Synchronicity, Paradox, and Personal Evolution
Thomas Stipanowich, SSRN
This autobiographical chapter, produced as part of a compendium of narratives by leaders in the field of conflict resolution, offers a highly personal retrospective on a unique career now in its fifth decade. The author reflects on his path from the field of architecture to a specialized law practice on the cutting edge of trends in arbitration, mediation and dispute resolution; his evolution as a professor of law, dispute resolution professional, and award-winning scholar; and his leadership of two important...

Continue reading...

The Evolutionary Force of Behavioral Economics in Law
Saul Levmore, SSRN
Many of the behavioral insights in economics arise out of experiments or examples in which the conventional claims of economics, and rational choice quite generally, are contradicted by observed results. The conventional view – that people and firms maximize utility and profit, and often do so rather cleverly, even accounting for various feedback effects and thinking about marginal costs and benefits – is rationalist, marginalist, or incentive-based (the expression I will usually use in this...

Continue reading...

Tripping Over the Truth
Phyllis G. Pollack, PGP Mediation
I recently finished reading The Power of Moments by Chip Heath and Dan Heath (Simon &Schuster, New York 2017) for an upcoming book club discussion. The authors note that we spend the bulk of our lives living forgettable moments. Yet, every once in a while, we have a moment that rises above the mundane: a defining moment: “… a short experience that is both memorable and meaningful.” (Id. at 12.) Can attending a mediation be a defining moment?  For many, it is as it provides...

Continue reading...