The Mediate.com Podcast

Family Mediation Past, Present, and Future with Bernie Mayer and Peter Salem (Ep. 46)

In this episode, Colin Rule interviews dispute resolution giants Bernard Mayer and Peter Salem about the chapter they co-wrote in the new book Family Dispute Resolution: Process and Practice. Peter and Bernie's chapter is titled "Family Mediation" and it covers the evolution of the practice of family mediation over the past few decades and makes some predictions about its future evolution as well. Our conversation takes a wide sweep over the evolution of the field, and even gets into some of the ways recent political changes might affect it moving forward.
This podcast is part of a continuing series interviewing authors from Family Dispute Resolution: Process and Practice.
About the book:
"Over the last 50 years family justice systems in the United States and elsewhere have evolved from a predominant adversarial approach focused on litigation to the significant integration of more collaborative, settlement-oriented approaches, especially mediation. In Family Dispute Resolution: Process and Practice some of the field's leading practitioners, researchers, teachers, and policymakers provide an overview of the modern family dispute resolution processes designed to help separating and divorcing parents make decisions about the future of their families.Chapters in this book address the growth of divorce mediation and other specialized processes including parenting coordination, arbitration, child-inclusive mediation, and online dispute resolution. They describe how to work with families experiencing issues including domestic violence, high conflict, substance misuse, and the lack of legal representation. Case management initiatives and special issues, including social science research and conflicting standards of practice, are also explored.Family Dispute Resolution provides a wide-ranging look at contemporary family dispute resolution processes and is essential reading for everyone interested in learning more about working with separating and divorcing families, including professionals, and law and graduate students."
Buy it here: 
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/family-dispute-resolution-9780197545904
https://www.amazon.com/Family-Dispute-Resolution-Handbook/dp/0197545904
 

Implementing ODR in Family Courts with Jennifer Shack (Ep. 45)

In this episode, Colin Rule interviews Jennifer Shack, Director of Research at RSI, about the chapter she co-wrote with Donna Shestowsky in the new book Family Dispute Resolution: Process and Practice. Jen and Donna's chapter is titled "Implementing ODR in Family Court: Insights from the First Neutral Program Evaluation in the United States" and it shares conclusions from the first neutral evaluation of a family court ODR implementation in the US.
This podcast is part of a continuing series interviewing authors from Family Dispute Resolution: Process and Practice.
About the book:
"Over the last 50 years family justice systems in the United States and elsewhere have evolved from a predominant adversarial approach focused on litigation to the significant integration of more collaborative, settlement-oriented approaches, especially mediation. In Family Dispute Resolution: Process and Practice some of the field's leading practitioners, researchers, teachers, and policymakers provide an overview of the modern family dispute resolution processes designed to help separating and divorcing parents make decisions about the future of their families.Chapters in this book address the growth of divorce mediation and other specialized processes including parenting coordination, arbitration, child-inclusive mediation, and online dispute resolution. They describe how to work with families experiencing issues including domestic violence, high conflict, substance misuse, and the lack of legal representation. Case management initiatives and special issues, including social science research and conflicting standards of practice, are also explored.Family Dispute Resolution provides a wide-ranging look at contemporary family dispute resolution processes and is essential reading for everyone interested in learning more about working with separating and divorcing families, including professionals, and law and graduate students."
Buy it here: 
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/family-dispute-resolution-9780197545904
https://www.amazon.com/Family-Dispute-Resolution-Handbook/dp/0197545904

Unbundling Legal Services for Family Disputes with Woody Mosten (Ep. 44)

In this episode, Colin Rule interviews Forrest (Woody) Mosten about his chapter in the new book Family Dispute Resolution: Process and Practice. Woody's chapter is titled "Limited Scope Representation: An Important Tool and Peacemaking Catalyst for Family Dispute Resolution" and it examines unbundling and limited scope representation models for family cases.
This podcast is part of a continuing series interviewing authors from Family Dispute Resolution: Process and Practice.
About the book:
"Over the last 50 years family justice systems in the United States and elsewhere have evolved from a predominant adversarial approach focused on litigation to the significant integration of more collaborative, settlement-oriented approaches, especially mediation. In Family Dispute Resolution: Process and Practice some of the field's leading practitioners, researchers, teachers, and policymakers provide an overview of the modern family dispute resolution processes designed to help separating and divorcing parents make decisions about the future of their families.Chapters in this book address the growth of divorce mediation and other specialized processes including parenting coordination, arbitration, child-inclusive mediation, and online dispute resolution. They describe how to work with families experiencing issues including domestic violence, high conflict, substance misuse, and the lack of legal representation. Case management initiatives and special issues, including social science research and conflicting standards of practice, are also explored.Family Dispute Resolution provides a wide-ranging look at contemporary family dispute resolution processes and is essential reading for everyone interested in learning more about working with separating and divorcing families, including professionals, and law and graduate students."
Buy it here: 
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/family-dispute-resolution-9780197545904
https://www.amazon.com/Family-Dispute-Resolution-Handbook/dp/0197545904

Early Negotiation Processes for Family Disputes with Prof. John Lande (Ep. 43)

In this episode, Colin Rule interviews Professor John Lande about his chapter in the new book Family Dispute Resolution: Process and Practice. John's chapter is titled "Early Negotiation Processes" and it examines techniques like collaborative law, cooperative law, and settlement counsel.
This podcast is part of a continuing series interviewing authors from Family Dispute Resolution: Process and Practice.
About the book:
"Over the last 50 years family justice systems in the United States and elsewhere have evolved from a predominant adversarial approach focused on litigation to the significant integration of more collaborative, settlement-oriented approaches, especially mediation. In Family Dispute Resolution: Process and Practice some of the field's leading practitioners, researchers, teachers, and policymakers provide an overview of the modern family dispute resolution processes designed to help separating and divorcing parents make decisions about the future of their families.Chapters in this book address the growth of divorce mediation and other specialized processes including parenting coordination, arbitration, child-inclusive mediation, and online dispute resolution. They describe how to work with families experiencing issues including domestic violence, high conflict, substance misuse, and the lack of legal representation. Case management initiatives and special issues, including social science research and conflicting standards of practice, are also explored.Family Dispute Resolution provides a wide-ranging look at contemporary family dispute resolution processes and is essential reading for everyone interested in learning more about working with separating and divorcing families, including professionals, and law and graduate students."
Buy it here: 
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/family-dispute-resolution-9780197545904
https://www.amazon.com/Family-Dispute-Resolution-Handbook/dp/0197545904

ABA Standard 206 Revision on Diversity in Law Schools, with Ben Davis and Chuck Crumpton (Ep. 43)

In this episode, Colin Rule interviews dispute resolution legends Ben Davis and Charles Crumpton on proposed revisions of the legal education standard 206 dealing with diversity in law schools.
For more information on this proposed revision, see mediate.com/standard-206
About Ben:
https://www.utoledo.edu/law/faculty/emeriti/davis-ben.html
About Chuck:
https://crumptoncollaborativesolutions.com/about-chuck/

Family Dispute Resolution with Peter Salem and Kelly Browe Olson (Ep. 42)

In this episode, Colin Rule interviews Peter Salem and Kelly Browe Olson about their new book Family Dispute Resolution: Process and Practice. This is the kickoff interview for a full series of interviews with the more than 30 authors who wrote chapters for the book.
 
About the book:
"Over the last 50 years family justice systems in the United States and elsewhere have evolved from a predominant adversarial approach focused on litigation to the significant integration of more collaborative, settlement-oriented approaches, especially mediation. In Family Dispute Resolution: Process and Practice some of the field's leading practitioners, researchers, teachers, and policymakers provide an overview of the modern family dispute resolution processes designed to help separating and divorcing parents make decisions about the future of their families.Chapters in this book address the growth of divorce mediation and other specialized processes including parenting coordination, arbitration, child-inclusive mediation, and online dispute resolution. They describe how to work with families experiencing issues including domestic violence, high conflict, substance misuse, and the lack of legal representation. Case management initiatives and special issues, including social science research and conflicting standards of practice, are also explored.Family Dispute Resolution provides a wide-ranging look at contemporary family dispute resolution processes and is essential reading for everyone interested in learning more about working with separating and divorcing families, including professionals, and law and graduate students."
Buy it here: 
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/family-dispute-resolution-9780197545904
https://www.amazon.com/Family-Dispute-Resolution-Handbook/dp/0197545904
 

Discussion between Bridget McCormick (CEO, AAA/ICDR) and Colin Rule (CEO, Mediate.com)

In this episode, Colin Rule (CEO of Mediate.com) speaks with Bridget McCormick, the CEO of the American Arbitration Association/International Centre for Dispute Resolution (AAA/ICDR), about the path that led her from being a public defender in NYC, to a law professor in Michigan, to the Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, and now CEO of AAA/ICDR. They discuss her work in mediation and dispute resolution, how Bridget has updated AAA/ICDR's strategy to embrace mediation and expand access to justice, and the role of technology in the future of the ADR field.
Learn More:
https://adr.org/
https://www.lawnext.com/2024/05/american-arbitration-association-acquires-odr-com-and-mediate-com-to-expand-online-dispute-resolution.html
https://mediate.com/the-mediate-com-aaa-partnership/
About Bridget McCormick:
Bridget Mary McCormack is President and CEO of the American Arbitration Association-International Centre for Dispute Resolution.
She is also a Strategic Advisor to the Future of the Profession Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. Until the end of 2022, McCormack was Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, a position her peers selected her for in January 2019 after she served for six years as a Justice. While on the Court, she championed innovation and the use of technology to improve access to justice.
A graduate of New York University Law School, McCormack started her legal career in New York City. In 1996, she joined the Yale Law School faculty. She then joined the University of Michigan Law School faculty in 1998, where she taught criminal law, legal ethics, and numerous clinics. She was Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs from 2002 until 2012.
McCormack was elected to The American Law Institute in 2013. The Attorney General of the United States appointed her to the National Commission on Forensic Science in 2014. In 2019, the Governor of Michigan named her Co-Chair of the Michigan Joint Task Force on Jail and Pretrial Incarceration. In 2020, she joined the American Bar Association’s Council on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar and currently serves as Vice Chair. In 2021, the Governor of Michigan asked her to co-chair the Michigan Task Force on Forensic Science and to chair the Michigan Jail Reform Advisory Council. She also chaired the Michigan Judicial Council, the strategic planning body for the judicial branch. In 2021, McCormack was also appointed to serve nationally on The Council of State Governments Healthy States National Task Force and the ABA Center for Innovation’s Governing Council. She was also named Chair of the ABA Board of Elections.
McCormack is an Editor of the ABA’s preeminent publication, Litigation Journal. She speaks and writes frequently about access to justice, innovation in the legal profession, and legal education.

Better Conversations in Scotland with John Sturrock KC (Ep. 40)

In this episode, Veronica speaks with John Sturrock KC, founder and senior mediator at Core Solutions.  Listen to this episode to learn about the following:
The connection between food, hospitality, meeting together, and mediation
How excellence in mediation is similar to excellence in sports
What it means to mediate "minimally" and why you should consider using this approach
The role mediators can play regarding discussions of political issues
Collaborative Scotland and the "Better Conversations Bus Tour"
Learn More:
Collaborative Scotland
Core Solutions
John's Books: Mediator's Musings Vol 1 and Vol 2
 
About John Sturrock KC:
John Sturrock KC is founder and senior mediator at Core Solutions and has also acted as a mediator through Brick Court Chambers in London. For over twenty years, he has been a pioneer of mediation in the UK, with an international reputation, and his work extends to the commercial, professional, sports, public sector, policy and political fields. He is identified as a Global Elite Thought Leader by Who’s Who Legal, is a Distinguished Fellow of the international Academy of Mediators and has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Edinburgh. He writes extensively and recently published the second volume of his book entitled “A Mediator’s Musings” (both volumes available on Amazon).
John also specialises in facilitation, negotiation, mediation and conflict management training and consultancy for leaders in the private and public sectors, sport, the professions and government. For many years, he has worked with various parliaments throughout the UK on improving effective scrutiny of policy. He regularly advises and coaches senior officials in the Scottish Government on negotiation strategy in significant policy areas. He is founder of Collaborative Scotland, which promotes non-partisan respectful dialogue about difficult issues and is one of the initiators of the Mediators’ Green Pledge.
In 2019, John conducted a major review for the Scottish Government into allegations of bullying in NHS Highland and the subsequent “Sturrock Report” was well received across the public sector. He was a member of the Stewarding Group of the first Citizens Assembly in Scotland in 2019 – 2021. In 2019, John also co-chaired an Expert Group under the auspices of Scottish Mediation which produced an important report entitled “Bringing Mediation into the Mainstream”.
John practised at the Scottish Bar from 1986 – 2002 and was appointed a Queen’s (now King’s) Counsel in 1999 and, as the first Director of Training and Education in the Faculty of Advocates from 1994 to 2002, designed and led the Scottish Bar’s award-winning advocacy skills programme. He trained in negotiation at Harvard University in 1996 and was named Specialist of the Year at the Scottish Legal Awards in 2003 and Mediator of the Year at the Law Awards of Scotland in 2009.  He was awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws from Edinburgh Napier University in 2010.

Learning About NAFCM’s School Board Community Toolkit with D.G. Mawn (Ep. 39)

"Part of community mediation is...we don't want people co-existing, we want people co-creating." In this episode, Veronica speaks with D.G. Mawn, President of the National Association for Community Mediation (NAFCM).  Listen to this episode to learn more about the following:
About NAFCM
NAFCM's partnership with Living Room Conversations
Testing the School Board Community Toolkit
About the Toolkit
How mediators can support the program.
For more information, visit NAFCM's website at https://www.nafcm.org/. Contact D.G. Mawn via email at dgmawn@nafcm.org. 
 
 
About D.G. Mawn:D.G. has served NAFCM in several roles, first as a member of the Board of the Directors (2012-2014) then as the JAMS Foundation Mini-Grant Program Manager (2014-2016), and currently serves NAFCM as the President of the membership association. He co-developed the Cultural Intuitiveness process and provides consultation and coaching to state, public and community-based organizations on human services/system development and effectiveness, leadership development, strategic planning and communication, cultural intuitiveness, sustainability and evaluation. D.G. Mawn is an attorney licensed in Illinois and Kentucky. He received his mediation training in 2000.
D.G. has worked in the local, state and federal level health systems interweaving his background in anthropology, religion and law in a manner that connects well within the political setting as well as the community setting. Through-out his career he has sought to appreciate the culture and systems of community and follow empathetic processes that strengthen both the individual and the system in order to facilitate the creation of sustainable positive impacts.

Special Episode: Interview with Mediate.com Co-Founder John Helie

In celebration of the publication of Mediate.com's 1000th newsletter, Mediate.com CEO Colin Rule sits down with Mediate.com co-founder John Helie to talk about the early days of the Mediate.com (and ConflictNet), the newsletter, top authors and editors, and how artificial intelligence and social networking has changed and will change the ADR field over the coming decades (discussion interrupted only briefly by a marauding pack of nearby goats).