Conflict Resolution in Healthcare
by Kathy Clark & Ruth Rickard Our primary focus in this chapter is conflict resolution in healthcare. In particular, we look closely at non-adversarial responses to adverse medical events (AME) in both a legal and medical context. Examination of both contexts will assist in promoting and sustaining the valuable, growing synergy between law and healthcare, […]
Expanding Dispute Resolution: Design & Use of Anticipatory and Preventative Processes
by Kimberlee Kovach For many, it appears that dispute resolution methods, particularly mediation and arbitration, have greatly increased in use. However, others have questioned whether mediation is under-used—or in other words, is sleeping. A reflection on dispute resolution development and evolution in Texas, based upon the last 35 years, provides some perspective of where we […]
Opinion 675
QUESTIONS PRESENTED May a Texas lawyer, acting as a mediator, prepare and provide the parties to the mediation a proposed written agreement that memorializes the terms of the parties’ agreement reached during the mediation? If so, may the lawyer-mediator propose terms for inclusion in the written agreement in addition to the specific terms agreed to […]
Where Do We Go Next?
by John DeGroote, Immediate Past Chair Why are we all here, anyway? That’s a question that’s good to ask ourselves every so often, and I believe it’s time for ADR professionals to assess where we are, and where we’re going. At this point we know that settlement isn’t the product of a last-minute chat on […]
Ethical Puzzler
by Suzanne M. Duvall Question: May a case worker for Family Court Services participate in and/or assist in the mediation of a case to which the case worker has been assigned? Would your answer be different if the case did not settle at mediation or before trial? John Zerpopoulus, Dallas I think that y’all are […]
It’s a Matter of Trust
Billy Joel sings It’s a Matter of Trust and doesn’t that apply to almost everything we do as mediators? Some attend advanced mediator trainings to find the latest magic tricks to break impasse. But without trust none of these tricks work; unless, of course, you attended the Harry Potter School of Mediation. Yet trainings, beginner […]
Colloquy with John DeGroote
From growing up on a horse farm near Pascagoula, Mississippi, to owning his own mediation and arbitration practice in the trendy area of Dallas known as Deep Ellum, John is a man who lets no grass grow beneath his feet. He just stepped down as the Chair of the ADR Section for the State Bar […]
Traditional Family Law Mediation
by Michael P. O’Reilly. The biggest difference between family law cases and other types of mediations is the parties’ need to vent and tell their story. Moreover, parties usually do not know what to expect, do not understand the law, and do not appreciate what is, and is not, at stake in a family law […]
New Frontiers: Early Collaborative (Team) Mediation
by Stacey H. Langenbahn, J.D. & Linda Miller-deBerard. There are a growing number of divorcing couples, unmarried parents, or already divorced parents who want to make decisions privately together for their children, without litigation. Instead, they want to begin the process amicably. They start with either with a neutral Collaborative mediator, or a team of […]
Parenting Coordination, Parenting Facilitation, and (sometimes) Family Counseling
by Aaron Robb, Ph.D. Research shows that post-divorce parental conflict is the strongest predictor of maladjustment in children. For parents who continue to experience anger, distrust, or other difficulties in communicating about and cooperating in the care of their children, a parenting coordinator or parenting facilitator may help minimize the children’s exposure to harmful parental conflict. […]