I would say all of those cases were ripe for mediation at the time I was asked to mediate them. How can that be? Simple. In each case, the attorneys/parties had the right information, and a strong enough desire to settle, in order to make good decisions. Could those cases, which were further into the judicial process, have been resolved sooner? Possibly. But in retrospect, I don’t think they were ready until we mediated them.
I am delighted to announce that my new book is now available. Smart & Savvy: Negotiation Strategies for Academia is based on my experience training scientists and doctors in negotiation.
Confidential settlements have stirred controversy when they have been used to hide serious public health and safety violations, though people generally think that confidential settlements are appropriate. Indeed, people often tout confidentiality as one of the benefits of ADR.
Since the recent publications about Harvey Weinstein’s alleged serial sexual misconduct, there has been a wave of stories about others who have allegedly committed sexual misconduct. The comedian Louis C.K. is one of the men who has been accused. He publicly acknowledged that the accusations were true and apologized.
In most legal disputes, there is considerable uncertainty. Lawyers and parties discount their assessments of possible outcomes to reflect the risks, so MLATNAs therefore are always inferior to the BATNAs.
There has been a lot of attention to – and criticism of – willingness of people in colleges and universities to suppress speech. Some of this criticism is particularly directed at liberals. However, these problems are widespread through our society.
Tim Pownall on behalf of the PACIS project in faith-based diplomacy accepted the 2011 Peacemaker Award given each year by the Association for Conflict Resolution. The Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR) is an organization committed to awareness of conflict resolution in the public.