Turning Ideas into Action; Thoughts from Edinburgh

Edinburough

“Support courage where there is fear, foster agreement where there is conflict and inspire hope where there is despair” Nelson Mandela During a recent conference of the International Academy of Mediators in Edinburgh, Scotland, I was asked to lead a discussion aimed at inspiring some of the world’s most successful commercial mediators to redirect their […]

Dana Curtis, Mediation as a Way of Rebuilding Relationships

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Another one of our exceptional Edwards Mediation Academy instructors is Dana Curtis. Dana was among the first attorneys in the U.S. to devote her career exclusively to mediation, and she began her full-time mediation practice in 1991. She has been a teacher of mediation, negotiation and other conflict management programs for over 25 years, including at […]

Why Ego Management Is Key to Effective Mediation

Why Ego Management Is Key to Effective Mediation

The plane banked slowly to the left before gliding across the Potomac River and touching down at what was then Washington’s National Airport. The year was 1991, and I had recently left the practice of law to begin my second career as a full-time mediator. A short cab ride past the monument-studded Mall brought me […]

Solving Social Challenges Through Collaboration

Solving Social Challenges Through Collaboration

This past week, I was fortunate enough to participate in Convergence Center for Policy Resolution’s leadership council meeting in Washington, DC.  It was a truly uplifting and inspirational day of conversation. Founded in 2009, Convergence is a non-profit organization that uses mediation skills (respectful dialogue and listening for the most part) to build trust, identify […]

Champions of Peace

Champions of Peace

In the back of an old church, off the main square in a small village in Bosnia, sat a village elder. The year was 1999, and his unofficial role in war-torn Bosnia was resolving the type of local inter-ethnic disputes that had recently divided the former Yugoslavia. The elder had no way of knowing, at […]

Chasing Dinosaurs

Chasing Dinosaurs

When I first began a career in mediation, almost thirty years ago, we often needed to convince others of the benefits of mediation. In those days, it was not uncommon to encounter attorneys who were resistant to considering any alternative to trial by jury. Given our limited resources of time and money, I would remind […]

Life’s Lessons on Access to Justice

Life’s Lessons on Access to Justice

In April 1976, The Pound Conference, which was named in honor of Roscoe Pound, the reforming Dean of Harvard Law School in the 1920s and 30s, was held to create a conversation about the need for reform in our judicial system. At the conference, Professor E.A. Sanders, founder of the Harvard Program on Negotiation, proposed […]

Lessons From Rwanda

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Rwanda is a country of a thousand hills and beautiful mountains, endlessly terraced by farmers. Young children running everywhere, wearing brightly colored school uniforms. Women with babies strapped to their backs, balancing loads on top of their heads. It’s an impressively clean country, free of trash (plastic bags are banned from use here). A visitor […]

The color of conflict?

The color of conflict

Black on blue. Blue on black. Blue on red. Red on blue. No, it’s not opening night at a museum of modern art, it’s a colorful reminder of how deeply divided our nation has become. Less than three weeks’ post-election, this country remains characterized by increased rhetoric, public demonstrations and incidents of intolerance and hate. […]

What Role Should Technology Play in Mediation?

What Role Should Technology Play in Mediation?

Much has been written about the growing impact of technology in society, so it’s only appropriate that we consider the role of technology in mediation. It’s no longer a question of should we let technology in the door – it’s already there. The better question now is, “What is the legitimate role of the ‘fourth […]