Year’s end is a time for looking forward and also for looking back, as we take stock of where we’ve been, while we consider the journey ahead of us.
As part of that annual tradition, I’ve pulled together the posts from 2007 that have been the most frequently visited, the ones that drew the most comments and emails, or that are simply my favorites.
I hope you enjoy them.
From January:
“Is your negotiating style leaving value on the table?”
“Mediator certification and credentialing: getting accurate information on becoming a mediator”
“Bridging the divide between lawyers and mediators” – a three-part series
From February:
“Sunshine is the best disinfectant: Bob Sutton’s “The No Asshole Rule” gets an age-old workplace problem out into the open”
Blawg Review #94 – The Getting to Yes Edition
From March:
“What’s so funny ’bout peace, love and understanding? Thoughts on why we’re not getting to yes”
“Since when is changing your mind a bad thing?”
“Seeing ourselves as others see us: the art of feedback”
From April:
“Why I will not be observing One Day Blog Silence”
“Chicken peacekeepers mediate bunny turf war”
“Are mediators hindering a civil right to counsel? One scholar says yes”
From May:
“In This Case: blog allows people to tell their personal stories about the law”
“Does ADR deliver justice?”
From June:
“Premature negotiation: how to get rid of performance anxiety at the mediation table”
“The ups and downs of conflict: a game theory analysis of the toilet seat issue”
From July:
“Nothing but the truth: Radical Honesty movement proposes a world without deception”
From August:
“Won’t get fooled again: negotiating with liars”
“Mediator nominated for Congressional Order of Merit by National Republican Congressional Committee”
“Requiem for a friend”
From September:
“Art education may help prepare future lawyers (and mediators)”
“Free stuff online to help ADR professionals run their businesses”
From October:
Blawg Review #130 – the Double Hemisphere Edition co-hosted with fellow mediator Geoff Sharp
“(In)justice for all: the case against arbitration clauses in consumer contracts”
“Apologies can improve the health of hospital-patient relations”
From November:
“In weighing the Uniform Mediation Act, Massachusetts mediators may be poised to repeat mistakes of the past”
“How to turn a simple misunderstanding into all-out war: a mediator’s advice”
From December:
“In celebration of the ADR blogosphere: blogging transforms how we talk about dispute resolution”
“Out of the mouths of babes: a child’s guide to the law”
“Optical illusions as a training tool for mastering negotiation and conflict resolution skills”
A happy 2008 to all of you! And thanks as always for stopping by to visit.
Incidentally, in just a few days, in time for my third anniversary of blogging, big changes are coming to this blog. I’m pulling up stakes here at Blogger.com — Online Guide to Mediation will get both a new home (currently under construction) and a new name — plus an easier-to-remember domain name, too.
Plus I’ll be welcoming in the new year with a special series: on each of the first seven days of January, I’ll be posting “New Year (Dispute) Resolutions”.
Stay tuned!
by Diane Levin on December 31, 2007
in Seasonal
Change is good.
And change is coming to the World Directory of ADR Blogs, my online project tracking and cataloging blogs worldwide on mediation, negotiation, ADR, conflict resolution, negotiation, and people-focused innovations in the law.
Beginning on the first of the year, the World Directory of ADR Blogs will itself become a blog, with its own RSS feed so that visitors can subscribe easily for news and updates. This will make it easier for me to maintain and update the site as well. The site may be inaccessible during the conversion, which will be complete by January 1.
In the meantime, please check out the World Directory’s latest acquisitions:
The Conflict Resolution Toolbox
Cool tools and fun sundries from professional mediator and conflict resolution coach Tammy Lenski.
A Mediator’s Calling
An informal exploration of the process of becoming a mediator, consisting of one individual’s reflections on a variety of topics pertaining to the art of mediation, with some practical advice. Published by Toronto mediator Ken Bole.
Singapore Law Blog
This blawg provides its readers with news, comments and insight on legal matters in Singapore, including arbitration and dispute resolution.
Chinese Negotiation – Negotiating in China
Chinese Negotiation is a tool to assist international investors and managers enter the China market. Published by Andrew Hupert, a consultant based in Shanghai who has been working with the Greater China market since 1991. He specializes in helping new China entrants with sales management, marketing and negotiation.
Communication and Conflict Blog
The Communication and Conflict Blog discusses insights from the practice of mediation, including principles for effective communication based on the underlying philosophies of mediation. Author Alan Sharland shares observations and updates on communication and conflict in daily life.
Blawg Review, acknowledged recently by the American Bar Association as one of the top 100 law blogs, is unique among blogs. Hosted each week by a different legal blog, no better source exists for current trends, new ideas, highlights of top news stories, and stimulating repartee for the legal community. Serving as a central repository or hub, it provides opportunity for legal bloggers everywhere to participate, gain visibility, and speak out.
Blawg Review now seeks nominations for the best presentation of Blawg Review this year. Anyone who has hosted a presentation of Blawg Review (or is slated to host an upcoming one) can participate. The anonymous Editor made his own recommendations in a ceremony this week in Second Life — suggestions you can view at Virtually Blind, a blog covering legal issues in virtual worlds.
As someone who has served as Blawg Review host three times now (two in 2007, #94 and #130 co-hosted with Geoff Sharp in a double-hemisphere edition, which I was honored to discover among the Editor’s recommendations), I also know how much hard behind-the-scenes work goes into each presentation.
During the past year there were many excellent editions of Blawg Review (tough acts for any host to follow). A few, however, stand out. Well crafted, inventive, intelligently written, and informative, my nominations are:
Blawg Review #124, Labor Day Special Historical Edition. Hosted by the inimitable George Lenard, this presentation skillfully weaves together archival photographs and history with a week’s worth of links to high-quality legal blogging. “Epic” is the word that comes to mind.
Blawg Review #137. Colin Samuel achieves another poetic masterpiece with his third Dante-themed presentation of Blawg Review. Bravissimo, Colin!
Blawg Review #101. Diana Skaggs of Divorce Law Journal evokes images of bluegrass, mint juleps, and the Run for the Roses in this Derby-themed edition.
Blawg Review #102 and its prequel. This special presentation was delivered by host George M. Wallace at his two blogs, the all-business Declarations and Exclusions, and his personal and cultural web journal, a fool in the forest. Both presentations were constructed around illustrations from Stultifera Navis, the 1497 Latin translation of Sebastian Brant’s 1494 satirical German text, Das Narrenschiff, aka The Ship of Fools.
Blawg Review #134. Eric Turkewitz at New York Personal Injury Law Blog hosted this meticulously crafted marathon-themed presentation.
No matter who ultimately wins the title of best Blawg Review, Blawg Review makes a winner out of us all — its hosts and its readers alike. Congratulations to all who served as host this past year, and best wishes to those who will serve in future.
Memes are ideas or units of cultural information transmitted, as viruses are, from one individual to the next. Blogs provide a rich medium for memes to flourish in, as bloggers invite (or incite) each other to comment on and disseminate them.
Stephanie West Allen, who publishes Idealawg, a blog that honors the creative spirit within the practice of law, and Julie Fleming Brown of Life at the Bar, have announced the second annual celebration of Lawyers Appreciate…, a legal meme in which bloggers are invited to express appreciation for the things that matter most to them about the practice of law in a 10-day countdown to the start of the new year.
Stephanie invited me, together with bloggers Vickie Pynchon and Gini Nelson, to add our thoughts. Both of them have already weighed in, the former to praise end-of-the-year appreciation memes, the latter to honor justice.
As for me? Of all the images from 2007, among the most enduring are those of lawyers protesting in the streets of Pakistan. As I contemplated those images in November, I asked, “Is it time for a Nobel Prize in law?”
What do I appreciate about the law? You can find my answer there.
