Business Conflict Blog

The tireless Hanna Tuempel of the Dispute Resolution Services of the International Chamber of Commerce reminds us that the 7th ICC International Commercial Mediation Competition takes place in Paris on February 3-8, 2012.

In the competition, law students are faced with complex interational commercial problems that they must attempt to resolve by mediation conducted by the ICC’s ADR Rules.  Around 60 student teams and over 120 professional mediators are expected to participate in around 200 mock mediation sessions.  Students’ performance is evaluated by some of the world’s leading dispute resolution specialists who participate in the competition as judges.

Registration is now open.  If you attend, can you let us know how it went?

Tags: ADR Institutions, Mediation, Teaching, Training

Jane Gunn’s new book is the first ADR volume I have read whose introduction begins “This is not a sex manual!”

Well, neither is it a self-help book, nor a reminder of the virtues of candid conversation, nor a refresher on the teachings of the Buddha or Jesus.  Yet all that and more can be found in How to Beat Bedlam in the Boardroom and Boredom in the Bedroom (HotHive Books 2010).

This is not a book intended for mediators seeking to improve their skills, or for business clients seeking to manage their litigation portfolios.  It is for human beings who wish to improve the way they live with other human beings.  And it accomplishes its goal by contrasting business and personal conflicts and showing (guess what?) that they push the same buttons, walk into the same frailties, compromise our effectiveness and happiness in the same ways, and can be managed better with the same tools. Read more »

Tags: ADR, Culture, Teaching

On the second morning of the ABA Dispute Resolution meeting in Denver, attendees were privileged to hear remarks by Prof. Temple Grandin of Colorado State University’s Animal Science Department.  The subject of a fabulous BBC documentary and a recent HBO biopic, Dr. Grandin is broadly recognized as an innovator in handling animals and as a highly achieving and articulate sufferer from autism.  Her presentation covered both topics, with surprising and inspirational relevance for conflict professionals.

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Tags: Public Policy, systems design

Fellow blogger Victoria Pynchon has been kind enough to send me a copy of her new book — made extra-collectible by her handwritten inscription inside!  She has unfortunately used a vulgarity in naming the volume, but the subtitle, The Grownups’ ABCs of Conflict Resolution, gives a good sense of its structure and its tone.

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Tags: Teaching