Awareness and Ethics in Dispute Resolution and Law: Why Mindfulness Tends to Foster Ethical Behavior

This paper is an extended version of a luncheon presentation given at the Symposium, Ethics in the Expanding World of ADR: Considerations, Conundrums, and Conflicts, sponsored by South Texas College of Law in Houston, Texas, on Nov. 2, 2007

Managing Inner and Outer Conflict: Selves, Subpersonalities, and Internal Family Systems

This article describes potential benefits of considering certain processes within an individual that take place in connection with external conflict as if they might be negotiations or other processes that are routinely used to address external disputes, such as mediation or adjudication. In order to think about internal processes in this way, it is necessary to employ a model of the mind that includes entities capable of engaging in such processes. The Internal Family Systems (IFS) model, developed by Richard C. Schwartz, works well for this purpose. The IFS model is grounded on the construct that the mind is composed of two kinds of entities that interact systematically: “Parts” of the personality (or “Subpersonalities”) and the Self. The article integrates the IFS model with conflict resolution theory and practice. It proposes a combined perspective, which it argues can give us access to certain internal processes and help us: - Understand certain potentially conscious internal processes and their relationship to external conflict; - Assess such processes; and - Manage (and hopefully improve) such processes, which should lead to more appropriate external conflict-related behavior and to less suffering in connection with conflict

\u3ci\u3eDamages\u3c/i\u3e: Using a Case Study to Teach Law, Lawyering, and Dispute Resolution

Seven law school faculty members and one practicing attorney recently developed and taught a wholly new kind of law course based on an already published case study, Damages: One Family\u27s Legal Struggles in the World of Medicine, by Barry Werth, an investigative reporter who spent several years researching to write the book. Damages, an in-depth account of a medical malpractice case, presents the perspectives of the injured family, the defendant physician, the lawyers, and the three mediators. In this Symposium Introduction, the authors provide a summary of Werth\u27s book, explain why they decided to create a course based on his book, describe the course, and suggest ways that other law schools might use the course materials they developed

Mindfulness: Foundational Training for Dispute Resolution

This Article addresses the problem of mindlessness in counseling, negotiating, and mediating, and offers potential solutions and recommendations for developing foundational capacities through training in mindfulness meditation

The Represented Client in a Settlement Conference: The Lessons of G. Heileman Brewing Co. v. Joseph Oat Corp.

My aim in this Article is to provide background, along with some modest suggestions, that could assist judges, lawyers, and clients in determining when and how clients should participate in settlement discussions. Part I begins with a history of the case. It then sets out various perspectives that litigants, lawyers and judges commonly bring to settlement conferences, perspectives on lawyer-client relations, negotiation, and the role of the judicial host. Next, it examines the opinions in the Heileman case, along with other materials, in an attempt to uncover the underlying assumptions about the settlement conference that informed the behavior of the judges and lawyers in that case. I argue that Heileman\u27s explanation lies in the lawyers\u27 and judges\u27 tendency to embrace one of two radically different visions of the settlement conference. Part II catalogs the advantages and disadvantages of involving clients in settlement conferences and describes the many different ways in which a client can participate. In addition, Part II includes some general suggestions about when and for what purposes a judicial host should require a litigant or a representative of an organizational litigant to accompany the litigant\u27s lawyer to a settlement conference. It then proposes an explanation for the expression full authority to settle the case as it applies to an organization. Finally, Part II reviews the obligations of the client or client representative once he or she appears at the settlement conference. Part III sums up and suggests a special benefit flowing from client participation in settlement conferences

Foreword

In 1994, I proposed the idea of charting a mediator\u27s role on a facilitative evaluative continuum. Since that time, the notion surely has generated at least as much heat as light. In this Symposium, we are fortunate to have a lead article and final reflections by Professor Jeffrey Stempel, one of the most thoughtful and prolific commentators on this issue. Professor Stempel\u27s argument that eclecticism in mediation is inevitable is well-honed, and yet our distinguished commentators - Gary Gill-Austem, Richard Birke, Kim Kovach, Lela Love, Jon Lande, and Zena Zumeta - found much to say about it

Understanding Mediators\u27 Orientations, Strategies, and Techniques: A Grid for the Perplexed

This Article begins with a review of previous efforts to categorize mediation and their shortfalls, including the lack of any widely-shared comprehensive method for describing the various approaches to mediation practice. The Article then offers a new grid system for classifying mediator orientations, strategies, and techniques and describes the potential utility of the grid, particularly its effectiveness in selecting mediators

Awareness and the Legal Profession: An Introduction to the Mindful Lawyer Symposium

This article introduces the Mindfulness Symposium, which includes five articles that developed out of the Mindful Lawyer Conference held at U. California-Berkeley in 2010. The article explains mindfulness and its growing importance in the legal profession, situates it among other curricular innovations, summarizes the articles in the symposium, describes other mindfulness curriculum developments, and offers resources

The Represented Client in a Settlement Conference: The Lessons of G. Heileman Brewing Co. V. Joseph Oat Corp.

This Article sets out various perspectives that litigants, lawyers and judges commonly bring to settlement conferences, perspectives on lawyer-client relations, negotiation, and the role of the judicial host. In examining the opinions in the Heileman case, along with other materials, the Article attempts to uncover the underlying assumptions about the settlement conference that informed the behavior of the judges and lawyers in that case, arguing that Heileman\u27s explanation lies in the lawyers\u27 and judges\u27 tendency to embrace one of two radically different visions of the settlement conference. The Article then catalogs the advantages and disadvantages of involving clients in settlement conferences and describes the many different ways in which a client can participate, and offers general suggestions about when and for what purposes a judicial host should require a litigant or a representative of an organizational litigant to accompany the litigant\u27s lawyer to a settlement conference. It then proposes an explanation for the expression full authority to settle the case as it applies to an organization. Finally, the Article reviews the obligations of the client or client representative once he or she appears at the settlement conference and suggests a special benefit flowing from client participation in settlement conferences