PON Live! Book Talk: The Art of Impasse-Breaking in Mediation
The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School is pleased to present:
PON Live! Book Talk
The Art of Impasse-Breaking in Mediation
David A. Hoffman
John H. Watson, Jr. Lecturer on Law
Harvard Law School
Founder, Boston Law Collaborative, LLC
Tuesday, January 27, 2026
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm ET (US and Canada)
Free and open to the public.
Register for the webinar here.
About the Talk:
In this webinar, David Hoffman will share key lessons from his book, The Art of Impasse-Breaking in Mediation, published by the American Bar Association in December 2025. David’s talk will focus in particular on identifying settlement barriers, overcoming psychological obstacles to settlement, preventing impasses, range-bargaining, and a variety of mediator interventions, such as risk analysis and mediator’s proposals. David will then take questions from attendees on any topic (e.g., lessons from the book and insights from his 33 years of mediation).
About the Speaker:
David A. Hoffman is the John H. Watson, Jr. Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School, where he teaches three courses: Mediation; Legal Profession: Collaborative Law; and Diversity and Dispute Resolution. Additionally, he is a PON affiliate faculty member, where he teaches in the Harvard Advanced Mediation Intensive program. David is also an attorney, mediator, arbitrator, and founding member of Boston Law Collaborative, LLC, where he handles cases involving family, business, employment, and other disputes. He is past chair of the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution, a Distinguished Fellow of the International Academy of Mediators, and a recipient of Lifetime Achievement Awards from the American College of Civil Trial Mediators and the Academy of Professional Family Mediators. David has published four books (including Bringing Peace into the Room, with co-editor Daniel Bowling) and more than 100 articles and book chapters on law and dispute resolution. David is a graduate of Princeton University (A.B. 1970, summa cum laude), Cornell University (M.A. 1974, American Studies), and Harvard Law School (J.D. 1984, magna cum laude), where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. David’s TEDx talk about “Lawyers as Peacemakers” can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKXv1_Sqe_4.
Accommodation Statement:
The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School (PON) is committed to providing access, equal opportunity, and reasonable accommodation(s) for persons with disabilities in connection with its programs and activities. Accommodations must not fundamentally alter applicable PON programming and are not retroactive.
Event participants should request accommodations at least two weeks prior to the start date of a program or event, as accommodations may take time to implement. Please note that PON will make every effort to secure services, but these are subject to availability.
To request accommodations please e-mail ponevents@law.harvard.edu.
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