Blog Archives
The Art of Negotiation Exercise Design: Five Basic Principles to Produce Powerful Learning Experiences
January 17, 2020
Negotiation exercise design is a skill that, such as negotiation itself, is rooted in certain core principles and can be refined with practice. How writers approach the design process is the key to producing effective exercises and powerful learning experiences. This article addresses five core principles that can be used to curate both simple and moderately complex negotiation exercises, including games, role plays, and simulations. These core principles are (1) define the purpose, (2) determine...
January 17, 2020
Negotiation exercise design is a skill that, such as negotiation itself, is rooted in certain core principles and can be refined with practice. How writers approach the design process is the key to producing effective exercises and powerful learning experiences. This article addresses five core principles that can be used to curate both simple and moderately complex negotiation exercises, including games, role plays, and simulations. These core principles are (1) define the purpose, (2) determine...
‘Fundamental shift’ is transforming the delivery of legal services, new report concludes
January 16, 2020
“Revolutionary changes are afoot” in the market for legal services, according to a new report. Clients are actively managing their relationships with outside counsel, nonlaw competitors are gaining ground, and law firms are responding to market changes in innovative ways, the report says. The 2020 Report on the State of the Legal Market was released Monday by Georgetown Law’s Center on Ethics and the Legal Profession and Thomson Reuters Legal Executive Institute. It is available...
January 16, 2020
“Revolutionary changes are afoot” in the market for legal services, according to a new report. Clients are actively managing their relationships with outside counsel, nonlaw competitors are gaining ground, and law firms are responding to market changes in innovative ways, the report says. The 2020 Report on the State of the Legal Market was released Monday by Georgetown Law’s Center on Ethics and the Legal Profession and Thomson Reuters Legal Executive Institute. It is available...
People who second-guess themselves make worse decisions, study finds
January 13, 2020
In a new paper published in the Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, a trio of British economists applied some brain power to the question of gut feelings and found that people who second-guess themselves make considerably worse decisions than those who stick with instinct. The researchers focused on prediction accuracy in sports betting but said their findings would apply in any realm where people have to make educated guesses about the future. The economists gathered data on 150 users...
January 13, 2020
In a new paper published in the Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, a trio of British economists applied some brain power to the question of gut feelings and found that people who second-guess themselves make considerably worse decisions than those who stick with instinct. The researchers focused on prediction accuracy in sports betting but said their findings would apply in any realm where people have to make educated guesses about the future. The economists gathered data on 150 users...
The 10 Most Popular LawNext Podcasts of 2019
January 12, 2020
In my LawNext podcast, I have conversations with the “innovators and entrepreneurs who are driving what’s next in law.” Here are the 10 episodes that were most popular during 2019.
January 12, 2020
In my LawNext podcast, I have conversations with the “innovators and entrepreneurs who are driving what’s next in law.” Here are the 10 episodes that were most popular during 2019.
The Decade in Legal Tech: The 10 Most Significant Developments
January 11, 2020
In legal technology, it was a decade of tumult and upheaval, bringing changes that will forever transform the practice of law and the delivery of legal services. Feisty startups took on established behemoths. The cloud dropped rain on legacy products. Mobile tech untethered lawyers. Clients demanded efficiency and transparency. Robots arrived to take over our jobs. “Alternative” became a label for new kinds of legal services providers. An expanding justice gap fueled efforts at ethics reform....
January 11, 2020
In legal technology, it was a decade of tumult and upheaval, bringing changes that will forever transform the practice of law and the delivery of legal services. Feisty startups took on established behemoths. The cloud dropped rain on legacy products. Mobile tech untethered lawyers. Clients demanded efficiency and transparency. Robots arrived to take over our jobs. “Alternative” became a label for new kinds of legal services providers. An expanding justice gap fueled efforts at ethics reform....
Why Do I Serve Goodies During Mediations?
January 10, 2020
A recent article in LiveScience.com entitled “How Many Calories Can the Brain Burn by Thinking? (by Emma Bryce and published about November 9, 2019) discusses the brain’s need for glucose for heavy duty thinking. The article begins by noting that in 1984, the World Chess Championship was abruptly halted because the officials were worried about the health of Anatoly Karpov who had lost 22 pounds in the preceding five months playing chess matches. According to research, elite chess...
January 10, 2020
A recent article in LiveScience.com entitled “How Many Calories Can the Brain Burn by Thinking? (by Emma Bryce and published about November 9, 2019) discusses the brain’s need for glucose for heavy duty thinking. The article begins by noting that in 1984, the World Chess Championship was abruptly halted because the officials were worried about the health of Anatoly Karpov who had lost 22 pounds in the preceding five months playing chess matches. According to research, elite chess...
NYS Ethics Opinion: Lawyer as Third-Party Neutral
January 9, 2020
Some of you may be interested in a new ethics opinion published late last week by the New York State Bar Association Committee on Professional Ethics addressing the ethical obligations of a lawyer acting as a mediator. Here is the summary: “A lawyer-mediator engaged in providing third-party neutral services is subject to Rule 2.4 but not the Rules that govern the representation of clients. As such, the lawyer-mediator is generally free to conduct the mediation in the way the lawyer...
January 9, 2020
Some of you may be interested in a new ethics opinion published late last week by the New York State Bar Association Committee on Professional Ethics addressing the ethical obligations of a lawyer acting as a mediator. Here is the summary: “A lawyer-mediator engaged in providing third-party neutral services is subject to Rule 2.4 but not the Rules that govern the representation of clients. As such, the lawyer-mediator is generally free to conduct the mediation in the way the lawyer...
His Body Was a Key. What is Yours?
January 8, 2020
When Duke William X died in 1137, his teenage daughter Eleanor became the duchess of Aquitaine, Gascony and Poitou, spanning roughly half of the land mass of modern day France. Whoever married her would gain those lands, and in that day suitors were not above kidnapping a bride. So Eleanor was kept locked in a castle until the right husband came along, since she was essentially the key to owning those lands. When Gerry Cotton passed away this past January, no one could have guessed that his body...
January 8, 2020
When Duke William X died in 1137, his teenage daughter Eleanor became the duchess of Aquitaine, Gascony and Poitou, spanning roughly half of the land mass of modern day France. Whoever married her would gain those lands, and in that day suitors were not above kidnapping a bride. So Eleanor was kept locked in a castle until the right husband came along, since she was essentially the key to owning those lands. When Gerry Cotton passed away this past January, no one could have guessed that his body...
Grieving Over Settlement: The Role of Loss in Settlement Negotiations
January 7, 2020
The development of negotiation theory and growth of mediation has greatly improved, indeed transformed, how disputes are resolved in America and, increasingly, around the world. Yet I have been struck in my work as a mediator and teacher that something is missing from our approaches to settlement. In emphasizing so strongly the creative potential of these techniques we have obscured an equally important reality—that in even the best settlement negotiations many, perhaps most, parties must deal...
January 7, 2020
The development of negotiation theory and growth of mediation has greatly improved, indeed transformed, how disputes are resolved in America and, increasingly, around the world. Yet I have been struck in my work as a mediator and teacher that something is missing from our approaches to settlement. In emphasizing so strongly the creative potential of these techniques we have obscured an equally important reality—that in even the best settlement negotiations many, perhaps most, parties must deal...
2019 Workload of the Federal Courts
January 6, 2020
In the 12-month period ending September 30, 2019, the number of cases filed in the Supreme Court increased compared to the 2017 Term, while the number of cases filed in the regional appellate courts decreased slightly compared to a year earlier. The number of cases filed in the district courts and bankruptcy courts increased, as did the number of cases activated in the pretrial services system. The number of persons under post-conviction supervision decreased slightly. The Supreme Court...
January 6, 2020
In the 12-month period ending September 30, 2019, the number of cases filed in the Supreme Court increased compared to the 2017 Term, while the number of cases filed in the regional appellate courts decreased slightly compared to a year earlier. The number of cases filed in the district courts and bankruptcy courts increased, as did the number of cases activated in the pretrial services system. The number of persons under post-conviction supervision decreased slightly. The Supreme Court...
