primarily upon qualitative data from in-depth interviews with parents and school officials who participated in special education mediation sessions. Though the specific context of these interviews is obviously important, these disputants and their disputes share many commonalities with disputants and disputes in other contexts and, as a result, these disputants' views have relevance for the broader field of mediation.

These interviews suggest that both before and after disputants …

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

UF Law Faculty Publications

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."

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

UF Law Faculty Publications

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.

Getting A Head Start: More Intake Questions And Tips For Mediators, Marjorie Corman Aaron

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

A party's initial inquiry to a mediator about potentially participating in a case provides many opportunities for the neutral to initiate the steps necessary for a successful resolution. This article focuses on a list of intake questions for the mediator to direct to the parties.

At First Glance: Maximizing The Mediator‘S Initial Contact, Marjorie Corman Aaron

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

First moves matter. A mediator’s strategic choices during the initial contact can encourage the next steps that will produce a successful mediation, or render mediation less likely or less productive.

Mediation And Domestic Violence: A Practical Screening Method For Mediators And Mediation Program Administrators, Alexandria Zylstra

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Presented with such a dearth of standard practices and literature, family mediators have little guidance in whether and how to address cases involving domestic violence. Thus, this article sets forth a mediation screening framework that mediators and mediation program administrators can use to evaluate whether cases are appropriate for regular mediation (joint session without special safety measures), some modified form of mediation, or should be excluded from mediation. Such a method will better ensure a safe and fair mediation experience. Part II briefly examines the controversy surrounding the mediation of cases involving domestic violence, concluding that the arguments against mediating …

The Thinning Vision Of Self-Determination In Court-Connected Mediation: The Inevitable Price Of Institutionalization?, Nancy A. Welsh

Faculty Scholarship

Ethical codes for mediators describe party self-determination as “the fundamental principle of mediation,” regardless of the context within which the mediation is occurring. The definition of self-determination, however, is a matter of dispute. Based on a review of the debate surrounding the promulgation and revision of ethical codes for court-connected mediators in Florida and Minnesota, this Article demonstrates that a vision of self-determination anchored in party-centered empowerment is yielding to a vision that is more reflective of the norms and traditional practices of lawyers and judges, as well as the courts’ strong orientation to efficiency and closure of cases through …

Making Deals In Court-Connected Mediation: What's Justice Got To Do With It?, Nancy A. Welsh

Faculty Scholarship

When mediation was first introduced to the courts, the process was hailed as “alternative.” Mediation gave disputants the opportunity to discuss and resolve their dispute themselves; the role of the third party was to facilitate the disputants’ negotiations, not to dictate the outcome; and because the disputants were able to focus on their underlying interests in mediation, the process could result in creative, customized solutions. The picture of mediation is changing, however, as the process settles into its role as a tool for the resolution of personal injury, contract, and other nonfamily cases on the courts’ civil dockets. Attorneys dominate …

Foreword, Leonard L. Riskin

Journal of Dispute Resolution

In 1994, I proposed the idea of charting a mediator's role on a facilitative evaluative continuum. Since that time, the notion surely has generated at least as much heat as light. In this Symposium, we are fortunate to have a lead article and final reflections by Professor Jeffrey Stempel, one of the most thoughtful and prolific commentators on this issue. Professor Stempel's argument that eclecticism in mediation is inevitable is well-honed, and yet our distinguished commentators - Gary Gill-Austem, Richard Birke, Kim Kovach, Lela Love, Jon Lande, and Zena Zumeta - found much to say about it.

Facilitative Mediator Responds, A, Zena Zumeta

Journal of Dispute Resolution

I appreciate the thoughtfulness and conclusions of Professor Jeffrey Stempel in his article. His title, "The Inevitability of the Eclectic," seems completely right to me. Most mediators I know who have had training in mediation are more eclectic than squarely in one camp or another. They use techniques that are geared both to their own personalities and to the needs of the case. This, indeed, is a level of sophistication that is a heartening indication of the maturity of the field of mediation. However, there are many points in Stempel's argument that I disagree with, including some of his most …

Faithful, Gary L. Gill-Austern

Journal of Dispute Resolution

The term "facilitative mediation" reminds me of the term "Old Testament." As we Jews from time to time have reminded Christians, the Jewish people call their canon the Tanakh, or, in English, the Hebrew Scriptures. That the same thirty-nine books - Genesis, Exodus, and so on - are labeled "Old Testament" by others indicates that another (later) religious community believes that an event occurred that requires what came before to be interpreted through the prism of an intervening event or reality. For Christians, this is expressed in the New Testament. Returning, then, to the current discussion, it takes a partisan …

Mediator's Privilege: Can A Mediator Be Compelled To Testify In A Civil Case - California Privilege Law Says Yes - Olam V. Congress Mortgage Co., The, Jennifer C. Bailey

Journal of Dispute Resolution

In the present case, Olain v. Congress, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California has, in a precedent-setting opinion, forced a mediator to testify in a subsequent civil procedure. 9 This Note will examine two recurring issues regarding mediation: first, the appropriate law to be applied when a case sits in federal court; and second, the history of the mediation privilege, the present state of the mediation privilege within the federal and state courts, and the consequences of the instant case.

Identifying Real Dichotomies Underlying The False Dichotomy: Twenty-First Century Mediation In An Eclectic Regime, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

Some people (lawyers, scholars, judges, dispute resolvers, policymakers) are more concerned about fidelity to procedural protocols while others are more concerned with the substantive rules governing disputes and substantive outcomes. Those in the dispute resolution community preferring facilitation tend to be proceduralists. For them, the observance of proper procedure is a high goal, perhaps the dominant goal. They reason, often implicitly, that adherence to the rules of procedure is the essence of neutrality, fairness, and the proper role of a dispute resolving apparatus. At some level, usually subconscious, there is a post-modern philosophical aspect of this preference. Because humans cannot …