The Risk—and Relief—in Calls for Unity
President Biden ran on a campaign of unity, “restoring the soul of our nation.” These calls often resembled a pastor’s sermon more than policymaker’s plan, and suggested that division was not a symptom, but instead a harm in and of itself. . . . In President Biden’s view, it seems that division itself is what…
Remote but Robust: having difficult conversations virtually using best practices from crisis counseling
“That is a conversation that probably needs to happen in person.” We can all think of myriad personal and professional conversations that fall into this category: Giving critical feedback to someone you manage; having a conversation with a family member about political views; talking a friend through the loss of a job; announcing big changes in…
HLS Alternative Dispute Resolution Career Panel: Fall 2020
On Thursday, November 5, the Harvard Mediation Program, the Harvard Negotiation Law Review, the Harvard Negotiation & Mediation Clinical Program (HNMCP), and the HLS Negotiators co-sponsored a panel discussion and networking event for HLS students interested in careers in negotiation, mediation, arbitration, restorative justice, and other forms of alternative dispute resolution.
What we’ve learned from the election – no matter who wins
Election Day has come and gone. At this moment, we sit with anxious uncertainty about the outcome in the Presidential race, as key states continue to count the millions of legitimately cast votes that remain. The color-coded maps are ubiquitous but incomplete, the pundits spin out endless speculative scenarios. And we wait.
Reflecting on the Journey of “Thanks for Listening”
When we launched the “Thanks for Listening” podcast in the fall of 2018, our goal was to explore what seemed like deep and growing political polarization in the U.S., and to find out what was being done about it. We wanted to be able to tell a hopeful story about people and organizations who are working to “bridge the partisan divide…
On Dispute Systems Design and Democratic Participation: Reimagining Voting
By Deanna Pantin Parrish American democracy is an almost 250-year-old dispute between “We, The People” and those elected to represent us. Since America was an idea, voting has been a central mechanism for defining our collective identity and determining its representation. In the Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton penned that it was for Americans “to decide ……
Harvard Mediation Program Rises to the Moment
By Ethan Lowens and Cathy Mondell The Harvard Mediation Program (HMP) rose to a new challenge this fall: with Harvard Law School classes meeting virtually and no students on campus, HMP was faced with the question of how to make student mediators available from their homes across the globe to the Boston-area court systems HMP has been working with for decades. And, because access to those courthouses was…
Alumni Spotlight: Corey Linehan
Corey Linehan is a two-time Dispute Systems Design Clinic alumnus who graduated from Harvard Law School in 2018. Nowadays, Corey is a legislative assistant in the office of U.S. Senator Christopher A. Coons, where his work focuses on health and education policy, as well as an adjunct professor in the Master of Leadership & Negotiation…
Student Spotlight: Obianuju Enworom
Obianuju Enworom is a New Jersey native and a 3L at Harvard Law School (HLS). Before coming to HLS, she received a B.A. in Economics & Political Science from Columbia University. Outside of school she is the Associate Editor of Rouge 18, a beauty blog. Though we are missing Obianuju’s presence on campus this fall…
Three Ways of Looking at Dispute Resolution
Former HNMCP Clinical Instructor and Harvard Law School Lecturer on Law Andrew Mamo ’14 has published “Ways of Looking at Dispute Resolution” in the Wake Forest Law Review.
Strategies in Multi-Party Negotiations (A Video Presentation)
HNMCP is fortunate to draw on the expertise of a wide variety of practitioners in seeking to understand and teach students about the nuances of alternative dispute resolution. One of those practitioners is Susan Carney Lynch, JD, DrPH, NREMT-P, a lawyer, public servant, and Fellow with Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Initiative (ALI). Dr. Lynch has built a career…
Only a Game: How Elements of “Gamification” Can Enrich Online Dialogue
In light of the pandemic, dialogue practitioners are finding inventive ways to not only transfer dialogue online but also reimagine how traditionally in-person activities can be conducted online more effectively. A new way of making remote dialogue more engaging is to incorporate game-like elements to make the online experience more life-like. Carla Luna talks about…
How will the post-Covid office space change the way we manage conflict?
When the physical setups of our offices constantly remind us to be wary of one another, what will happen to our choices about how to handle conflicts at work?
Bridging the Virtual Gulf: Engagement Strategies for Online Facilitation
Imagine this. You are facilitating a local community meeting over Zoom. Although all participants have their audio and video enabled, about half are staring down at their cellphones while another participant (whom you recognize from two previous meetings) is single-handedly carrying the conversation. As a new participant starts to chime in, your virtual veteran cuts her off mid-speech. She mutes. This is facilitated dialogue post-COVID.
On the Road – HNMCP Faculty in 2020
Sara del Nido Budish participated as a panelist on the “Leading Negotiations” panel of the 29th annual Dynamic Women in Business Conference, hosted by the Women’s Student Association at Harvard Business School on February 22, 2020. Sara and three additional panelists discussed challenges to effectively negotiating at work, shared personal stories of negotiations both in and outside of the office, and offered strategies to…
Covid-19 and Conflicts: The Health of Peace Processes During a Pandemic
HNMCP alum Lisa Dicker ’17 and HLS alum Danae Askar ’16, both of whom have worked in peace negotiation and post-conflict transitional contexts, have co-authored “Covid-19 and Conflicts: The Health of Peace Processes During a Pandemic” in the Harvard Negotiation Law Journal. The article provides a preliminary analysis of the impacts of the pandemic on…