The problem: You’re not sure which of two common dispute resolution processes, mediation or arbitration, to use to resolve your conflict. Mediation is appealing because it would allow you to reach a collaborative settlement, but you’re worried it could end in impasse. You know that arbitration would wrap up your dispute conclusively, but it wouldn’t give you much say in … read more »

Peter Kamminga is Associate Professor of Law at Amsterdam University in the Netherlands and a PON Postdoctoral Research Fellow, specializing in negotiation and contracting of complex infrastructure projects. In his current research Dr. Kamminga examines the influence of legal governance mechanisms on contracting and dispute resolution processes. He has a particular interest in the negotiation and contracting processes of stakeholders … read more »

Alain Lempereur is the Alan B. Slifka Professor at Brandeis University, and the director of the Masters’ Programs in Coexistence and Conflict at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, where he was also a visiting professor. His current research is devoted … read more »

Workplace disputes are inevitable. Employees air grievances, consumers file lawsuits, and strategic partners threaten to fire you and hire your competitor. All too often, such conflicts end up in the courts. In addition to consuming incredible amounts of time and energy, lawsuits often ruin long-standing relationships with suppliers, customers, and shareholders.

Increasingly, organizations are applying the principles of dispute system design … read more »

Adapted from “When You Hold All the Cards,” by Guhan Subramanian (professor, Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School), first published in the Negotiation newsletter.

One of your customers has just landed a lucrative new contract, and you’re the only supplier who can add a critical component to that customer’s production process. Concerns about violating your own ethics or harming your … read more »

The Conflict Prevention and Resolution Institute (CPR) selected the Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program (HNMCP) to be the recipient of its 2010 Problem Solving in the Law School Curriculum Award at its annual awards banquet on January 11, 2011 at the New York offices of Fulbright & Jaworski LLP.  The clinic’s director and founder, Professor Robert C. Bordone ’97, … read more »

Robert Mnookin (Samuel Williston Professor of Law; Harvard Law School; Chair, Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School; author of “Bargaining with the Devil”; co-author of “Beyond Winning”)

What factors determine whether you should negotiate? What things influence the bargaining process? Should you negotiate with your “enemy”? If so, how? In this piece, Robert Mnookin draws on history as well as … read more »

Adapted from “How to Break a Stalemate,” by Frank E. A. Sander (Professor Emeritus, Harvard Law School), first published in the Negotiation newsletter.

A “one-shot” form of dispute resolution, arbitration is usually faster and cheaper than litigation. In addition, rather than being assigned a judge, parties are able to select their arbitrator. There are several forms of arbitration:

1. Hi-lo arbitration. In … read more »

David Hoffman teaches the Mediation course at Harvard Law School, and has served as a guest lecturer in a variety of PON programs.  He is a mediator, arbitrator, and attorney at Boston Law Collaborative, LLC, which he founded in 2003.  BLC was the recipient in 2009 of the American Bar Association’s annual Lawyer as Problem Solver Award, and in … read more »

Adapted from “Why Aren’t Mediation and Arbitration More Popular?” First published in the Negotiation newsletter.

Many scholars have noted that the business community would greatly benefit from third-party dispute resolution services. The problem is, there isn’t much demand for mediation or arbitration. If the alternative dispute resolution field has in fact built a better mousetrap, why isn’t the market buying it?

J. … read more »