Who knew that humor theory was a thing? Philosophical theory, no less. I sure didn’t. Not until I took Audible’s “Great Course,” Take My Course, Please! The Philosophy of Humor, taught by Gettysburg College Philosophy Professor Steven Gimbel. When I stopped teaching courses, it left a lotta empty time on my hands. So I decided … Continue reading Humor Theory and Dispute Resolution
From Sharon Press and Noam Ebner: Dear Colleagues We are pleased to announce that the Resource Share will take place on Friday, April 12 from 4:30 – 5:30 pm at the Section of Dispute Resolution Conference in San Diego. We are looking forward to seeing everyone and sharing resources! For those of you who are … Continue reading Annual Resource Share at ABA Conference
Helping You Do the Best Mediation You Can is Part 2 of a two-part series presenting action research about factors affecting mediators’ individual practice systems and how they can improve their systems. Part 1 describes a study of mediators at well-received educational programs to help them learn why they developed their particular practice systems and … Continue reading Helping Mediators Do the Best Mediation They Can
The Real Practice System Menu of Mediation Checklists received many rave reviews. People said that they are “interesting,” “informative,” “so very useful,” “really helpful,” “great,” “excellent,” “wonderful,” “fantastic,” “invaluable,” “impressive,” “very thorough,” “brilliant,” and “utterly awesome” resources. “Just wow!” I identified numerous ways that the checklists could be used by practitioners, program administrators, and faculty, … Continue reading Practitioners Tell Why Real Practice System Checklists Are So Useful
Tom Valenti is a Chicago-based conflict resolution specialist offering mediation, arbitration, and facilitation services and training. He also is a humanitarian activist who is a co-founder of Mediation Beyond Borders. He co-leads the Athens Migration Dialogue Project, which helps local communities to design, organize and conduct dialogues that address difficult and dangerous issues, such as … Continue reading Tom Valenti: Using Real Practice Systems Checklists in Practice and Teaching
I received many enthusiastic responses to my menu of mediation checklists, including that they are “interesting,” “informative,” “so very useful,” “really helpful,” “great,” “excellent,” “wonderful,” “fantastic,” “invaluable,” “impressive,” “very thorough,” “brilliant,” and “utterly awesome” resources. “Just wow!” No kidding. The checklists are part of the Real Practice System Project. Although it has focused particularly on … Continue reading How Do You Want to Use the Real Practice Checklists?
Gary Doernhoefer, the founder of ADR Notable, suggested that I produce a bibliography for its users. ADR Notable is an app providing case management software to help mediators handle case intake, bill clients, manage client documents, develop checklists and task reminders, take notes, build documents, and manage client relationships generally. Gary recognized that our respective … Continue reading Real Practice Systems Project Annotated Bibliography
Gary Doernhoefer, the founder of ADR Notable, suggested that I produce checklists for its users. ADR Notable is an app providing case management software to help mediators handle case intake, bill clients, manage client documents, develop checklists and task reminders, take notes, build documents, and manage client relationships generally. Gary recognized that our respective work … Continue reading Real Practice Systems Project Menu of Mediation Checklists
Randall Kiser just published another great book relevant to our community, Professional Judgment for Lawyers. Randy is the principal analyst at DecisionSet®, which consults with lawyers and law firms to improve their effectiveness. This earlier post describes his background and his book, Soft Skills for the Effective Lawyer. That book presents research showing that legal … Continue reading Randy Kiser’s New Book on Professional Judgment for Lawyers
At this year’s excellent AALS ADR Section Works-in-Progress conference, I invited people to share their perspectives about how we can take advantage of the NextGen bar exam to stimulate changes in legal education. This short article suggests how reformers can do this, and it includes colleagues’ ideas from the conference. Starting in July 2026, the … Continue reading Taking Advantage of the NextGen Bar to Stimulate Changes in Legal Education
