"What's Happening?" Blog is a weekly round up of the all the ADR news, jobs, events and more.  Check it out each week and view past news [HERE]…

The expression on today’s blog - speaking your mind - means saying exactly what we think regardless of whether or not others will agree. The idea of doing so comes with boundaries for some of us, and we may not say exactly what is on our mind whether or not others will agree. That may be only one reason. Other reasons have to do with a fear of conflict and associated challenges discussed in a…

Whether it’s a difficult co-worker, a demanding boss or an angry client, you can learn to handle conflict at work effectively by managing your internal reactions first. Kathi Elster and Katherine Crowley show us how to cool down, then find the words to move a potentially hazardous work situation forward in a constructive manner. Join Kathi, Katherine and Pattie Porter for a…

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    I am a finalist for the Innovating Justice Award sponsored by the International Hague.  My idea shows the dramatic cost and time savings when comparing mediation/ADR to litigation in the…

"What's Happening?" Blog is a weekly round up of the all the ADR news, jobs, events and more.  Check it out each week and view past news [HERE]…

"What's Happening?" Blog is a weekly round up of the all the ADR news, jobs, events and more.  Check it out each week and view past news [HERE]…

While Creighton University  continues to offer the only graduate degree program with a required course in ODR, other institutions are beginning to offer ODR-themed programs of their own. 

The most recent and impressive one is a certificate program offered online by the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya called…

I studied the power of the BATNA in negotiation as part of the MS program at Creighton University.  It was a tough enough concept to grasp as a graduate student and later as a mediator.  I finally got it or I think so with all due humility.  I still work on the BATNA when I am in my own negotiations. It Is difficult to teach the BATNA concept to disputants who have no experience with the idea let alone negotiation and mediation, equally new approachs in comparison to…

Online Dispute Resolution

Guest writer Colin Rule is presenting at the 2013 ACR Annual Conference

Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) is one of the hottest areas in conflict…

Build a golden-what?



What does a bridge, no less a 'golden' one, have to do with mediation and negotiation? Well, the term is from William Ury's book, Getting Past No [here at Amazon and many others].…

When I practiced law, the conventional wisdom among the lawyers I knew was that when people say "it's not about the money", it's actually about the money.  Or if it IS a matter of principle, then our job as lawyers was to let them know that their principles would not be vindicated by the legal system, but that maybe we could get them some money.  Since I've become a transformative mediator, I now assume that conflicts are about our desire for autonomy and our expectations about how our…

Building Emotional Intelligence: A Grid For Practitioners 

Guest writers Charlie Irvine & Michelle LeBaron are presenting at the 2013 ACR Annual Conference

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This fully online international course is a novelty among all the existing mediation training programs and it is aimed at ensuring the provision of highly qualified effective experts in the electronic environment.  Upon completion of this course, students will have developed competence in the technological domains associated with the areas of negotiation, mediation and conciliation.  The multidisciplinary nature of this program makes this course of a strong practical…

In the dynamics of organizations, there are times when divisions or departments or specific people within these divisions/departments appear to have differing agendas:

1. Sales leadership implements a CRM system and the sales team views this as an impediment to selling and being in the field
2. A company division considered a…

I always smile when I hear the expression titled in this week’s blog. It is meaty with metaphor and meaning. I first learned it many years ago. It was during a conflict that a friend was describing and wondering what to do about it. Another of our friends said, “Whatever you do, don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.” I got what it meant within the context of what was being shared and the friend in conflict conducted himself accordingly. I have used this expression many times since –…