This seminar course offers the opportunity for intense and robust investigation of discrete issues arising in the course of resolving disputes by means other than the courts. Students will prepare and discuss issues of public policy, practice, and theory, and they will be responsible for original scholarship on a topic of their choosing. Issues may include cross-cultural negotiation, investor-state conciliation, public policy of mediation confidentiality, consequences of diversity in arbitration, mediation practices outside the United States, and conflict resolution in religious communities.

The course is the post-introductory offering in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). It will require students to become conversant with current issues of policy regarding court-annexed and independent dispute resolution processes with an emphasis on such topics as implicit bias in “neutral” arbitrators and mediators; the increasing concern of lack of diversity among ADR practitioners; the impact of globalization on traditionally culturally homogeneous approaches to ADR; and broad public policy questions such as class action waiver and confidentiality of mediation communications.

Recommended for the Following Professional Pathways: Litigation/Dispute Resolution; International Business; International Law/Human Rights; Labor/Employment; Family Law

Prerequisites: At least two of the following—any mediation course, any arbitration course, any negotiation course, or membership in the Dispute Resolution Team.

2 Credits