A Stone in Still Water: The Growing Debate over AI in Dispute Resolution
Just recently, an email thread among legal academics landed in my inbox with the force of a well-thrown stone in still water. The subject: artificial intelligence and its role—present and future—in alternative dispute resolution (ADR). The exchanges were thoughtful, sometimes pointed, and remarkably revealing. They made one thing clear: our field is changing fast, and there’s no consensus on what that change means.
How Do You Avoid Being Pulled Under When Mediating With High Conflict Personalities?
Anyone who mediates or litigates long enough has faced the kind of case that stops you in your tracks. A case that should settle turns volatile. Blame cycles take hold. Emotion overrides logic. Rational solutions that meet interests are ignored, parties talk about litigating on “principle” and “burying’ the other side, and the whole thing becomes destabilizing—not just for the parties, but for everyone in the mediation.