Mediation trainers face an important responsibility. We prepare individuals for mediation practice, playing an integral role in the foundational stages of their professional development.

In addition to being effective trainers, as mentors we must demonstrate exemplary mediation skills ourselves, modeling for our students effective communication skills, collaborative problem solving techniques, patience, and respect. In that sense, mediation training constitutes a microcosm of mediation practice itself.

Serving as a trainer is a profound commitment, not just to the individuals we teach but to the advancement of the field and to building public confidence in our profession.

The best trainers I know are always looking for ways to get better at what they do. I was glad to discover, via George’s Employment Blawg, this top ten list of attributes of an effective trainer from the Canadian IT Manager blog, part 2 of a two-part article. Part 1 lists 10 additional attributes, including one which particularly resonated with me: willingness to be a lifelong learner. After all, as those of us who train know, our students can be our best teachers.

Technorati tags: mediation training, mediation

First safety-conscious (or fun-hating, depending on your perspective) school administrators banned dodgeball.

Next in their sights is tag, according to a story in USA Today, “‘Not it!’ More schools ban games at recess“.

Banning playground games like tag, however, may hold serious consequences for children’s social development:

Critics of the bans say playing freely helps kids learn to negotiate rules and resolve disputes. “They learn to change and to problem-solve,” says Rhonda Clements, an education professor at Manhattanville College.

(Thanks to the alert reader who sent me this.)

One of the best of the new conflict resolution blogs that have emerged this year is ICT for Peacebuilding, a blog based in Sri Lanka “exploring the use of technology for conflict transformation”.

Dispute resolution professionals eager to gain a glimpse into the future of the conflict resolution movement will want to follow this cutting-edge blog, particularly those seeking a global perspective.

Its author, Sanjana Hattotuwa, shares with his readers news of an extraordinary project: dropping knowledge, an international initiative for social change using the medium of the web to bring people around the globe together for what may be the world’s largest public conversation about important issues. From the dropping knowledge overview:

dropping knowledge is a global initiative to turn apathy into activity. By hosting an open conversation on the most pressing issues of our times, we will foster a worldwide exchange of viewpoints, ideas and people-powered solutions. However knowledge is defined, by dropping it freely to others, we all gain wisdom…

dropping knowledge is a way of asking and answering questions that respects other viewpoints and leads to a meaningful exchange. When you ask in order to understand, when you answer in order to share, you are already practicing dropping knowledge.

The dropping knowledge project includes a Table of Free Voices scheduled on September 9, 2006, in Berlin, for what will be a gathering of “scientists, social entrepreneurs, philosophers, writers, artists and activists from around the world…, renowned for their lasting creative, social or humanistic contribution” who will respond to 100 questions from the global public.

You can post your own question for these experts to answer or find other ways to support this large-scale public conversation project by visiting the dropping knowledge web site.

Recently I reported that a pair of peer mediation educators were using Second Life, a multiplayer online game and virtual world which allows for player interaction, as a way to create a supportive, safe learning environment for high school students mastering mediation skills to role play together.

Here’s another example of the power of virtual worlds to transform social interactions: in “Get a Second Life Now“, communication expert Neville Hobson describes attending a meeting on avatar-based marketing organized by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School.

What was remarkable about this meeting is that it was convened not in a real-world conference center but instead took place in a virtual meeting space in Second Life.

Read Hobson’s post for this remarkable description of a meeting mediated entirely through digital technology.

The implications of this are exciting–imagine attending a conference where colleagues gather from around the globe, all without the cost and inconvenience of air travel, car rentals, and hotels (and just think, you’ll never have to worry about losing your luggage).

Social scientists, hoping to explore the uncharted terrain of human behavior in cyberspace, are mapping online interactions by studying blogs, according to “Human Trails In Cyberspace“, an article in this week’s edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education (although it doesn’t right now, this article may soon require a subscription to access).

Among the researchers are Lada Adamic, an assistant professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, who created a map of ties among political bloggers, and Matthew Hurst, director of science and innovation for Nielsen BuzzMetrics, a company that helps businesses track and analyze trends in consumer-generated media (i.e., blogs, online forums, and newsgroups).

You can download the article Adamic co-authored, “Expressing Social Relationships on the Blog through Links and Comments” (in PDF), on her web site. To see Hurst’s project, visit his blog, Data Mining, for more information and to see his visual representations of the complex strands of connection among blogs.

The University of Minnesota has produced an online guide designed to assist families prevent and address disputes over estates. Who Gets Grandma’s Yellow Pie Plate offers information and resources to aid families in making tough, emotionally fraught decisions over the inheritance of personal property.

There are free articles available as well on this site, along with some quizzes to assess your estate planning preparedness.

Mediators, however, will come away disappointed. Although this excellent site offers useful material and resources, mediation was somehow omitted from a web site created to assist families prevent, reduce, and address conflicts over estate-related issues.

(Thanks to Joel Schoenmeyer, author of the Death and Taxes Blog, for the link.)

In “Why Religion Must End“, a Beliefnet interview that will surely offend almost any person of faith, controversial author Sam Harris argues that the only way to end world conflict is for people to embrace reason over religion.

What do you think? You can read reactions to Harris’s interview here.

As anyone who has attended one knows, brainstorming sessions can be productive or they can be an utter mind-numbing waste of time. To prevent an organizational brainstorming session from degenerating into “coblabberation,” experts suggest that a skilled facilitator together with a well-designed process is the best way to get the most out of brainstorming, according to a recent article from the Wall Street Journal–something which mediators know from their own experience.

(Via Boing Boing.)

Several weeks ago I announced the official launch of the new home of the World Directory of Alternative Dispute Resolution Blogs.

Since then, there have been some new additions — eight, in fact. In some cases the bloggers were kind enough to contact me directly to introduce themselves and ask to be included; others were my own happy discovery. In any case, I am pleased to welcome the following eight blogs to the Directory:

• Blog Solomediacion.com. Based in Spain, this blog is published by Solomediacion.com, a web portal with frequently updated content providing a range of services and resources for Spanish-speaking mediators.
• Community Mediation Center Blog. This blog is published by The Community Mediation Center, a not-for-profit mediation center in southeastern Virginia, U.S., which, according to its web site, “provides education and services to build the capacity of youth, families, individuals, organizations, businesses, and communities to more effectively resolve, reduce and prevent conflict.”
• Divorce Law Journal. I’ve described this excellent blog as one which offers “lucidly written, intelligent analysis” of legal issues, and I stand by that. This blog consistently delivers the goods. Although its Louisville-based author Diana Skaggs tracks Kentucky divorce and family law, her blog has a nation-wide scope, staying abreast of developments in these practice areas across the U.S. For American mediators who work closely with divorcing couples and families, this blog, published by a mediation-friendly attorney, is a must-read stop on the web.
• Gestão de Conflitos Familiares (Family Conflicts). This Portuguese language blog published from Brazil by Lisiane Lindenmeyer Kalil focuses on the resolution of conflict within the family through a primarily legal and psychological approach. In the words of its author, “Este é um espaço de reflexão sobre as possíveis formas de gestão (ou “resolução”, ou “solução”, ou “gerenciamento”, ou “equacionamento”, enfim…) dos conflitos ocorridos no âmbito da família, sob um enfoque principalmente jurídico e psicológico.”
• The Institute for International Mediation and Conflict Resolution Blog. Published by the IIMCR, this blog provides news, analysis, and commentary relating to conflict resolution in the global arena.
• Justiça Restaurativa em Portugal. This Portuguese language weblog was created to promote restorative justice practices, theory, and events in Portugal. I believe this is the first blog anywhere in the world to focus on restorative justice as its primary subject matter.
• Securities Law Weblog. This blog, published by SECLaw.com, comments on securities law development, including securities law, rules, regulations, and securities arbitration.
• Workplace Prof Blog. A member of the Law Professor Blogs Network and co-authored by law professors Richard Bales and Paul Secunda, this highly respected blog tracks and reports on developments in labor and employment law, including matters relating to alternative dispute resolution and the workplace, particularly arbitration.

If you wish to add your blog or someone else’s to the World Directory of ADR Blogs, please let me know. It’s a completely commercial-free site, and there is no cost to be listed. The Directory has information on submitting your blog and submission guidelines.

My great appreciation to those of you who were kind enough to link to the old or new versions of the Directory from your own blogs. Your support means a great deal. My thanks goes to:

Robert Ambrogi
Blonde Justice
Lisiane Lindenmeyer Kalil
Ethan Katsh
Law Librarian Blog
Tammy Lenski
National Arbitration Forum Blog
Justin Patten
Ross Runkel
Joel Schoenmeyer
Diana Skaggs
Bill Warters
Robert Williamson

(If I left someone out, please drop me a line and let me know–I’ll make sure I add your name.)

Technorati tags: alternative dispute resolution, blogging, mediation, mediation blogs

Kevin O’Keefe makes the case today that lawyers should rally to support net neutrality, the notion that the Internet should be a level playing field for all who participate. For that matter, mediators (whose stock in trade after all is neutrality) should, too.

When the inventor of the Internet himself (Tim Berners-Lee, not Al Gore) speaks out in its support, we’d all better listen. You can do just that by watching Berners-Lee’s impassioned and convincing video plea to preserve net neutrality. Amanda Congdon, host of the daily videoblog Rocketboom, has posted an editorial today you won’t want to miss that takes viewers on a road trip illustrating the impact of net neutrality’s demise.

To hear both sides of the issue, read these two dueling perspectives on net neutrality via Slashdot, which aired on National Public Radio this week, one by Scott Cleland, CEO of the Precursor Group, and a spokesperson for the telecom industry, and the other by Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist, and a proponent of net neutrality.

Before you make up your mind, ask yourself how much you trust Comcast or Verizon or any of the other telecom giants. Given the inexcusably rotten customer service experiences I’ve had with both of those corporate weasels, I know which side I’m on.

To join the good fight, visit SaveTheInternet.com.

Technology has utterly transformed our ability to communicate with each other. Linking to each other both literally and figuratively, many of us connect through cellphones, email, instant messaging, blogs, and networking web sites, yet ironically we may be less connected to each other than we think.

According to a study to be published today in the American Sociological Review, Americans are becoming increasingly socially isolated. The study reveals, for example, that one quarter of Americans say that they have no one to discuss important personal issues with, and that the number of close friends that American have has dropped from three to two, according to this report from MSNBC. Meanwhile, the Boston Globe reports that this spreading isolation is experienced more acutely among those with less education, people of color, and older Americans. Unsurprisingly, those who are young, white, and well educated tend to have stronger social networks.

This study seems to vindicate the views of scholars like Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone, published in 2000, who have been saying that America’s social capital is in serious decline.

From my own experience I have to say that I’ve never felt more connected, thanks to a web of friends, family, and colleagues. One of my closest friends is someone I met through an online discussion group who lives hundreds of miles away from me. We have met face-to-face only twice, yet our regular electronic correspondence and cellphone calls sustain our close friendship. Email keeps me connected with other close friends scattered across the globe, who, incidentally, read my blog as a way to stay in touch (hi, guys!). And, speaking of blogging, my blog has introduced me to people I would never have met otherwise and has led to enduring and important friendships.

On the other hand, I recently saw a scenario unfold that demonstrated to me how deeply disconnected we as Americans have become. I had just wrapped up a presentation on mediation at a family therapy center. As I was leaving, I noticed a mother and her teenage son who had just completed their session with their family therapist. After making their next appointment, they both simultaneously whipped out their cellphones, placed calls, and began loud conversations with whoever was on the other end, both of them ignoring the conspicuously positioned “Please No Cellphones” sign in the reception area. I walked out behind them to the parking lot to my car. They both jumped into their SUV, and, as I saw them drive off, they were still talking on their cellphones.

But, alas, not to each other.

Several weeks ago I posted about Appreciative Intelligence and Appreciative Inquiry, methods for problem solving that reframe problems into possibilities and mentioned that Stephanie West Allen, who introduced me to Appreciative Intelligence, was at that time working on an interview with Carol Metzker, author of Appreciative Intelligence: Seeing the Mighty Oak in the Acorn.

Stephanie has let me know that she has completed and posted her “Interview of Carol Metzker” on her blog, Idealawg, where you can read more about this innovative approach to tackling difficult problems.

In “Consequences of Power,” an article to appear in the upcoming Harvard Negotiation Law Review, Vol. XII, 2007, and available as a PDF download at the Social Science Research Network, Tamara Relis, a postdoctoral research fellow at Columbia Law School and the London School of Economics Department of Law, reports on the results of a survey and analysis of litigation-track mediation in medical malpractice cases.

Relis finds evidentiary support for the value of bringing plaintiffs and defendants face to face, despite the efforts of counsel to keep them apart. Her findings reveal the disconnect between attorneys’ objectives and those of their clients and shows that plaintiffs and defendants are more closely aligned than one might suppose, seeking similar outcomes and desiring above all the opportunity to communicate. And Relis sees ample evidence for what mediators have long known from experience, namely that mediation meets needs beyond those which the legal system can remedy, something other than compensation or a favorable verdict. Mediation provides what Relis calls “human benefits”–understanding, forgiveness, empowerment, or merely the opportunity to be heard.

For the abstract and a link to the download in PDF, please visit the Social Science Research Network web site.

Technorati tags: mediation, law

Just a few days ago the legal blogosphere was abuzz with the news that a federal judge in Florida had ordered two bickering attorneys to settle their differences playground-style: with a game of rock, paper, scissors. The judge mockingly described it as a new form of alternative dispute resolution.

Last week blogger Ernie Svenson invited readers to take a sobering look at what this all portends for the contemporary U.S. legal system: “Hell, when a federal judge has to tell the attorneys to use a child’s game to resolve their disputes then you know the system is completely broken.”

He’s right of course. Personally I have to wonder what their clients had to say about this (particularly when they see the bill). And as an attorney myself I have to ask, is this really the best that these lawyers could offer? An arbitrary outcome resulting from mere chance, instead of a resolution based on law, reason, and clients’ needs? And is this the business model that attorneys really want to practice?

Surely this is the last thing lawyers need right now–public confirmation that lawyers are useless at resolving disputes. Lawyers have a serious image problem. And current business practices are keeping potential clients away.

Hell, they’re not just keeping clients away, they’re driving them off in hordes. Straight to us mediators.

If you’re interested in hearing what clients have to say about attorneys, gather round. I can tell you what they’re saying to mediators like me.

Many of the people I speak to who come to mediation do so because they see themselves as refugees fleeing from a tyrannical legal system. Often they arrive with stories of attorneys more concerned with racking up billable hours than helping clients conserve assets and maximize gains. Attorneys who insisted that they should “go for the jugular” when really all they wanted to do was to remain on friendly terms with a business partner, neighbor, or soon-to-be-former spouse. Attorneys who didn’t listen or railroaded them into decisions that they couldn’t live with later. Attorneys whose combative styles cost clients money and relationships.

I’m an attorney myself. Believe me, I know that legal advice can save people time, money, and aggravation, and protects them from making uninformed decisions or unwise choices. But despite my best efforts to counter these negative perceptions, these callers remain skeptical that attorneys have anything of value to offer them. They find it far easier to believe the worst of attorneys than the best.

Some of these stories I hear are based on speculation and conjecture — on the experiences of a friend of a friend of a friend, on third-and fourth-hand stories passed on from co-workers, acquaintances, distant relations. These are urban legends which gain power and credibility in the retelling and convince the listeners that attorneys are neither helpers nor healers.

However, what is sad for our profession is the fact that the vast majority of these stories are the result of direct, personal experience. They are real. They happened.

But regardless of the source of these perceptions, the fact is that attorneys have a huge public relations problem.

Sure, we can lay some of the blame on ambulance chasers and the tort reform crowd–they’re both in opposite camps but neither one of them is doing us any good. We can point our fingers at the media which regularly vilify attorneys and rarely report on the important contributions that attorneys make in the service of law and justice.

But there’s also personal responsibility as well. And we attorneys had better start taking a long, hard look at the way we serve our clients and what our business practices have to say about us and our profession.

Better yet, keep it up. Keep antagonizing those clients.

Mediators everywhere will be grateful for the business.

Ross Runkel in both his arbitration blog and his employment law blog reports this week that the U.S. National Labor Relations Board has held in U-Haul Company of California (NLRB 06/08/2006) (2-1) that a mandatory arbitration policy adopted by a non-union company violates the National Labor Relations Act.

Ross’s analysis of this decision and its limited implications can be found here. Ross points out that this decision does not invalidate U-Haul’s mandatory arbitration policy in it entirety, but only the extent to which it affects NLRB claims.

Regular readers of this blog know that I am no fan of mandatory arbitration provisions in consumer, health care, and employment agreements.

For the reasons why, please read either of these posts: “The company we keep: ADR, tort reform, and the erosion of justice,” and “30 years after the Pound Conference: reflections on ADR and justice in the 21st century“.

For a detailed exploration of the issues associated with mandatory arbitration provisions from the perspective of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the governmental body charged with enforcement of federal anti-discrimination laws, please consider the “Policy Statement on Mandatory Binding Arbitration of Employment Discrimination Disputes as a Condition of Employment” issued in 1997. The EEOC, a supporter of voluntary alternative dispute resolution, takes the position that mandatory arbitration provisions in employment agreements violate the fundamental principles of employment discrimination laws in large part due to the extent to which such policies shield employers from public accountability.

One of the benefits mediation affords to participants is the opportunity to shift their perspective–to perceive other viewpoints or to see things in new ways.

For those of you who enjoy altering your perception to gain new understanding of the world around you, consider this:

According to this news release from the University of California, San Diego, the Aymara, an indigenous people residing in the Andes highlands, have a reverse understanding of time:

Contrary to what had been thought a cognitive universal among humans – a spatial metaphor for chronology, based partly on our bodies’ orientation and locomotion, that places the future ahead of oneself and the past behind – the Amerindian group locates this imaginary abstraction the other way around: with the past ahead and the future behind.

Appearing in the current issue of the journal Cognitive Science, the study is coauthored, with Berkeley linguistics professor Eve Sweetser, by Rafael Nunez, associate professor of cognitive science and director of the Embodied Cognition Laboratory at the University of California, San Diego.

“Until now, all the studied cultures and languages of the world – from European and Polynesian to Chinese, Japanese, Bantu and so on – have not only characterized time with properties of space, but also have all mapped the future as if it were in front of ego and the past in back. The Aymara case is the first documented to depart from the standard model,” said Nunez…

“These findings suggest that cognition of such everyday abstractions as time is at least partly a cultural phenomenon,” Nunez said. “That we construe time on a front-back axis, treating future and past as though they were locations ahead and behind, is strongly influenced by the way we move, by our dorsoventral morphology, by our frontal binocular vision, etc. Ultimately, had we been blob-ish amoeba-like creatures, we wouldn’t have had the means to create and bring forth these concepts.

“But the Aymara counter-example makes plain that there is room for cultural variation. With the same bodies – the same neuroanatomy, neurotransmitters and all – here we have a basic concept that is utterly different,” he said.

Why, however, is not entirely certain. One possibility, Nunez and Sweetser argue, is that the Aymara place a great deal of significance on whether an event or action has been seen or not seen by the speaker.

A “simple” unqualified statement like “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue” is not possible in Aymara – the sentence would necessarily also have to specify whether the speaker had personally witnessed this or was reporting hearsay.

In a culture that privileges a distinction between seen/unseen – and known/unknown – to such an extent as to weave “evidential” requirements inextricably into its language, it makes sense to metaphorically place the known past in front of you, in your field of view, and the unknown and unknowable future behind your back.

Intrigued? To read more about this study, click here.

(Via Boing Boing.)

Fans of James Surowiecki’s The Wisdom of Crowds, a book that celebrates the problem-solving and creative powers of groups, will want to visit Million Artists, a fundraising project which invites donors to play a role in creating the world’s largest collaborative abstract art work.

Visitors to the site can choose a color, make a donation to the medical charity of their choice (either Médecins Sans Frontières or SickKids Foundation), and then place their pixel on a digital canvas.

Although it is far more likely that the end result will be more Jackson Pollock than Whistler’s Mother, so far the project has attracted 161 donors and thousands of curious visitors. (For some online fun, visit this web site that allows you to create your very own digital Jackson Pollock by moving and clicking your mouse.)

To view (or to support) this work in progress, visit the Million Artists home page. To donate, you can click here.

(Via Collision Detection.)

Anyone who cares deeply about the law, justice, and civil liberties should definitely check out Blawg Review #61, a collaborative effort by three smart, savvy defense attorneys–Not Guilty, Woman of the Law, and Blonde Justice, where this week’s edition of Blawg Review, the weekly review of the best in law blogging, is hosted.

Featured posts include plenty of stuff that mediators (or just about anybody) will find interesting or useful. Some examples:

• Carolyn Elefant’s “Three Friday Freebies for Solos“, free online stuff great for anyone managing a solo practice (and that includes ADR professionals).
• Defending Those People’s post on police brutality, including a link to a chilling video depicting a state prosecutor’s daughter abused by police following her arrest for playing a radio too loudly.
• A lucidly written, intelligent analysis of the legal issues implicated in the debate over same sex marriage on Louisville Divorce
• An article posted by May It Please the Court on how road warriors can protect sensitive data on laptops and cellphones from thieves

Stop by Blawg Review to see a list of past and upcoming hosts and for submission guidelines.

During the 1950’s, American radio legend and journalist Edward R. Murrow hosted “This I Believe“, a radio program which invited people, ordinary and extraordinary, to share with listeners their core beliefs and values through short essays. Murrow’s hope was “to point to the common meeting grounds of beliefs, which is the essence of brotherhood and the floor of our civilization.”

National Public Radio here in the U.S. has revived Murrow’s program.

Series host Jay Allison describes the purpose behind this new series:

“As in the 1950s, this is a time when belief is dividing the nation and the world. We are not listening well, not understanding each other — we are simply disagreeing, or worse. Working in broadcast communication, there’s a responsibility to change that, to cross borders, to encourage some empathy. That possibility is what inspires me about this series.”

The goal isn’t to gain consensus or agreement about these beliefs; rather it is “to encourage people to begin the much more difficult task of developing respect for beliefs different from their own.”

Earlier this week “This I Believe” aired a moving essay read out loud by its author University of Arkansas law professor Michael Mullane.

In what does Mullane believe? That fundamental cornerstone of civil society, the rule of law. You can read his essay here.

Should mediators be worried? You be the judge:

A federal judge in Florida, at the end of his patience with two quarrelsome litigants apparently incapable of resolving even minor issues without judicial involvement, has ordered both of them to resolve their latest disagreement over the site of an upcoming deposition by playing rock, paper, scissors.

You can view the text of the order, which, in the words of the judge, “fashion[s] a new form of alternative dispute resolution,”, here at CNN.com.

(Thanks to Bob Ambrogi for the story.)