While I have known that silence can be a powerful tool in my mediation tool box, I never really thought about until I read a recent article posted on the BBC news website called “The subtle power of uncomfortable silences ” by Lennox Morrison (July 18,2017). (“Article”) The article examines [Read More]
In 2005, the American Bar Association together with other organizations, adopted the Model Standards of Conduct for Mediators. Standard 1 entitled “Self Determination” defines it as … the act of coming to a voluntary, uncoerced decision in which each party makes free and informed choices as to process and outcome. [Read More]
On June 22, 2017, the California Law Revision Commission issued its Tentative Recommendation following its study to create an exception to mediation confidentiality (Study K-402). All public comments should be received by the Commission no later than September 1, 2017. The CLRC just issued its Agenda for its September 28, [Read More]
The BBC News service posted an interesting article (July 25, 2017) entitled “Time, not material goods, ‘raises happiness’” by Helen Briggs. The article discusses a study in which individuals reported greater happiness when they paid others to do their chores. Dr. Elizabeth Dunn, a psychology professor at the University of [Read More]
The other day, I received a telephone call from an attorney wondering if I could conduct a mediation on very short notice. It seems that the parties had a trial date in less than three weeks and wanted to make another attempt at settling the matter. They had already been [Read More]
Once again, I came upon an article dealing with morality; this time it was about “moral outrage.” Without doubt, most people either have witnessed, been subjected to or have personally expressed moral outrage. Especially, in this day and age of our politics. Who has not become angry or outraged or [Read More]
Morality and “moral” politics seem to be in the news lately. I came upon an article in the Science and Technology section of The Economist (June 22, 2017 edition) discussing “political morality”. Noting that this may be an oxymoron, the article discusses studies showing that politicians who take a position [Read More]
Have you ever asked yourself, “What if I had taken a different route? Then I would not have been involved in the auto accident?” Or, “what if I had left the house five minutes earlier, I would have made the flight, and not missed it?” What if…., then [Read More]
