At ADRblogs.com, I have monitored blogs from around the globe that discuss alternative dispute resolution in its many manifestations.
Started three years ago, today the World Directory of ADR Blogs tracks over 220 blogs from 30 countries, bringing together the world of blogs covering mediation, arbitration, negotiation, conflict resolution, and people-focused innovations in justice and law. It’s been exhilarating to work on it, since it has helped me connect with people plane rides and time zones away who share a commit to resolve disputes through constructive and non-adversarial ways.
However, other projects beckon, and I no longer have the time to devote that an undertaking like this deserves. Consequently, I have decided to put the site up for sale.
If you’re interested in continuing my work, please get in touch for further details.
From time to time I select noteworthy blogs from recent additions to ADRblogs.com, the site tracking alternative dispute resolution blogs world-wide, and highlight them here. Here is my latest selection, four blogs that stand out in different ways:
Mediation Strategies, published by San Francisco mediator and lawyer Michael Carbone, discusses techniques for resolving civil lawsuits and other disputes, with recommendations to lawyers and clients on how to prepare for mediation. Carbone, who writes well, is off to an impressive start, with posts such as “Deciding when to mediate“, earning him a well-deserved place among Mediate.com’s Featured Bloggers.
The Trial Warrior is published by Antonin Pribetic, a Toronto-based lawyer who specializes in domestic and international commercial litigation and arbitration. Pribetic is also an academic, teaching Advanced Legal Process at the University of Toronto at Mississauga-Rotman School of Management Diploma in Forensic & Investigative Accounting (DIFA) program. A gifted writer who brings keen-eyed analysis to his work, Pribetic describes the unique focus of this outstanding blog:
A few years ago, I picked up a copy of The Art of War—the classic Chinese treatise on military theory and Taoist philosophy—and experienced an epiphany after reading the following quote from Sun Tzu: “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” Since then, I have studied and applied The Art of War to both my professional and personal life. This blog will endeavour to lead rather than simply follow; to enlighten, inform and entertain, as well as to learn from its readers, contributors and warriors in all disciplines and walks of life.
Mediation’s Place, published by Joseph C. Markowitz, a trial lawyer and mediator based in Los Angeles, grapples with compelling questions:
How does mediation fit into a system of justice that seems antithetical to mediation? What changes need to be made to court procedures, and to litigants’ mindsets, in order to resolve issues by negotiation instead of by litigation? Why is mediation called a form of “alternative” dispute resolution? What makes mediation work?
New bloggers are often advised to focus their blog on a niche topic. Published by Florida firm Upchurch Watson White & Max, Wealth Mediation Blog does precisely that, focusing its posts on issues relevant to its client base, family businesses and families of wealth.
For additional blogs on alternative dispute resolution and negotiation, consider my recent list of top 24 ADR blogs.
The World Directory of ADR Blogs, at ADRblogs.com, turned three on June 5. ADRblogs.com grew out of a project I began in 2005 to track and catalog dispute resolution blogs world-wide. Today it tracks over 200 blogs from 30 countries around the globe.
Recent additions to ADRblogs.com include
- The Divorce Collaborative, covering divorce and family mediation and collaborative law with a Massachusetts perspective, by Stephen McDonough and Laurie Martucci
- MediAsian, which explores mediation and dispute resolution in Asia, especially, but not exclusively, South East Asia, published by Ian Macduff, a relocated New Zealander – born in Malaysia, now living and working in Singapore.
- Kluwer Arbitration Blog, discussing news and issues in international commercial arbitration.
No passport is needed to explore the world of dispute resolution and negotiation blogging. Just go visit ADRblogs.com. Submissions, of course, are always welcome.
Incidentally, ADRblogs.com is itself a blog, so to stay on top of new blogs as they join the conversation about all things related to conflict resolution, ADR, negotiation, restorative justice, and people-centered innovations in law and justice, subscribe to its RSS feed or sign up for notifications by email when new sites are added.
Shortly after I began blogging in January 2005, I became interested in inventorying and tracking the slowly increasing number of blogs devoted to ADR. In 2006 I created and launched ADRblogs.com, a site that catalogs blogs that discuss ADR, negotiation, consensus building, negotiation, conflict resolution, and human-centered innovations in law and justice. And a year ago I turned ADRblogs.com into a blog itself, enabling visitors to subscribe to either the RSS feed or email list to get alerts about the latest additions to the ADR blogosphere.
Today marks a major milestone. I just added the 200th ADR blog to the ADRblogs.com catalog – California-based attorney and mediator Steve Mehta’s Mediation Matters got the honors. Other recent additions include:
- The eponymous blog of Daniel Rainey, the Director of Alternative Dispute Resolution Services for the National Mediation Board (NMB), an independent U.S. Government agency responsible for labor-management dispute resolution in the airline and railroad industries. Rainey is a long-time proponent of online dispute resolution (ODR).
- Takeaways, discussing mediation-related topics. Each entry tells a story and offers a “takeaway” – an idea to chew on.
- Maryland Mediation Blog, about mediation as an alternative to litigation for divorce and family issues.
Of course if you have a blog you’d like to submit for inclusion in ADRblogs.com, please let me know. Read the submission guidelines and then get in touch.
ADRblogs.com also got a new look – a nice, clean Wordpress theme known as Thesis. Please stop by and check it out.
Eye on Conflict is the latest addition to ADRblogs.com, the world catalog of blogs about dispute resolution, negotiation, and collaborative approaches to problem solving.
