Here’s a round-up of links for your viewing pleasure:

The Stella Awards, a site that recognizes the year’s wackiest lawsuits, has announced the winners for 2007. The Stella Awards are named in honor of Stella Liebeck, who achieved notoriety when she spilled a hot cup of McDonald’s coffee on her lap and sued, winning a $2.9 million jury verdict. (Via Slaw.)

The public reacted with indignation last week when it learned that a Hillsborough County, Florida, deputy sheriff dumped quadriplegic Brian Sterner from his wheelchair during booking following an arrest for an alleged traffic violation — an act which was caught on video. Sterner, however, intends to negotiate with, rather than sue, the sheriff’s office in what Sterner’s lawyer has characterized as a “roundtable” discussion. (Note that Sterner’s lawyer says that “he can avoid some legal hurdles by negotiating outside court. Government agencies are liable for a maximum $100,000 per person for negligence when employees are working within their professional capacity. If a jury were to award a plaintiff more than that, the government agency would pay the $100,000 and the plaintiff would have to petition the Legislature for the remainder. “)

At Brains on Purpose, Stephanie West Allen has pulled together resources to help facilitate learning and mind changing.

At Legal Blog Watch, Carolyn Elefant wonders whether blogging is the reason for mandatory arbitration agreements for law firm employees.

Here’s something for neuroscience fans (and what dispute resolution professional is not?) — Jason Kottke at Kottke.org interviews Jonah Lehrer, author of Proust Was a Neuroscientist.

The World Directory of ADR Blogs keeps growing. I’ve just added three more blogs:

• The Colorado Family Solutions Center blog, which focuses on ways to help families in transition find solutions outside of court.
• Conflict Matters, which provides tools and ideas about conflict resolution and mediation, published by dispute resolution professional and attorney Roy Baroff of North Carolina. (Hat tip to the Mediation Mensch for these two latest additions.)
• Secretos del Mediador Exitoso, a Spanish language blog, answers the question, what do you need to know and do to be able to mediate successfully? This blog’s motto is “Transformacion de Conflictos, Cooperacion y Respeto.”

Finally, for a rousing example of what a bunch of people working together can achieve, here’s an election-related news story: On February 19, over a thousand Prairie View A&M University students and their supporters marched seven miles to the polls at the Waller County, Texas, Courthouse to protest the lack of an early voting place on campus. You can view the march at YouTube. Would you walk seven miles to cast your vote?

In June 2006, I launched The World Directory of ADR Blogs at www.adrblogs.com as part of my ongoing effort to track and catalog the slowly growing number of blogs discussing dispute resolution, negotiation, and innovations in law and justice.

It’s a project that has put me in touch with dispute resolution professionals, scholars, and students around the globe and has shown me the many faces of negotiation and ADR across time zones and cultures.

Despite the fact that I created the World Directory to showcase ADR blogs and podcasts, oddly enough ADRblogs.com was not a blog itself but a regular web site. That was a shortcoming that I have at last remedied.

The World Directory of ADR Blogs is now at last a blog all its own, which has made for some much-needed improvements. It’s made it easier for me to update the site and manage all the categories that the listings are organized around. It also means that you can subscribe to its RSS feed or receive email notifications whenever a new site gets added.

The site now includes a search feature on all pages so that visitors can easily locate a listing, as well as a Google Translate My Page tool to make the site friendlier for visitors who speak languages other than English. In the left sidebar you’ll find a list of categories and countries, while in the right sidebar is a list of the 8 most recent additions.

Among those new additions are three blogs well worth reading — the memorably titled mediation meditations by New York attorney and commercial mediator Christian Herzeca, Civil Negotiation and Mediation (a blog that puts the “civil” back in “civil litigation), published by attorney and mediator Nancy Hudgins of California, and the excellent Negotiation Guru, by Jens Thang.

If you publish or know of a blog that should be added to the World Directory, please let me know. It’s a commercial-free site, and there is no cost to be listed. The Directory has information on submitting your blog and some simple submission guidelines.

I hope you’ll stop by the World Directory of ADR Blogs and take a look for yourself. You’ll find a popular feature I kept from the old site — the Reading Room where you can scan the headlines or read the content of the blogs listed at ADRblogs.com.

Enjoy!

This week’s round-up of conflict resolution links include the following:

The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel has advice when it comes to ADR agreements in “ADR Trends for 2008“, which includes the recommendation that “Counsel must also give consideration to the extent to which it is important to maintain an ongoing business relationship with the other parties to the transaction. In such cases it is particularly helpful to include a stepped ADR clause, such as one that requires negotiation and then mediation before resorting to arbitration.”

Speaking of ADR agreements, Workplace Prof Blog points to a recent article by Professor Jean Sternlight, “In Defense of Mandatory Binding Arbitration (If Imposed on the Company)“.

Chicago Family Law Blog describes the ingredients necessary for a “Successful Divorce Mediation“, while CNN.com gives readers “Six Tips to manage workplace conflict“.

For those who ask, “Why can’t we all just get along?”, FriendlyAtheist.com offers “An Atheist and a Christian: A Love Story“, which explains how love can triumph over differences:

But how does a relationship like this last? If you ask Kate and Erik, they’ll laugh and tell you they have no idea. (That’s not a joke; they’re serious.) But it turns out they both share core values and a passion to find the truth, whatever it may be.

They also have strong communication and conflict-resolution skills. They both strive to understand each other instead of trying to change the other. If an interfaith relationship with two passionate people is going to work, they say, you can’t be under the delusion that you will change your partner. Not when it comes to faith.

(Emphasis added.) One can only speculate whether what works for Kate and Erik will also work for Democrats and Republicans.

While we’re on the subject of politics, In These Times looks at misguided foreign policy in “No Talking to the Enemy: Both the U.S. and Iranian governments have stopped dialogues between citizens seeking peaceful resolution“.

Spotted at the Princeton Review web site (the company that American high school and college students have to thank for standardized tests) was this (badly researched) career profile for a mediator, containing this nugget of wisdom: “Although ADR sounds like a terrible syndrome, it’s in fact a more Zenlike approach to conflict resolution, with mediators as the master practitioners.”

Finally, to see how mediators are celebrating the New Year, check out the following posts:

Chris Annunziata takes “A Fresh Approach to New Year’s Resolutions”

Victoria Pynchon bids a colorful welcome to 2008.

Stephanie West Allen greets 2008 with hope and a smile.

Tammy Lenski invites readers to try on the 8 hats of a mediation entrepreneur.

Dina Beach Lynch offers a blogging plan for mediators for 2008.

Some good stuff on the web to round out the week:

Language Log posts a cartoon on communication by omission about all the unspoken messages family members convey to each during the stress of the holidays (particularly mothers and their adult children), as well as a meditation on the use of diplomatic language to settle disputes in “The moral of losing your pants, your suit, and your job“.

Thinking Ethics links to a great resource on the BBC web site on the ethics of lying.

At the Harvard Gazette Online is an article on “Buddhism and the art of negotiation: Mindfulness, ‘unattachment’ — and getting what you want“.

The Wall Street Journal Law Blog asks, “Is arbitration the new litigation?” and provokes a lively debate in the comments section.

In “Navy Showers, Low Flow Showerheads and Other Water Conservation Ideas“, Chris Annunziata at CKA Mediation and Arbitration Blog describes how one mediator gets his whole family to go green and conserve water.

Finally, if you’re in need of some inspiration at the end of a tough week, then treat yourself to this uplifting video of a cellphone salesman achieving a lifelong dream to sing opera. (Thanks to my pal Geoff Sharp for sending the link my way.)

This week’s round-up of links and articles for mediators includes:

Jonathan Reitman, one of the New England mediation community’s most beloved and respected figures, asks, “Is there mediation fatigue?” as he considers what happens to a mediator’s ability to be compassionate when mediators are exposed on a regular basis to traumatic stories told by their clients. This is required reading for any mediator whose work routinely exposes him or her to suffering.

At MediationTools.com you’ll find “Impasse is a Fallacy“, an article by dispute resolution professional Lee Jay Berman with strategies for mediators to avoid stalemates and jump-start stalled negotiations.

Before I refer readers to online resources or tools, they must first meet a few criteria. It’s got to be stuff that’s readily available on the web (which usually means no registration or subscription required and preferably is either free or really, really cheap). I’m making an exception today for the Engaging Conflicts electronic newsletter (which is free but does require you to sign up with an email address to receive). Produced by Gini Nelson, this outstanding newsletter regularly features interviews with extraordinary individuals in the dispute resolution field. The most recent edition introduced newsletter subscribers to Emmy Irobi, a conflict resolution specialist now living in Poland, who once served as a child soldier in Biafra and has first-hand experience of the human tragedy that conflict and violence give rise to. Although I know that many readers want to reduce the influx of email, this is one newsletter that consistently delivers great content with information relevant to any dispute resolution professional.

In the “you’ve got to be kidding me” category is a story of an Illinois teenager punished with two detentions by her public elementary school for — get this — hugging two classmates. (For full appreciation of just how dumb this disciplinary action is, watch this interview with the girl and her parents.) (Thanks to QuizLaw for the link. A caution to those of you with delicate sensibilities — QuizLaw in its post uses language that would land it a week’s worth of detentions, so careful as you click.)

In case you hadn’t heard, Tammy Lenski of Mediator Tech is offering for download free copies of the first chapter of her soon-to-be-released book, Making Mediation Your Day Job. Tammy is known for her wise advice, generously dispensed to readers of her blog.

At the Chronicle of Higher Education, read about one university administrator’s growing appreciation for the role of conflict resolution in addressing institutional disputes in “When Private Animosities Distort Professional Judgment“.

Finally, I close with a titillatingly captioned mediation-related news story: “Mediation ordered for topless bar owner, landlord“. Some mediators get all the fun cases.

Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. It provides a great excuse to buy chocolate — by the bag in fact. Plus no hours spent slaving over a hot stove, no need to shop for gifts (or wait in endless lines to return any), and no family feuds to mediate. What’s not to like?

It’s the one holiday that I unfailingly observe here at Online Guide to Mediation. So, in keeping with tradition, here are some Halloween-related links for your reading pleasure:

Start with my posts for Halloween 2005 and 2006, “Ghost of a chance: three ways mediators can celebrate Halloween” and “High spirits: legal issues can arise on sale of haunted houses“.

Bone up on “Witchcraft and the Law” with this bibliography from the LSU Law Library.

Play “Halloween Party“, a board game involving “crafty negotiation” and bluffing.

Or, get philosophical with “The Story of The Devil and Daniel Webster as a Post–modern Allegory to Individualism in Negotiation“. (Requires a subscription to download in PDF but cunning Googlers can access an HTML version of the article.)

Just be sure to save some 3 Musketeers bars for me.

(Photo credit: Nicolas Raymond.)

Here is Online Guide to Mediation’s latest round-up of links for mediators:

From Bob Sutton is a link to a video by a professor of organizational behavior at Stanford who takes an honest look at “why we’d rather lie than be associated with failure“.

George Lenard points to “Top Small Workplaces 2007“, which reveals what successful small businesses do to motivate, develop, and retain their employees.

For conflict resolution trainers, mediation training videos from UK Mediation Ltd. depict the stages of a workplace dispute from initial flare-up to agreement, courtesy of Bill Warters.

Boing Boing reports on the latest customer relations snafu by a large corporation: AT&T punishes consumers for speaking out on the web.

At Not Exactly Rocket Science, learn how “Genes affect our likelihood to punish unfair play“.

Thanks to Diana Skaggs, learn “What Price Does The Company Pay In An Executive’s Divorce Or Custody Battle? Without Some Forethought, A Hefty One“–which I think could be used to support the argument that employee assistance programs should include mediation services among their offerings.

Vickie Pynchon urges readers to haggle when it comes to purchasing consumer goods, and points to No More Haggling, a company that seeks to capitalize on the American aversion to negotiating.

Finally, a project in Jerusalem uses the power of the stage to encourage Jewish and Arab audiences to hear the other side of the story.

This week’s mediator link-fest includes the following headlines:

“Attributing Blame — from the Baseball Diamond to the War on Terror“, from The Situationist, examines the ways in which we attribute blame and draw inferences about the motivation of others when bad stuff happens.

Cognitive Daily offers “Insight into how children learn cultural values“, and also explains “Why we are blind to some changes but not others“.

Neuromarketing, a blog I’ve recently discovered, takes a look at decision making in “Want” vs. “Should” - It’s All in The Timing“.

The Executive Assistant’s Tool Box explains “How to Speak Your Mind (and Keep Your Job)“, while Lawsagna discusses “Three Kinds of Empathy“.

Workplace bullying is getting plenty of attention this week. Thoughts from a Management Lawyer describes the results of the U.S. Workplace Bullying Survey 2007 (in PDF) in “Workplace Bullying is Widespread“. And Dumb Little Man - Tips for Life has advice on “How to Deal with a Workplace Bully“.

Finally, the secret’s out: everyone’s talking about mediator-blogger Geoff Sharp’s “40 sites in 40 minutes“, a whirlwind tour of Geoff’s favorite stops in the ADR cyber-neighborhood.

(Thanks, Geoff, by the way, for including Online Guide to Mediation on your list.)

For your reading pleasure, some links to news stories especially for mediators:

Can a surfeit of choices be too much of a good thing as far as effective decision making goes? That may just be the case, according to “Just Choose It!” from The Situationist.

They say that absolute power corrupts absolutely, but even smaller doses can be fatal. Bob Sutton offers “More Evidence that Getting a Little Power Turns You into a Self-Centered Jerk“.

When you say “I’m sorry”, surprisingly enough it may not matter if you don’t really mean it. collision detection discusses the results of a recent study that shows that “Fake apologies are as good as sincere ones“.

Finally, Law.com’s Inhouse Counsel considers “Arbitration’s Costs and Dangers” and explains that “in many respects, mediation offers all the benefits of arbitration — lower costs, faster results — without the limitations.”

(Photo by Sanja Gjenero.)

I’m going to be out of town on business until late next week so Online Guide to Mediation will be taking a brief break, but I did want to leave my readers with something to amuse themselves with while I was away. What follows are a sampling of mediation-related blog posts from the past week or so, along with announcements of two conferences.

Conflict Resolution Network Canada is sponsoring Interaction 2006, “Dialogue, Dispute Resolution and Democracy”, a conflict resolution conference to be held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, from June 7-10, 2006. Information and registration details are available online.

Meanwhile, the University of Toledo College of Law will host an international symposium on “Enhancing Worldwide Understanding through Online Dispute Resolution“, scheduled for April 21-22, 2006, in Toledo, Ohio, coinciding with the 5th Anniversary of the International Competitions for Online Dispute Resolution (ICODR).

Curious to learn more about specific applications for online dispute resolution, especially how successful ODR programs work? Human Law walks readers through the dispute resolution process eBay utilizes in “eBay - A model of dispute resolution for our jaded legal system“.

One blog I visit frequently because of the excellent internet resources it points me toward is Inter Alia, published by Tom Mighell. Most recently Tom linked to the Workplace Prof Blog, along with an article he wrote for the ABA’s Law Practice Today listing workplace, labor, employment, and human resource web sites ideal for the ADR professional or attorney whose work focuses on this practice area.

Joel Schoenmeyer of Death and Taxes continues his survey of web sites and resources relating to mediation in estate planning and probate. Joel, who writes frequently on ADR, collects his ADR-related posts here. (With many thanks to Joel for his kind mention of Online Guide to Mediation, along with the link to the Online Directory of Alternative Dispute Resolution Blogs I launched earlier this week.)

Wondering when the best time to schedule that mediation may be? Paying attention to Circadian rhythms may be integral to our ability to negotiate effectively, according to this post from Geoff Sharp. I like Geoff’s suggestion that mediators include an “are you a morning person or a night owl” question on their client intake form. While you’re visiting Geoff’s blog, mediator blah…blah, read Geoff’s post on why mediators can’t trust anyone when it comes to their notes.

Bill Warters, who always has the world’s greatest ADR links at his Campus ADR Tech Blog, has done it again with this post on “Training Modules on Conflict Resolution from the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention“, with plenty of materials and ideas for conflict resolution trainers regardless of the focus of their work. And conflict resolution trainers intent on offering maximum value to clients should read this post by David Maister on “Why Training Is Useless” (via Dennis Kennedy).

One of the questions that always comes up in mediation training is the use of joint versus private sessions with parties. Should parties be encouraged to keep working together? Should they be separated immediately? Every mediator has their own philosophy about this. Some of us actively practice shuttle diplomacy, carrying messages back and forth between private meeting rooms. Others never meet individually with parties but keep them working together at the negotiation table. My own approach is flexible–to do whatever it is that works and whatever it takes. Stephen Raymond at Perspectives of a Mediator/Arbitrator contemplates mediator styles in a recent post and includes sound advice to anyone choosing a mediator: it’s important to ask about the mediator’s own approach to mediation practice.

Since launching the Online Directory of Alternative Dispute Resolution Blogs earlier this week, I have been introduced to several new mediation and negotiation blogs. These include How to Negotiate, as well as Mediation Mindset by Anthony Cerminaro, who also publishes the popular BizzBangBuzz (say that ten times fast) and Strategic Business Lawyer. I appreciate the fact that Anthony’s new mediation blog features a nice list of mediation-related blogs in his sidebar (including Online Guide to Mediation–thanks, Anthony!). I’d like to see more ADR bloggers do the same and spread that link love around, especially since there are so few of us out here blogging about ADR. In addition, I heard from Kristina Haymes, who has let me know that she publishes two (count ‘em) blogs on mediation and ADR: Making Peace Mediation and Mediation Marketing Tips.

Mediators looking for ideas on using technology to build their business or make life easier will want to see part 2 of Tammy Lenski’s series on autoresponders at MediatorTech, as well as this post from I [Heart] Tech’s on “The Perfect Companion for your Word Processor: AutoMATE“.

By the way, if you stop by Tammy’s other blog, Strategic Conversations, you’ll notice that Tammy has found a way to gain some protection for her online content. Visit this post in particular and notice the little yellow icon at the very end of the post, followed by the letters “ESBN” and a series of numbers. It links to Numly, a web site which assigns electronic serial numbers for digital content–what Numly describes as “unique identifiers” which “provide digital rights management capabilities as well as third-party, non-repudiation measures for copyright proof via real-time verifications”.

Although many of us would agree, mediators included, that competitive behavior–the drive to survive–is hardwired into us, cooperation may be just as deeply embedded into our genetic code. Colin Rule, who blogs at the Center for Internet and Society, discusses a recent study on altruistic behavior in chimpanzees and toddlers which suggests that primate have strong tendencies toward cooperation and collaborative behavior. For further details, you can read this story which appeared earlier this month in the Boston Globe or visit the web site of Felix Warneken, the lead author of the study, which includes links to videoclips of the chimpanzees and young children observed in the study.

Speaking of collaboration, Clive Thompson at Collision Detection discusses “Massively Multiplayer Pong,” the latest experiment to probe the wisdom of crowds. In addition, and totally unrelated to ADR, Clive also links to a fun dynamic Einstein photo where you get to choose the text that appears on Einstein’s blackboard, which you can see embellished here with a pro-mediation slogan.

Have a great weekend, everyone. See you all when I get back next week. And, as always, thanks for visiting.