In this week's International Dispute Negotiation podcast, the American Arbitration Association's general counsel, Eric Tuchmann, returns for his second visit, analyzing the Congressional push to ban mandatory consumer, employment and franchise arbitration. Initiatives to change arbitration practice were reintroduced last week. IDN host Mike McIlwrath, of GE Oil & Gas in Florence, Italy, sat down with Eric before the bills were reintroduced, and brings listeners up to date. Eric presciently predicts that certain language in the Arbitration Fairness Act won't survive - and indeed, one provision he found troubling in the earlier version of the bill was stricken in the new version that debuted last week. Find out what that change was, and what else may be altered before the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009 comes up for votes.

How do you get multiple, ethnically diverse parties to forge an agreement on a public land use project? And then keep quiet while government officials decide what to do about it? Australian mediator Joanna Kalowski returns for her second International Dispute Negotiation podcast visit to describe how a big zoning project put double-digit numbers of community interest groups at a mediation table to hammer out "principles" for a government decision. Jo discusses what happened, and how the efforts apply in a variety of public mediation and consensus building situations.

This week, International Dispute Negotiation host Michael McIlwrath presents Part II of his interview with Christian P. Alberti, a New York-based solutions manager at the International Centre for Dispute Resolution, the American Arbitration Association's international division. In Part I last week, Alberti explained how the AAA sends cases to the ICDR. He described how matters are initiated and processed, as well as ICDR arbitrator selection. This week, Mike draws a contrast between the ICDR's methods and those of the Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce, which were examined in IDN Episodes 34 and 35 last July. Mike and his guest in this week's conclusion analyze the role played by case managers during the arbitration, and after the award is issued.

Did you ever wonder what your ADR administrator is doing behind the scenes with your arbitration case? Have you ever wondered how your name really got in front the parties as a potential member of an arbitration panel? You came to the right place. In his new, just-posted CPR podcast, International Dispute Negotiation host Michael McIlwrath sits down to dissect the case manager's role with Christian P. Alberti, a New York-based solutions manager at the International Center for Dispute Resolution, the American Arbitration Association's international division, goes into deep detail about the nonprofit company's case management processes.

More on representing clients in mediation from a top partner at this year's winner of the 2008 CPR Law Firm Award for Excellence in ADR. This week, host Mike McIlwrath presents Part 2 of his conversation with Alex Oddy, a partner who focuses on ADR at the law firm of Herbert Smith in London.Last week, Oddy presented the first four of his eight tips for effective mediation advocacy. This week, Oddy concludes with four more pointers on how parties can optimize their interaction with each other, and the mediator, once the process is underway--and even after it is concluded.

Effective client representation in mediation is more than being a good spoken advocate, explains Alexander Oddy, partner in London-based Herbert Smith, which last night won the CPR Law Firm Award for Excellence in ADR. Oddy explains that you also need to be a good written advocate, a good procedural advocate, and even a good psychological advocate in the mediation room in order to best support your client. And you need to be a good advocacy coach, too, so you can help your client take charge. In the first of two parts, Alex provides four of eight mediation advocacy tips to International Dispute Negotiation host Mike McIlwrath. The second half of the tips will be available in Part II, next Friday, Jan. 23.

Mediator Jenny Beer, who in September told IDN podcast listeners in her first visit that disputes indeed are valuable, returns to discuss international mediation. Flexibility is needed for cross-cultural mediation, she explains. Beer, who co-authored the cross-discipline guide, "The Mediator's Handbook," in 1982, tells host Mike McIlwrath that negotiators "need a mindset - not a list."

Our need to develop fairness and justice runs deep. How deep? About 40,000 human developmental years deep. In this week's podcast, Ian Tattersall, curator in the Department of Anthropology at New York's American Museum of Natural History, and an expert in interpreting human paleontology to the public, discusses how Cro-Magnon creativity and culture produced the beginnings of modern dispute resolution.

Arbitrators are sued for anything and everything, according to first-time International Dispute Negotiation guest Eric P. Tuchmann, the American Arbitration Association's general counsel in New York. Join Tuchmann and IDN host Mike McIlwrath for a discussion on liability claims against arbitration tribunals and providers. The analysis begins with a New Jersey parking lot brawl between an arbitration attorney-advocate, and an opposing party--a case that had the AAA defending its actions in a state appellate court.

Ben's Back! One of the nation’s top law firm ADR practitioners, Bennett G. Picker, of Philadelphia's Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young, returns to talk about what it takes to be a great mediator. The discussion is relevant to managing international disputes, explains host Mike McIlwrath, because it is the same information parties need for choosing a great mediator in the course of their dispute management. Find out the three things you need to know about what makes a great mediator in this week's IDN.