Talkin’ Shop at the ABA DR Section Conference

John Lande, one of the panelists on the first shoptalk session during the Legal Educators’ Colloquium, sent this preview via the AALS ADR Section list-serv this morning.  I post it here for those ADR Prawfs who have yet to sign up for the list-serv.  

Michael Moffitt, Jean Sternlight, Nancy Welsh and I want to give a preview of our session, which will have a lot of audience discussion so we want to give you an idea of what we plan to discuss so you can think about this in advance.  (For extra credit, you can read or skim the article that Jean and I wrote, The Potential Contribution of ADR to an Integrated Curriculum: Preparing Law Students for Real World Lawyering, 25 Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution 247 (2010), available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1553800.)
 
Jean and I advocate incorporating ADR themes in non-ADR courses.  For example, in teaching almost any doctrinal course, instructors can ask students to discuss facts of a case and how it may have looked from parties’ and lawyers’ perspectives as the case was proceeding, what were the parties’ interests, and what procedures the parties actually did use or might have used to avoid the dispute or deal with it more effectively. This is not so much to teach about ADR processes as a broader perspective of lawyering.  In our session, we will briefly describe the rationale for our ideas and some specific recommendations.  
 
One of the recommendations is to form a technical assistance task force through the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution’s Law School Committee to develop materials to help faculty (especially those who don’t teach ADR) who want to incorporate these ideas in their courses.  This might include (but not be limited to) (1) assessing what help instructors in non-ADR courses might want, (2) developing guides for ADR faculty who want to serve as resources for colleagues in their schools, (3) developing bibliographies and resource kits of readings, exercises, videotapes,  (4) encouraging textbook authors and publishers to address ADR themes in textbooks, (5) developing new materials for use in particular courses, and (6) making recommendations to address ADR themes in admissions criteria and bar exams, among others.  We will invite your ideas and interest in participating in this project.  (If you are interested in working on this project but can’t attend this session, please let us know.)
 
Nancy and Michael turn to parallel questions facing those who teach ADR courses.  Courses focusing on consensual ADR processes and courses focusing on skills-development tend not to emphasize legal concepts and their application.  What would it look like to incorporate topics that are typically reserved to “traditional” or “doctrinal” law courses into these ADR courses?  What obstacles might an ADR instructor face, and what resources exist to facilitate the incorporation of law into ADR courses?

We look forward to seeing many of you in San Francisco.
 
John, Nancy, Jean, and Michael

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