My husband is known as an “aggressive driver” who, being impatient, takes unnecessary risks in his driving. When I mention these attributes to him, he retorts that he has yet to have an accident after all of these decades. In sum, like many of us, he is over confident in [Read More]
Recently (as part of a book club), I read The Psychology of Conflict by Raul Randolph (Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, London 2016) who is a barrister and mediator. His approach is to use existentialism as the vehicle through which to discuss the psychological aspects of mediation. Although some participants of mediation [Read More]
We have all heard that how we appear matters: that people judge us by our appearance without even realizing it. People will look at our faces and based on what they perceive unconsciously, will decide whether we are trustworthy. A recent study confirms this link between appearance and trustworthiness. In [Read More]
At a certain point in almost every negotiation and every mediation, the parties get stuck; they hit impasse or a bump in the road. Recently, I attended a training with Professor Carrie Menkel- Meadow. In one of her handouts, she discussed ways to creatively solve the issues. They include: 1. [Read More]
My dog Cookie loves to play catch (or more aptly, I throw the ball and she chases it!). Shortly after we got her, one of my neighbors told us that on one side of the Mormon Church (2 blocks away) was a great grassy side yard, more or less fenced [Read More]
A few weeks ago, I participated in a panel at the California State Bar Convention discussing the "Ethical Duties of Eliminating Bias in the Legal Profession." While the topic sounds dry, our discussion was not. Even though our presentation was at 8:00 am on a Sunday morning, the audience became [Read More]
After putting Argus down last October due to spleen cancer, we got a new dog- Cookie - who just turned three. Needless to say, after having a senior citizen dog, it is quite a change to be taking care of a young dog again.Unlike our other dogs, Cookie loves to [Read More]
As a mediator, I am trained not to assume, and to ask questions. Sometimes, when I am acting as me (and not as a mediator), that training goes out the window; sometimes, it does not. Sometimes, I catch myself in time and reinforce a valuable lesson: never assume. How did [Read More]
