Daily Archives: January 27, 2009

Mediation Channel, other ADR blogs make list of top legal blogs

Posted on January 27, 2009 | 3 Comments

ADR blogs among top law blogsAvvo Blog has pulled together an automatically updating list of the top 300 law blogs, ordered by their traffic ranking on Alexa, a web traffic information site.

Mediation Channel made the cut, along with these outstanding ADR blogs:

Hat tip to my neighbor just up the road, lawyer and blogger Bob Ambrogi, whose high-ranked blog, Robert Ambrogi’s LawSites, also made the list.

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Posted in Blogs and Bloggers

Outlandish mediation techniques? Name yours

Posted on January 27, 2009 | Leave a comment

Outlandish mediation techniques Last week ADR Prof Blog posted a zany request to mediators, asking them to share their most outlandish mediation techniques.

It got me thinking. The most outlandish thing I’ve done during a mediation had to have been this: I was mediating a multi-party dispute involving a bunch of guys who towered enormously over me. Things got heated, and suddenly in unison they erupted from their chairs, shouting angrily at each other.  Operating totally on instinct (and adrenaline), I climbed onto the table, stood up, and yelled at the top of my lungs, “Don’t make me stop this car!” They all cracked up, and in a few minutes they were talking settlement.

Addendum: My buddy Geoff Sharp, a commercial mediator in New Zealand, alerts his readers that ADR Prof Blog’s request attracted the attention of a mediator known only as Brother Mat who, tongue-in-cheek (or at least I hope so), shares an unorthodox tool for reality testing: a sock puppet.

What’s the most outlandish technique you’ve deployed along the road to yes?  Let the nice folks at ADR Prof Blog know.

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Posted in Mediation

Online petition asks Obama to promote conflict resolution

Posted on January 27, 2009 | Leave a comment

Online petition seeks use of conflict resolutionConflict resolution expert and social justice advocate Kenneth Cloke has created an online petition requesting that U.S. President Barack Obama promote the use of conflict resolution both domestically and internationally.

Dispute resolvers, peacemakers, and ADR professionals are encouraged to add their signatures to a growing list of supporters.

This five-point proposal asks that Obama implement the following steps:

  1. Create a cabinet level ombudsman office or department of peace and consensus building to work proactively to prevent and minimize conflicts
  2. Build mediation, consensus building, diversity, and democratic conflict resolution processes into every proposal for change, whether domestic or international
  3. Invite representatives of international institutions, governments, and community organizations to attend a conference to discuss how to improve conflict resolution competencies and encourage collaborative problem solving around the world
  4. Request that the United Nations initiate a global effort to train diplomats and national representatives in conflict resolution, and incorporate in all treaties a clause requiring signatories to mediate and arbitrate disputes.
  5. Initiate a program and a fund to support conflict resolution professionals in serving in trouble spots around the world and help people prevent, resolve and recover from conflict.

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Posted in Conflict Resolution, Global and Cultural Awareness