A quote on Friday from a participant in the NFL court-ordered mediation process in Minneapolis, Minnesota reminded me of a point I was made on Thursday in a University of New Haven classroom in Connecticut. According to today’s New York Times, Hall of Famer Carl Eller, who is representing retired NFL players in the dispute, […]
Today is Reconciliation Day
Each year, April 2 is recognized as Reconciliation Day. The idea was launched by Ann Landers, the late advice columnist, who saw that mending fences — even if those fences had been broken for a long time — could be a good thing for those involved. Even a long-standing conflict can be resolved, directly or […]
Negotiation, Arbitration, Mediation, and Connecticut Sports Talk
Last Monday, I had the pleasure of being an invited call-in guest on eastern Connecticut’s “Monday Night Sports Talk”, hosted by Tony D’Angelo and Bob Lazzari. Tony and Bob asked me to share my conflict resolution perspective on various sports items in the news. At the outset, Bob asked me to explain the difference among […]
General Zinni’s thoughts on mediators
Last week, the New York Times ran an op-ed piece by retired Marine general Anthony Zinni titled “Peace-Building That Pays Off.” I think that we can agree that a Marine general is not someone afraid of conflict or of the use of force. So, his perspective on the great work of the United States Institute […]
TV Mediator: “Fairly [Fictional] Legal” – Part II
Last time I wrote about the new TV show “Fairly Legal” inaccurately portraying mediators (or at least, this particular star of the only TV show about mediation to date) as hating lawyers and the law. The wildly atypical glamor of this mediator’s life we can chalk up to TV, but this misconception about mediation and […]
TV Mediator: “Fairly [Fictional] Legal” – Part I
The new TV show “Fairly Legal” features a young woman mediator working in the San Francisco law firm that is being manged by her stepmother, in the wake of her father’s death. It’s TV, so beautiful locations, offices, and people are no surprise. But I do take issue with the suggestion that the main character, […]
ABC World News Piece on Helping Aging Relatives
Tonight I stumbled on an ABC World News piece called: “Families on the Brink: Roundtable Discussion on How to Help Aging Relatives.” Apparently, it is the beginning of a series about some of the challenges of aging. Although the broadcast segment was short, a longer article appeared online (as did some poignant comments from viewers, […]
Administering, mediating and speed, transparency, and independence
I’ve written before about Kenneth Feinberg and and his work involving the BP Gulf oil spill. In today’s New York Times, an article by John Schwartz, “Comments By Overseer of BP Fund Irk Lawyers,” talks about a lawsuit filed by plaintiffs’ attorneys over statements Feinberg has made that encourage claimants to apply for compensation through […]
Mediation: a way to avoid the crapshoot of litigation
As I wrote last time, ten days ago, Joe Nocera wrote an article for the New York Times Business section titled “Justice, Without The System.” In it, he described an interview he had with Kenneth R. Feinberg about Feinberg’s work related to the BP oil spill in the Gulf and claims made against the company […]
“Czar”, “Administrator”, but not “Mediator”
Ten days ago, Joe Nocera wrote an article for the New York Times Business section titled “Justice, Without The System.” In it, he described an interview he had with Kenneth R. Feinberg about Feinberg’s work related to the BP oil spill in the Gulf and claims made against the company for damages. Over and over […]
