Blog Archives
Learning the Wisdom to Seize the Moment: How Negotiators Encourage the Learning of Practical Wisdom for Themselves and Others
May 14, 2020
Expert negotiators and mediators need to create, recognize, and seize the moments that are critical for a successful negotiation or mediation. Doing so requires “practical wisdom”—a term that dates back to Aristotle—that cannot be “taught” in any simple or straightforward way. Such wisdom can only be learned through practice. This article considers how the practice of negotiation, and professional practice more generally, can be structured to encourage the learning of practical wisdom....
May 14, 2020
Expert negotiators and mediators need to create, recognize, and seize the moments that are critical for a successful negotiation or mediation. Doing so requires “practical wisdom”—a term that dates back to Aristotle—that cannot be “taught” in any simple or straightforward way. Such wisdom can only be learned through practice. This article considers how the practice of negotiation, and professional practice more generally, can be structured to encourage the learning of practical wisdom....
Initiating Collaboration in the Midst of a Standoff: What to Do at that Critical Moment
May 13, 2020
Even when “warring parties” know that eventually they will have to talk to one another so that there can be peace, it is extremely difficult to get them to “fast‐forward” to that moment. The reasons for this vary. Sometimes the parties think that “time is on their side”—that continuing the battle will benefit them. Other times, leaders worry how they will appear in the eyes of their own followers if they seem to have lost heart or are ready to give in. A third reason that parties...
May 13, 2020
Even when “warring parties” know that eventually they will have to talk to one another so that there can be peace, it is extremely difficult to get them to “fast‐forward” to that moment. The reasons for this vary. Sometimes the parties think that “time is on their side”—that continuing the battle will benefit them. Other times, leaders worry how they will appear in the eyes of their own followers if they seem to have lost heart or are ready to give in. A third reason that parties...
Nearly 800 COVID-19 lawsuits have been filed, according to law firm’s tracker
May 12, 2020
Nearly 800 lawsuits have been filed over the novel coronavirus, and more than 230 of them dealt with prison conditions, according to tracker data, which was last updated May 4. Hunton Andrews Kurth developed the tracker with the help of a data services provider. The Washington Post and Law.com have coverage. After prison lawsuits, the next most popular were lawsuits involving insurance disputes, contracts and civil rights (excluding the prison claims). The most...
May 12, 2020
Nearly 800 lawsuits have been filed over the novel coronavirus, and more than 230 of them dealt with prison conditions, according to tracker data, which was last updated May 4. Hunton Andrews Kurth developed the tracker with the help of a data services provider. The Washington Post and Law.com have coverage. After prison lawsuits, the next most popular were lawsuits involving insurance disputes, contracts and civil rights (excluding the prison claims). The most...
Texas Courts Conflict On Whether Contingent Remainder Beneficiaries Have Standing To Assert Claims Regarding Trust Administration
May 11, 2020
Two different appellate courts in Texas have recently published opinions with differing views on whether a contingent remainder beneficiary has standing to sue a trustee for a trust administration issue. In one of the cases, In re Estate of Little, a settlor of a revocable trust withdrew trust assets and deposited them into an account with rights of survivorship with one child as the beneficiary . The beneficiaries of the trust, also children of the settlor, sued the non-settlor trustee...
May 11, 2020
Two different appellate courts in Texas have recently published opinions with differing views on whether a contingent remainder beneficiary has standing to sue a trustee for a trust administration issue. In one of the cases, In re Estate of Little, a settlor of a revocable trust withdrew trust assets and deposited them into an account with rights of survivorship with one child as the beneficiary . The beneficiaries of the trust, also children of the settlor, sued the non-settlor trustee...
Retirement Of Pepperdine Caruso Law Legend Peter Robinson
May 10, 2020
As I previously mentioned, we have a tradition at Pepperdine Caruso Law of honoring our retiring faculty with a "clap-out" by faculty, staff, and students at the professor's last class. Yesterday, we celebrated the remarkable thirty year career of Peter Robinson. As first co-director and then managing director of our Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, Pete helped build Straus into the nation's premier law school-based dispute resolution program, ranked #1 for over a dozen years on his watch....
May 10, 2020
As I previously mentioned, we have a tradition at Pepperdine Caruso Law of honoring our retiring faculty with a "clap-out" by faculty, staff, and students at the professor's last class. Yesterday, we celebrated the remarkable thirty year career of Peter Robinson. As first co-director and then managing director of our Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, Pete helped build Straus into the nation's premier law school-based dispute resolution program, ranked #1 for over a dozen years on his watch....
AAA and CPR Issue Remote Arbitration Hearing Guidance
May 9, 2020
Both the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) and the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (“CPR”) have issued new guidance to assist arbitrators and parties engaging in virtual hearings due to the ongoing COVID-19 health crisis. AAA Guidance includes: AAA Virtual Hearing Guide for Arbitrators and PartiesAAA Virtual Hearing Guide for Arbitrators and Parties Utilizing ZOOMAAA Order and Procedures for a Virtual Hearing...
May 9, 2020
Both the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) and the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (“CPR”) have issued new guidance to assist arbitrators and parties engaging in virtual hearings due to the ongoing COVID-19 health crisis. AAA Guidance includes: AAA Virtual Hearing Guide for Arbitrators and PartiesAAA Virtual Hearing Guide for Arbitrators and Parties Utilizing ZOOMAAA Order and Procedures for a Virtual Hearing...
Some Thoughts on Listening, and the Book We’re Not Listening and Why It Matters
May 8, 2020
I came across a book on the subject. You’re Not Listening and What You’re Missing and Why It Matters (published 2019) is by Kate Murphy, a journalist who writes for The New York Times. She has interviewed and listened to many people in the course of her work. Dotted throughout this book are some very resonant examples of good question-asking by people who really listen. They acknowledge what they have heard, then ask questions that invite the listener to go on and expand. An example...
May 8, 2020
I came across a book on the subject. You’re Not Listening and What You’re Missing and Why It Matters (published 2019) is by Kate Murphy, a journalist who writes for The New York Times. She has interviewed and listened to many people in the course of her work. Dotted throughout this book are some very resonant examples of good question-asking by people who really listen. They acknowledge what they have heard, then ask questions that invite the listener to go on and expand. An example...
Making Connection as Critical Moves in Negotiation
May 7, 2020
Using transcripts from the Program on Negotiation’s Great Negotiator Award seminars, as well as teaching cases based on the work of the Great Negotiators, this article analyzes how several of these Great Negotiators worked to make connections and establish good working relationships with their negotiating counterparts. Connection requires taking on a stance of curiosity about one's counterparts, cultivating good relationships as a way to learn about them and their priorities, using moves that...
May 7, 2020
Using transcripts from the Program on Negotiation’s Great Negotiator Award seminars, as well as teaching cases based on the work of the Great Negotiators, this article analyzes how several of these Great Negotiators worked to make connections and establish good working relationships with their negotiating counterparts. Connection requires taking on a stance of curiosity about one's counterparts, cultivating good relationships as a way to learn about them and their priorities, using moves that...
What’s Happening In The Other Room(s)?
May 6, 2020
Mediation can be an intense experience for parties and their advisers. Often there is a lot on the line. In the substance there may be money, control, reputation, pride. In the process, there are challenges such as influencing other parties, getting the best deal possible, making well-informed judgment calls about risk, developing effective offers, and much more beyond. To retain clear thinking in that context is a serious challenge. Very understandably, there is a tendency to get caught up in the bubble...
May 6, 2020
Mediation can be an intense experience for parties and their advisers. Often there is a lot on the line. In the substance there may be money, control, reputation, pride. In the process, there are challenges such as influencing other parties, getting the best deal possible, making well-informed judgment calls about risk, developing effective offers, and much more beyond. To retain clear thinking in that context is a serious challenge. Very understandably, there is a tendency to get caught up in the bubble...
Kichaven on Mediation During Pandemic
May 5, 2020
LD: Do you think we’re seeing the wave of the future here? JK: Yes. Online mediation is here to stay. Or at least it’s not about to disappear. Online mediation will come to be considered in every case, just as face-to-face mediation came to be considered in every case 25 years ago. But online mediation will not become a one-size-fits-all solution. Indeed, nothing in mediation should be one-size-fits-all. Lawyers will have to decide on a case-by-case basis whether a particular mediation...
May 5, 2020
LD: Do you think we’re seeing the wave of the future here? JK: Yes. Online mediation is here to stay. Or at least it’s not about to disappear. Online mediation will come to be considered in every case, just as face-to-face mediation came to be considered in every case 25 years ago. But online mediation will not become a one-size-fits-all solution. Indeed, nothing in mediation should be one-size-fits-all. Lawyers will have to decide on a case-by-case basis whether a particular mediation...
