A recent Harvard Law Case Study features a scenario that will resonate with university ADR experts and practitioners.  In the case study, a University Ombuds is involved in an effort to update a sexual harassment policy.  Here's the summary:

Langdell University, in the state of Ames, is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the country. Since the late 1970’s Langdell University has had a single sexual harassment procedure for all of its undergraduate,…

In this session, you will have the chance to learn more about Creighton's Online Master's Degree and Graduate Level Certificate in Negotiation and Dispute Resolution from faculty member Bryan Hanson and answer any questions that you may have about this degree program.

The Negotiation and Dispute Resolution program is offered through the prestigious Werner Institute for Negotiation and Conflict Resolution at Creighton University. Our degree is one-of-a-kind and recognized as a…

Sometimes we get into a cranky mood for no apparent reason.  Other times we get there because we have onerous things on our minds or we feel hurt by someone’s actions or words. Other times, obligations cause us stress and weigh us down. These and other types of happenings that occur in our daily lives will contribute to a state of mind and heart that can negatively affect us and those around us. In these sorts of moods, we may be more apt to pick fights or be more vulnerable and sensitive to…

In my latest blog entry, I list my favorite videos available online about transformative mediation. Follow this link to my latest blog entry.

Cinnie Noble- Welcome to this month's virtual book club! Over the month, my co-facilitator Tammy Lenski and I will be posting questions about the book and topic of conflict management coaching and we invite you to post your own…

JAMS Foundation Awards More than $120,000 in Grants

June 12, 2012

Irvine, Calif. – The nonprofit JAMS Foundation announced that it approved five new grants to organizations using innovative ways to promote and advance conflict prevention and dispute resolution. The foundation will distribute the money in the form of three Foundation Grants, which provide financial support up to $50,000 for ADR initiatives with national impact, and two Opportunity…

Episode #32

Success as a Mediator With Victoria Pynchon

Join host Jeff Thompson and mediator and author, Victoria Pynchon (Check out …

Lots of things happen during the course of a dispute that may raise an internal groan in us. It may be because we say something we immediately regret; we hear a truth we hate to face; we observe a look or attitude that is off-putting; we hear the other person’s perspective that is antithetical to our intent or that is hurtful, offensive and so on.

Whether we groan internally or externally it is helpful to listen to the sound of our groans and consider from where they are coming and…

Retired Federal Court Judge Hon. Theodore H. Katz (Ret.) Joins JAMS

June 6, 2012

New York – JAMS, the largest private provider of mediation and arbitration services worldwide, today announced the addition of Hon. Theodore H. Katz (Ret.) to its panel. Judge Katz will be based in the JAMS New York Resolution Center. He will serve as an arbitrator, mediator and special master in a variety of disputes including Business/Commercial, Class Action/Mass…

Is ADR a field? Many of us may take the answer to this question for granted. But are we mediation-centric as we go through life? And what about ADR being “in the shadow of the law”? During the Keystone Conference in October 2010 the question of whether or not ADR is a field was discussed – first in form of a question and then in the form of two different answers. I thought those were good pointers for self-reflection…

First, Carrie Menkel-Meadow asks "Are We a…

Cinnie Noble- Welcome to this month's virtual book club! Over the month, my co-facilitator Tammy Lenski and I will be posting questions about the book and topic of conflict management coaching and we invite you to post your own…

Over the years of interacting as a child in our families of origin and schools and then as an adult in our work and relationships, we develop views about the…

In this blog entry I discuss how I heard a retired judge / mediator say that he likes to let the parties in a probate dispute vent.  I describe why, for me, though I certainly support parties in expressing anger if they like, I don't look at that as "letting" them "vent".

The nonprofit JAMS Foundation announced today that it has selected 12 fellows from more than 100 applicants for the 2012 Weinstein International Fellowship program. The program, named to honor the contributions of JAMS mediator Hon. Daniel Weinstein (Ret.), provides opportunities for ADR professionals from throughout the world to learn more about dispute resolution in the United States. Under the guidance of JAMS and seasoned JAMS panelists, Weinstein Fellows pursue projects of their own…

If you assume that a mediator's job is to guide parties toward an agreement, it makes sense to first confirm that the parties are capable of standing up for themselves.  My latest blog entry explains why, especially in the transformative model, a mediator has no business screening someone out due to lack of capacity.

It is common when we are in conflict that different parts of us emerge. Some are familiar to us and some parts we do not recognize. Some parts reflect what we…

Some of the news items in recent weeks made me think of something I had read about acceptance (“Getting Together – Building Relationships As We Negotiate” by Fisher and Brown, 1988). These days we talk much about “tolerance”, but there seems to be a fine difference. Acceptance comes first: First we need to recognize the other party, only then can there be a question of how we deal with them.

Why does this need to be pointed out? Well, when we are in a conflict…

Listen by clicking on the player below.


In our show “Come As You Are -– The Mediation Experience”I will be speaking with Louise Phipps Senft about the mediation experience. If…