Like millions of others, I got hooked on the Serial podcasts. The first season told the story of a real-life whodunit, examining the trial of a young man convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend. The second season focused on Bowe Bergdahl, a soldier who left his base in Afghanistan and was held captive by the Taliban … Continue reading Serial Podcast Examines the Criminal Justice System
Probably like many readers of this blog, I have been very uncomfortable with our highly polarized politics lately. I have written about my conflicted feelings about how to deal with these issues, including this article, How Can We Build Common Ground Between Bubbles? Clearly, it is counterproductive to try to build common ground with people … Continue reading Building Political Common Ground
Omarosa Manigault Newman, a former Trump White House aide, just published a tell-all book and the Trump campaign filed an arbitration action alleging that she broke a 2016 confidentiality agreement. According to this Washington Post article, “Initially, [White House Counsel Donald] McGahn told Trump he would not draft or give aides the [non-disclosure agreements] because … Continue reading Use of Arbitration Agreement to Silence Omarosa
The trial of Paul Manafort, which is scheduled to begin tomorrow, is a good illustration of an important value of trials. A decade ago, there was a flurry of academic activity following the publication of Prof. Marc Galanter’s detailed 2004 study entitled, The Vanishing Trial: An Examination of Trials and Related Matters in Federal and State … Continue reading In Praise of a Trial
Ben Trachtenberg, one of the sharpest faculty at my school, wrote this outstanding article analyzing what went wrong during the highly-publicized controversies at the University of Missouri in 2015. Having lived through this painful conflict, Ben’s account seems extremely accurate – and brings up a lot of sad memories for me, reminding me of things … Continue reading A Case Study of Murphy’s Law in Missouri
President Trump is scheduled to have a summit meeting with Russian President Putin on Monday. The timing of this meeting right after the indictment of 12 Russian intelligence officials demonstrates the bizarre political situation we are in. Mr. Trump seeks a close relationship with a foreign leader whose top spies systematically interfered in our elections … Continue reading How Should ADR Folks Participate in a Grand Real-Time Negotiation?
Grande Lum, former director of the Community Relations Service (CRS), just published an important article in The Hill newspaper urging Congress to maintain independent funding for the agency. “Historically, CRS has played a significant role in facilitating dialogue, developing constructive relationships, and reducing the possibility of violence. Its mediators and conciliators played a key role … Continue reading Grande Lum’s Article Criticizing Proposal to Effectively Eliminate the Community Relations Service
From BFOI Brian Jarrett: Hello Folks, Our Eighth Annual International Cyber-conference will soon be here. Wednesday April 11 at Noon to 2:30 pm (Pacific time). Be sure to adjust for your local time and place on the globe. As usual, we expect a large number of universities and community organizations participating in the conference. (We … Continue reading Cyber Conference on Dispute Resolution on Veterans for Peace – April 11
I had the good fortune to be one of Marc Galanter’s students when I was in graduate school. As one of his former students, I was invited to contribute to a symposium honoring his work and I wrote this appreciation of his scholarship. I suspect that many of us in the dispute resolution community aren’t … Continue reading For Pragmatic Romanticism
In another post, I discuss Louis C.K.’s apology for his repeated sexual misconduct. Although he apparently didn’t settle claims for this conduct (that I have read about, anyway), other wrongdoers certainly have done so. In those cases, lawyers have negotiated the settlements, which typically include strict provisions requiring confidentiality, often with harsh liquidated damage provisions … Continue reading Lawyers’ Ethical Responsibility in Negotiating Confidential Settlements on Behalf of Serial Lawbreakers