Common Ground

In this episode, Colin Rule interviews dispute resolution legends Ben Davis and Charles Crumpton on proposed revisions of the legal education standard 206 dealing with diversity in law schools.

For more information on this proposed revision, see mediate.com/standard-206

About Ben:

https://www.utoledo.edu/law/faculty/emeriti/davis-ben.html

About Chuck:

https://crumptoncollaborativesolutions.com/about-chuck/

In this episode, Colin Rule interviews Peter Salem and Kelly Browe Olson about their new book Family Dispute Resolution: Process and Practice. This is the kickoff interview for a full series of interviews with the more than 30 authors who wrote chapters for the book.

About the book:

"Over the last 50 years family justice systems in the United States and elsewhere have evolved from a predominant adversarial approach focused on litigation to the significant integration of more collaborative, settlement-oriented approaches, especially mediation. In Family Dispute Resolution: Process and Practice some of the field's leading practitioners, researchers, teachers, and policymakers provide an overview of the modern family dispute resolution processes designed to help separating and divorcing parents make decisions about the future of their families.

Buy it here: 

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/family-dispute-resolution-9780197545904

https://www.amazon.com/Family-Dispute-Resolution-Handbook/dp/0197545904

In this episode, Colin Rule (CEO of Mediate.com) speaks with Bridget McCormick, the CEO of the American Arbitration Association/International Centre for Dispute Resolution (AAA/ICDR), about the path that led her from being a public defender in NYC, to a law professor in Michigan, to the Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, and now CEO of AAA/ICDR. They discuss her work in mediation and dispute resolution, how Bridget has updated AAA/ICDR's strategy to embrace mediation and expand access to justice, and the role of technology in the future of the ADR field.

Learn More:

• https://adr.org/

About Bridget McCormick:

Bridget Mary McCormack is President and CEO of the American Arbitration Association-International Centre for Dispute Resolution.

She is also a Strategic Advisor to the Future of the Profession Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. Until the end of 2022, McCormack was Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, a position her peers selected her for in January 2019 after she served for six years as a Justice. While on the Court, she championed innovation and the use of technology to improve access to justice.

A graduate of New York University Law School, McCormack started her legal career in New York City. In 1996, she joined the Yale Law School faculty. She then joined the University of Michigan Law School faculty in 1998, where she taught criminal law, legal ethics, and numerous clinics. She was Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs from 2002 until 2012.

McCormack was elected to The American Law Institute in 2013. The Attorney General of the United States appointed her to the National Commission on Forensic Science in 2014. In 2019, the Governor of Michigan named her Co-Chair of the Michigan Joint Task Force on Jail and Pretrial Incarceration. In 2020, she joined the American Bar Association’s Council on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar and currently serves as Vice Chair. In 2021, the Governor of Michigan asked her to co-chair the Michigan Task Force on Forensic Science and to chair the Michigan Jail Reform Advisory Council. She also chaired the Michigan Judicial Council, the strategic planning body for the judicial branch. In 2021, McCormack was also appointed to serve nationally on The Council of State Governments Healthy States National Task Force and the ABA Center for Innovation’s Governing Council. She was also named Chair of the ABA Board of Elections.

McCormack is an Editor of the ABA’s preeminent publication, Litigation Journal. She speaks and writes frequently about access to justice, innovation in the legal profession, and legal education.

• The connection between food, hospitality, meeting together, and mediation

John Sturrock KC is founder and senior mediator at Core Solutions and has also acted as a mediator through Brick Court Chambers in London. For over twenty years, he has been a pioneer of mediation in the UK, with an international reputation, and his work extends to the commercial, professional, sports, public sector, policy and political fields. He is identified as a Global Elite Thought Leader by Who’s Who Legal, is a Distinguished Fellow of the international Academy of Mediators and has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Edinburgh. He writes extensively and recently published the second volume of his book entitled “A Mediator’s Musings” (both volumes available on Amazon).

John also specialises in facilitation, negotiation, mediation and conflict management training and consultancy for leaders in the private and public sectors, sport, the professions and government. For many years, he has worked with various parliaments throughout the UK on improving effective scrutiny of policy. He regularly advises and coaches senior officials in the Scottish Government on negotiation strategy in significant policy areas. He is founder of Collaborative Scotland, which promotes non-partisan respectful dialogue about difficult issues and is one of the initiators of the Mediators’ Green Pledge.

In 2019, John conducted a major review for the Scottish Government into allegations of bullying in NHS Highland and the subsequent “Sturrock Report” was well received across the public sector. He was a member of the Stewarding Group of the first Citizens Assembly in Scotland in 2019 – 2021. In 2019, John also co-chaired an Expert Group under the auspices of Scottish Mediation which produced an important report entitled “Bringing Mediation into the Mainstream”.

John practised at the Scottish Bar from 1986 – 2002 and was appointed a Queen’s (now King’s) Counsel in 1999 and, as the first Director of Training and Education in the Faculty of Advocates from 1994 to 2002, designed and led the Scottish Bar’s award-winning advocacy skills programme. He trained in negotiation at Harvard University in 1996 and was named Specialist of the Year at the Scottish Legal Awards in 2003 and Mediator of the Year at the Law Awards of Scotland in 2009.  He was awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws from Edinburgh Napier University in 2010.

• About NAFCM

In celebration of the publication of Mediate.com's 1000th newsletter, Mediate.com CEO Colin Rule sits down with Mediate.com co-founder John Helie to talk about the early days of the Mediate.com (and ConflictNet), the newsletter, top authors and editors, and how artificial intelligence and social networking has changed and will change the ADR field over the coming decades (discussion interrupted only briefly by a marauding pack of nearby goats).

If you've ever been curious about the attorney perspective on what makes for an effective mediation, then this episode is for you!  In this episode, Veronica chats with Margeaux Thomas, an experienced attorney, about what makes for an effective mediation within the context of mediating a business divorce.  Questions answered include:

• What is a "business divorce"?

About Margeaux:

Margeaux is an experienced lawyer and speaker with 15+ years of experience representing individuals and small businesses in commercial and real estate litigation, including class action cases and numerous trials on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants. She specializes in commercial landlord/tenant disputes, business partnership disputes, and contract disputes, and has traveled throughout the country as a faculty lecturer educating over 4,000 attorneys on business litigation issues.

Margeaux is also a contributor to the American Bar Association's Commercial Lending Treatise and has been recognized as a Super Lawyers Rising Star from 2013 - 2022 and a Top Lawyer by Northern Virginia Magazine in 2022.

In addition to managing her own law firm, The Thomas Law Office PLC, Margeaux is actively involved in various bar associations and non-profit organizations, including the Old Dominion Bar Association and the George Mason Inn of Court. In her spare time, Margeaux enjoys spending time with her family and cooking healthy meals as the founder of Vegetable Forward, an organization dedicated to promoting positive food values and nutrition through community gardening.

Connect with Margeaux:

Law Firm Website

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 703-957-2577

Did you know that the average length of a lawsuit in Brazil is about 10 years? Good thing there's mediation!  In this episode, Veronica chats with guest, Mariana F. Souza--a mediator, lawyer, and arbitrator based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil--about the following topics:

• The difference between mediation and conciliation in Brazil

About Mariana:

Mariana Freitas de Souza is a mediator based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she also works as a lawyer and arbitrator.  She has over 20 years of experience in complex disputes involving commercial, civil, contracts, consumer and labor matters, and serves as mediator with the main centers in the country, as well as the UN. She holds a LL.B from the Rio de Janeiro State University and an LL.M from Tulane University.

Mariana's LinkedIn

• Mediation vs. Conciliation in Colombia

• Examples of changing consumer behavior trends outside of dispute resolution